To the Editor:

A majority of Northampton Area District School Board of Education members voted to build a $73 million elementary/administration complex at the corner of Route 329 and Seemsville Road. It will be directly across from a 2-million-square-foot warehouse compound. The proposed school has a 700-student capacity and a new administration/technology building.

During the planning process, the board majority voted consistently to close Moore Elementary School. Why? For months, we were told we could not afford to staff and maintain five elementary schools, so Moore Elementary, needing $25 million-plus in repairs, had to close.

They now agree that Moore, which has a present enrollment of approximately 400 students, will remain open as an elementary school. This is great news!

But why do we need to build a new school? We just opened the new Lehigh Elementary School in 2021. It also holds 700 students and only cost the taxpayers $34 million to knock down and build again. That’s a big difference when compared to the $73 million fancy “education center,” slated to be built on the Route 329 and Seemsville Road site.

Lehigh Elementary was built to hold almost 200 more than its present population of 525. Our districtwide enrollment has actually been going down for years. Since we need more room for the Franklin Elementary School building closing, why can’t older students at Siegfried Elementary School be transferred to Lehigh? This would permit kindergarten children to remain in the borough.

Thankfully, the board has finally agreed to keep Moore open, but if they still build a new school on Route 329 and Seemsville Road, they will need students to fill it. At a previous school board meeting, the board indicated the students will come from other areas of the district, including the borough.

We are all victims of the warehouse frenzy, and we cannot move our homes or move our present schools. However, building a $73 million fancy new school at an unsafe site, and especially in these hard times, is not the answer.

Election Day is fast approaching. Vote the teacher incumbents out. We need a change to stop this insanity. Show up at the polls, and cast your votes for a new group of parents who will be better watchdogs for our student population and taxpayers in NASD.

Maggie Kemp

East Allen Township