In a brief meeting Sept. 28, the East Penn Board of School Directors conducted usual business, including the public hearing of the closure of Lower Macungie Elementary School.

In accordance with Section 780 of the Public School Code the board held a public meeting regarding the school’s permanent closure three months in advance of completing that transaction. Board solicitor Marc Fisher explained the school closed in July of 2005, then reopened again in April 2006 with the intent to serve as a kindergarten center.

The board recently passed a motion to sell the building, which the district has been renting for some years.

There was no public comment, so the board proceeded without delay to close the hearing. It will appear again on a board agenda in three months.

School board members were joined by two representatives of the Emmaus High School Student Government Association– Brooke Iobst and Matt FitzMaurice, who shared with the board Emmaus and Freedom High School raised over $21,000 during a pediatric football game fundraiser. The SGA was able to present a check for $20,000 to the Lehigh Valley Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

Superintendent Dr. Michael Schilder commented when people asked him most often the differences between districts in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey where he worked previousfound the number of worthy causes worked toward by the students at Emmaus High School far exceeded those at any other district in his experience.

Iobst and FitzMaurice also announced the high school play this year will be Romeo and Juliet which will be presented Nov. 5 through 7.

In other business, Schilder informed the board the East Penn School District Foundation has begun to accumulate interested members, has created a mission statement and has begun progress on bylaws. The nine people who attended the Sept. 21 meeting were, Schilder described, productive and passionate. He said nine is a start, but typically a foundation of this kind should have about 15 to 20 people on the board and a number of others to fulfill other functions.

However, those who met were able to review and agree on a mission statement for the Foundation, in itself a notable achievement. Schilder also noted two attorneys were present to lend their advice.

The next meeting is Oct. 28 and increased attendance and interest is encouraged.

Under business operations, board director Lynn Donches said she could not support the motion to approve the bill list, as she believes there are inefficiencies in the system whereby checks are processed and relevant information recorded. She said she was not able to get the information in full regarding the checks. The motion passed with her dissent.

Board director Francee Fuller extended her thanks to Unami Fish & Game for leasing a rifle range for the high school team’s use in an approval of that contract for $2,000 per year. When Donches asked why the rifle range on school grounds was not in use, board president Alan Earnshaw explained it had been decommissioned in the late 1980s or early 1990s due to a need for an expensive air filtration system, which the board had deemed too costly to pursue.

Donches also announced Miller Symphony Hall is extending complimentary tickets to students for all of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra’s concerts this season.