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WILKES-BARRE — The project manager for the Wilkes-Barre Area School District responded to what he said have become repeated questions about environmental safety of the site for the new consolidated high school, rebutting recurring allegations of dangerous coal ash.
“I am 99.9 percent sure there is no coal ash under the building site,” Michael Krzywicki, of Apollo Group, Inc., said while giving his monthly report on district projects at a Friday morning School Board meeting. He noted soil had been dug down up to 40 feet in spots where the new high school footprint will be without finding any coal ash. He also cited reports from soil boring samples.
Krzywicki said he has been fielding a lot of question about the land in Plains Township, known as the Pagnotti site, because it was mine land where culm was removed and transported to a co-generation plant. Ash left after the material was burned at the plant was returned to the site and put into the pits that had been excavated.
Maps of the site show a permitted area for ash dumping that extends to where the building is expected to be located, but that does not mean ash was dumped through the entire site designated for that use. Critics have argued the site is unsafe because of the coal ash underneath, and in the past Krzywicki said the district could not be certain about where it was dumped until tests and digging were done.
At a Friday morning School Board meeting, Kryzwicki said much of that work is done, and the soil has been compacted so foundation preparation work can begin. Work included excavating two locations that will be under the building, with one dig hitting rock and the other going some 30 feet below where the school foundation will sit. He said no coal ash was found in either dig.
Kryzwicki also said some of the material excavated — because it was too soft to be compacted and had to be replaced — was unacceptable for co-generation use and was then spread across the northeast corner of the land where it will be “capped” with topsoil and seeded, as per state Department of Environmental Protection guidelines.
And he rebutted allegations that the district is spending money capping coal ash that should have been capped by the previous owners. Kryzwicki said the coal ash fill was all capped before the district bought the land for about $4.2 million.
In other business, the board approved contracts for services in the 2019-20 school year:
• An annual agreement with the Luzerne Intermediate Unit for educational services at a cost of $2.1 million for 2019-20. The LIU provides a variety of services, primarily special education, and Business Manger Tom Telesz said the total is $400,000 more than this year, due to a substantial increase in special education enrolment.
• An agreement with John McElwee of Laflin to serve as internal coach for autism support classes involved in the Pennsylvania Autism Initiative ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) Support program, a state effort to provide training ans support to districts in developing effective autism learning. McElwee will be paid $125 an hour not to exceed $12,500 for the year. Telesz said it is the same amount being paid this year.
• An agreement with the Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA for the Power Scholars Academy Summer Program at Kistler Elementary for six weeks at a maximum cost of $25,000, funded through a grant.
• An agreement with the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf to provide an Extended School Year Program for one district student from July 8 through July 26 at a cost of $1,900.
• Renewal of an agreement with Frontline Education for professional learning management service and electronic substitute calling, at a combined cost of $23,284.
• An agreement with Bayada Home Health Care, Inc., for on-site nursing services at an hourly rate of $47.