W-B Area plans to have two middle schools

WILKES-BARRE — Once the new consolidated high school opens, Wilkes-Barre Area School District plans to change all elementary schools to grade kindergarten through five, make two middle schools grades 6-8 — Solomon/Plains existing middle junior high school wing and the GAR Memorial building — and send all students in grades 9-12 to the new school.

Superintendent Brian Costello announced the plan after being questioned during the public comment section of Monday’s School Board meeting. Costello said this will mean some re-alignment of school boundaries, with students who currently attend the middle grades at some elementary schools shifting to Solomon/Plains or GAR.

Grade configuration has long been a bone of contention among critics of the consolidation plan, which will merge grades 9-12 from GAR, Coughlin and Meyers high schools into the new building being constructed in Plains Township.

Richard Holodick, who raised the question about configuration at the meeting, has repeatedly complained the district lacked a plan to make school configurations uniform.

GAR and Meyers are 7-12, while Coughlin is 9-12 split between two buildings. That came about after the School Board initially voted to raze it and build a new school there, a plan thwarted when the Wilkes-Barre City Zoning Hearing Board denied a needed variance. Solomon/Plains has two wings, one for K-6, the other 7-8, while the other schools are K-6.

By comparison, Hazleton Area opted to go to K-8, or elementary/middle schools in most of its buildings when it conducted a district-wide renovation known as “Project 2000.” Most other local districts have moved to a three-school system of elementary schools, middle school(s) and a high school, though some retain Junior/Senior high schools similar to GAR and Meyers, housing grades 7-12.

Costello said removing grade 6 from existing elementary buildings will open up space in them, some of which have become crowded with enrollment growth in recent years.