James M. Coughlin High School

James M. Coughlin High School is an urban school located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It serves approximately 1000 students in grades 9-12 in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District. Its current principal is Patrick Patte. In 2009, the school reported employing 62 teachers with a student teacher ratio of 17.7 pupils per teacher.The school's mascot is the crusader. Coughlin is home to the Journal, the second longest continuously published high school newspaper in the country after the Willistonian, published by Williston Northampton School students continuously since 1881. The first issue of the Journal was published on January 20, 1890.HistoryEstablished in 1890 as Wilkes-Barre High School, the current school structure was scheduled to be built on the original school's site in 1905 but due to a flood, which flooded the entire basement and first floor, building had to be restarted. The second part of the building, The Annex, was built in 1952. The main building has four floors and the Annex has three. It is the oldest school in Pennsylvania being built in 1909, the older of the two buildings that makes up Coughlin is over 100 years old. The second building is about 60 years old.With the construction of a second high school in Wilkes-Barre in 1925, the building was dedicated as James M. Coughlin High School in memory of Superintendent James M. Coughlin who served in that capacity from 1890 to 1918.The main building was closed on December 23, 2015, after 106 years of continuous use. This came as a result of a lengthy series of meetings by the Wilkes-Barre Area School District, where it was decided that Coughlin, as well as another Wilkes-Barre Area High School, Elmer L. Meyers Junior/Senior High School, will close and combine after the Coughlin site is closed, and rebuilt. The Annex building will continue to house 11th and 12th graders until the June 2016. Once both buildings are closed, demolition will begin on the site. 9th and 10th grades students will be placed in a recently renovated former Mackin Elementary School building, and the 11th and 12th graders will be placed in the old Times Leader building next to Coughlin. Construction is expected to be completed by early 2018, when both former high schools will converge in the new school.