Third Avenue Elementary School in Kingston will be unoccupied for the 2026-27 school year, with students attending Dana Street Elementary School in Forty Fort instead.
The Wyoming Valley West School District on Thursday announced plans to reopen the Third Avenue school in 2027, but as a district-run center for special education students.
“We will not send kids out to center-based facilities anymore. We'll continue to educate them in house,” Superintendent Charles R. Suppon Jr. said. “I'll stand by this comment: It’s what's best for our students, our staff and our community.”
Adding special education services
A growing number of school districts have brought special education services back, after often sending children with more complicated needs to specialized programs. Some placements in out-of-district centers can cost $100,000 or more per child, Suppon said.
Some districts believe they can offer comparable or better services, at a lower cost. When districts send students to other placements, it’s because they can’t meet their needs within district buildings, Suppon said.
“But we're going to do that. We now have a facility. We're going to prepare to do that. We're going to staff it appropriately,” he said. “And now I'm ecstatic and I'm excited to be able to say we can meet the needs of every one of our kids in-house.”
Future building plans uncertain
The Wyoming Valley West School Board during a meeting this month approved moving students to Dana Street Elementary and to create the kindergarten-through-12th grade special education center for the 2027-28 school year.
The Third Avenue building had most recently only been used as a kindergarten center. Those classrooms will move to Dana Street, which has kindergarten through fifth grades.
Some students will have classes in modular units that will be connected to the building. Future plans at Dana Street remain undetermined, with the district completing a feasibility study in the spring that found most of its schools in poor condition.
Suppon issued a statement on social media Thursday.
“While change can bring questions, it also creates opportunities,” he wrote. “This transition represents another positive step forward for our district, our students, our dedicated staff and our entire Wyoming Valley West community. Together, we will continue building on the tremendous momentum we have established and remain focused on what matters most, providing every student with an exceptional educational experience.”
