Plymouth parent urges Wyoming Valley West SD to fix yearlong elevator outages, address sidewalk parking that blocks wheelchair access

James Kovich, a parent from Plymouth, told the Wyoming Valley West School District board at its June 4 meeting that a high-school elevator used by his son has been repeatedly out of service and that promised replacement parts have not arrived. "I was wondering now that it's June, 13 months later, if the elevator parts have arrived," Kovich said during public comment, adding the elevator "has gone down at least 6 times since December."

The issue, Kovich said, began more than a year ago when he first raised it with district officials and that an email he received showed an order confirmation for parts on Oct. 22. He said his son missed two days of school in April because the elevator motor failed and that, on one recent occasion, he had to carry his son into the building because the elevator was not working. "When you're told multiple times that parts were ordered and that they're going to be in and fixed within 3 weeks of the start of the school year...words no longer—actions speak louder than words," Kovich said.

Superintendent Tosh responded that he did not have an update at the meeting but said he would speak with the buildings and grounds director, Dave Cortes, and call Kovich with any information. "I don't have an update on it now, but what I will do...I'll talk to Mister Cortes, our buildings and grounds director," Tosh said. Board members also said facilities staff could address a separate accessibility concern Kovich raised about cars parking in front of curb cuts. One board member said, "It's very simple signage and a little bit of parking lot paint. But we could have our buildings and grounds address that."

Kovich told the board he first raised the elevator problem in the fall of 2023 and that he was told the parts would be in for the start of the following school year; by his account, the order was confirmed Oct. 22. He said the repeated outages hindered his son's ability to attend classes in person but that his son still earned an A in AP physics despite missed in-person days.

No formal action or vote was taken at the meeting on the elevator repair; the superintendent and board members said they would pursue follow-up with the district's buildings and grounds staff and notify Kovich of any updates. The record in the meeting transcript does not state a target repair date beyond a board member's comment that, "from what we're being told right now that this elevator should be fixed by the July," and the transcript does not include documentation of the parts order or vendor communications.