A controversial school building project is being debated now in the Lehighton Area School District.

As a result, more people are coming out for board meetings.The attendance has been so high that all the seats in the administration building board room are filling quickly and the standing-room-only crowd gets uncomfortably squeezed to the back of the room and into the lobby.This past Monday night more than 30 dedicated residents stood in the lobby for the two-hour meeting.Not only were they uncomfortable, but they needed to strain to hear what was being discussed in the meeting.This shouldn't have to be.Why not move such meetings to a more spacious facility, such as school auditoriums, cafeterias, gyms or even larger meeting rooms?When such a large crowd is herded into a small meeting room, there's another problem.If a Powerpoint or other visual is presented, not everybody can see them. That's depriving some of the people interested enough to venture out in the cold to attend the meetings the privilege of getting all the available information they seek.Or, why not move the meetings to the buildings that are being discussed?Taxpayers could see firsthand the conditions of those buildings being considered for replacement.Why not have meetings in Shull-David school, which is less than a mile from the present Lehighton Area School District administration office where meetings are presently held?Why not hold one or more at Mahoning Township Elementary School, about three miles from the administration building?How about holding some in Franklin Township Elementary School or East Penn Elementary School to accommodate residents in those respective municipalities?It's obvious that people in the school district want to be informed.What better way of keeping people informed, and interested, than to make them feel comfortable when they do attend meetings?By RON GOWERrgower@tnonline.com