WILKES-BARRE -- The school board in Wilkes-Barre voted Monday night to plan to build a possible new high school. Now there's a deadline less than two months away to decide what and where to build the new school in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District.
The planning stages for a possible new high school in Wilkes-Barre are underway right now.
School leaders say it would be a huge improvement over the district's current high schools.
It's not difficult to see why Wilkes-Barre area school leaders want to build a new school. At Meyers High School on Carey Avenue, the building has a net strapped under part of its façade.
At Coughlin High School on North Washington Street, students have to walk under scaffolding.
A third high school -- GAR -- is about 90 years old.
"They deteriorate. They don't keep them up," said Wilkes-Barre resident Rich Burrier.
"Pretty shabby inside!" Sandy Edwards said.
Coughlin High School was built in 1909. The superintendent says the age of some of its buildings makes it difficult to maintain.
"We have to examine how long we can go on band-aiding these schools," said Wilkes-Barre Area Superintendent Bernard Prevuznak.
The school board has now voted to move ahead with plans for a possible new high school, although it doesn't know yet if the school would replace all three current high schools or just one or two.
The board also didn't say where it would be built, only that it would probably be on grounds already owned by the district.
The goal is to have a plan in place by July 1 so the district can take advantage of a state funding program.
"We'll make the right decision for the students and the children of this district," Prevuznak said.
"It probably would be nice for the kids," said Plains resident Margaret Bailoni.
"They're going to have to do something because these schools just can't make it. They've been here a long, long time," said Burrier.
The school board will meet again in about two weeks to look over recommendations.
A feasibility study done for the district said back in December it is not feasible to restore those two buildings. It recommended several different options, including building one consolidated high school, to replace Coughlin, Meyers, and GAR.
When that feasibility study was released, every option presented for the district's future cost more than $100 million.