Will a new elementary center receive a stamp of approval from Lehighton Area School District?

That decision is expected to be made when the school board meets at7 p.m. Monday, according to a motion listed on the meeting agenda.At that time, the board is slated to vote on whether or not to authorize the submission of a request to the Pennsylvania Department of Education to combine the previously submitted four elementary Planning and Construction project submittals, as approved Sept. 13, 2012, into one elementary PlanCon project by the administration and the architect, EI Associates, for the project known as the New Primary/Elementary Center.Renovate or replaceThe district has contemplated whether to renovate its four elementary school buildings, or replace them with a new elementary center.Costs for either scenario are projected to be about the same; though a major question is whether state funding will be available.In addition, the district is looking at $10.7 million to renovate the middle school, along with $9.3 million to renovate the high school.That brings the total projected building costs throughout the school district to $52.5 million.District surveyEarlier this month, the district released the results of the 10-question survey to residents about the proposed building project.At that time, Superintendent Jonathan J. Cleaver said 718 people responded to the survey.The questions on that survey asked what their role is in the district's education community; how important they believe it is for the district to upgrade its buildings; how well informed they consider themselves in regards to the potential building projects being proposed for the district; from what sources they received information about the districtwide facility plan for the district; if they support moving fifth grade back to the elementary school(s); how important is it that the school building(s) are designed for future flexibility for providing equal opportunities in educational programs/services and extra-curricular activities; and how important is having the construction/renovation completed to allow for less students/academic disruption.Taxpayers conduct surveyAt the board's April 14 workshop session, a survey was presented to the board from Wilmer and Deb Everetts that asked residents of the district if they supported fixing the existing schools, using asset management and no debt; or supported building an elementary center closing all four of the elementary facilities.Wilmer Everetts said he and his wife distributed their surveys to various businesses and community functions over the course of two weeks.Those included restaurants, gas stations, the Weissport Canal, Easter egg hunts, and other community functions.Of the 964 signatures collected, 950 said they were in favor of fixing the current schools, while 14 said they would prefer to have a new elementary center built."We're taxpayers concerned that taxes are going to escalate," Wilmer said. "We believe they're escalating the cost of fixing the existing schools, and making it sound like it's going to cost too much to fix them, when it's going to exceed more for them to build a new school."Wilmer urged residents to attendthis Monday'sboard meeting."I think the taxpayers need to start attending these meetings, and they need their voices to be heard, because a lot of these people are very upset, very vocal to us," he said. "If people come out, at least if they're heard, there's strength in numbers; that's probably the only chance we have of stopping this new school."He added, "A lot of people are on fixed incomes, and a lot of people have spent most of their lives here, and will be forced to move.If they do go through with this, they should consider putting extra rooms on to board the children because they're not going to have a home to go home to because the parents won't be able to afford the homes, or build a few high-rises for the grandparents, so the children can visit their grandparents when they lose their homes."