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WILKES-BARRE — Wilkes-Barre Area School District officials met with three representatives from the state Auditor General’s Office in a lab at Coughlin High School on Thursday, district Solicitor Ray Wendolowski said. The meeting, which he termed “very productive,” lasted about three hours and was part of a review of the district’s new high school construction project.
“We filled them in on the history of the project, where we were, and any questions they had we answered,” Wendolowski said. Topics included district debt service moving forward, projected cost savings from elimination of positions after the three existing high schools are consolidated, and budgeting for the project. “Clearly there was nothing new. What we presented to them we’ve presented to the public.”
Superintendent Brian Costello had a similar response after the meeting. “I believe it was a very positive meeting addressing any and all questions they had,” he said, adding that district representatives at the meeting — along with himself and Wendolowski — were Business Manager Tom Telesz, School Board President Joe Caffrey and Michael Krzywicki, from Apollo Group Inc., the district construction manager.
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale announced Aug. 1 that he would look into the high school construction project after receiving complaints from about 30 residents. Two weeks later, in response to requests by the auditor general for information, the district posted multiple documents online via a link on the district homepage.
Wendolowski said the representatives walked around Coughlin but did not go into the original part of the building, which was closed off, stripped of asbestos and gutted initially in anticipation of razing it. The original plan called for consolidating grades 9-12 from Coughlin and Meyers high schools into a new building on the Coughlin site, but that plan was blocked when the Wilkes-Barre Zoning Hearing Board denied a required variance. The district then decided to consolidate all three high schools at a site in Plains Township.
Wendolowski said the group could not tour the construction site because of the rain, but that the district invited them to return to tour the site at a future date.
“They will report back to the auditor general,” Wendolowski said, “and at some point they will formulate a report, but there is no timetable.”