W-B Area resumes school construction

WILKES-BARRE — Wilkes-Barre Area School District has resumed limited work on the new consolidated high school in Plains Township, and is planning a virtual school board meeting April 21, Solicitor Ray Wendolowski confirmed.

But there are still uncertainties in what, if any, a construction delay of about 10 days will mean to cost and completion date, and the board needs to figure out a way to include pubic participation at the meeting.

“The way this developed, the governor issued his original directive saying construction was not an essential business,” Wendolowski said. The district assumed that applied to construction of the new school, which will consolidate grades 9-12 from GAR Memorial, Coughlin and Meyers high schools.

But the initial definition of essential businesses raised questions and pushback from some businesses and industries, and Gov. Tom Wolf issued a clarification.

“He said he never intended to cover school projects,” Wendolowski said. “So at that point our contractors in conjunction with the laborers talked to us about whether to proceed. The contractors took the lead and developed safety plans.”

For some contractors, that was easy. Wendolowski cited earth work contractors, who routinely work individually and don’t gather into groups. But it was more problematic for other contractors, either because of difficulty in developing effective protocols to maintain social distancing or because of union rules.

“Not all contractors are back,” Wendolowski said.

He estimated the work was shut down for about 10 days, and conceded some contractors submitted “written notifications that they’ve been impacted as a result of the government shut down,” but that it was too early if the delay would ultimately add cost the estimated $121 million cost, or delay the anticipated opening of the school as planned at the start of the 2021-22 school year.

Wendolowski also said the School Board is planning to hold a virtual meeting April 21, with board members connecting electronically most likely through ZOOM or another live-streaming meeting application. he said the meeting will be streamed online for the public to watch, but that participation might be limited to questions and comments submitted in advance after making the agenda public in advance.

He added that it is likely any votes made at such a meeting could be ratified at a future in-person meeting to avoid any questions regarding compliance with the state’s Sunshine Law.