NORTHAMPTON, Pa. — The Northampton Area School Board voted to keep Moore Elementary School open earlier this week while voting down a bond needed to pay for a new elementary school and education center — throwing a wrench into an ongoing construction project that was once almost canceled.
In a four-hour-long board meeting Monday night, school directors had a heated discussion about which directors were more committed to keeping Moore Elementary open.
Some expressed dismay that funding to build the new East Allen Elementary School had been prioritized over updating the existing Moore Elementary, located at 2835 Mountain View Drive in Bath.
The construction of East Allen Elementary and a new education center at Route 329 and Seemsville Road in East Allen Township is slated to cost the district $75.9 million, according to financial documents posted on the Northampton Area School District website.
The budget to pay for the project initially factored in about $990,000 in savings from closing Moore Elementary, which upset some school directors.
This calculation caused Director Kim Bretzik to accuse the district administration of being dishonest about the price tag of the Route 329 project.
After school directors voted to keep Moore Elementary open, she then accused the administration of wanting to delay any construction or renovation plans to update the school.
Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik said that's not the case.
“The administration does not have a problem with that," he said. "We just want to make sure everybody’s on the same page when it comes to the financing.”
Bretzik’s husband is suing Kovalchik, as well as some school directors and district staff over a 2022 incident in which he was removed from a board meeting.
Keeping Moore Open
The conversation around keeping Moore Elementary open has centered around balancing the community’s emotional attachment to the school with the reality of declining district enrollment, which some directors think may change course as new homes are built in Northampton Area.
Ultimately, the majority of school directors voted Monday to keep Moore Elementary open. Only Director Ross Makary voted to close it.
Directors later voted to ask the administration to develop a plan to partially renovate Moore Elementary during summer 2025 at a cost of $20 million.
School directors Bretzik, Joshua Harris, Nathan Lichtenwalner, Brian McColluch, Kristin Soldridge and Doug Vaughn approved this directive for the administration. School directors Michael Baird, John Becker and Makary voted against it.
Vaughn and Soldridge are board president and vice president, respectively.
The other options to improve Moore Elementary included a full renovation or demolishing the existing school to rebuild it.
School directors did not include language about how the partial renovation will be funded.
Soldridge said the district will have to cut costs, such as staff and programs, to keep Moore Elementary open because residents can't afford a large tax increase.
“I can tell you where the money’s going to come from. It’s going to come from everyone’s taxes, just like the 329 project. The only difference is Moore is an existing school.”School director Joshua Harris
Harris said updates at Moore Elementary will cost residents.
“I can tell you where the money’s going to come from,” Harris said. “It’s going to come from everyone’s taxes, just like the 329 project. The only difference is Moore is an existing school.”
School directors also voted Monday against reaffirming the commitment of $2 million from the district fund balance toward renovations of Moore Elementary.
The motion failed with school directors Bretzik, Harris, Lichtenwalner, McColluch and Soldridge voting against it. School directors Baird, Becker, Makary and Vaughn unsuccessfully voted to approve it.
In addition to Moore Elementary, Northampton Area’s other existing elementary schools are Lehigh Elementary, Northampton Borough Elementary and George Wolf Elementary.
East Allen Elementary, a new district school, is intended to serve about 600 students.
East Allen Elementary
School directors voted against authorizing a bond of up to $37.2 million to fund the “construction”, “fixturing” and “equipping” of the new East Allen Elementary and education center, which are already in the process of being built.
The motion failed with school directors Bretzik, Harris, Lichtenwalner, McColluch and Soldridge voting against it. School directors Baird, Becker, Makary and Vaughn unsuccessfully voted to approve the bond.
The project, which is already underway, has been a point of contention over the last year.
In November 2023, school directors approved the construction of East Allen Elementary and the education center, but a month later considered whether to terminate the project.
At the time, cancellation of the project would have cost more than $9.5 million. Board directors ultimately voted to continue construction of the new school, slated to open by the 2026-27 academic year.
The project will require a 4.3% tax increase for the district to fund without the savings from closing Moore Elementary.
The school board will have a special meeting at 6 p.m. on Oct. 28 to discuss the financing of the Moore Elementary project and the voting down of the bond needed to pay for the new East Allen School.
