Plans for a proposed $32.5 million K-5 elementary center in Lehighton Area School District are on a three-month break.

By a 5-3 vote Monday night, Lehighton's school board passed a moratorium on any new PlanCon filings or approvals on the center to allow three new board members to be educated on the project and any alternatives.PlanCon is the multiple-step approval process the district must go through with the state for major building projects.According to Board President Hal Resh, the moratorium will not affect any bills already owed due to existing contracts.Joining Resh in voting for the moratorium was William Hill and the three board members in just their second meeting, Richard Beltz, Marianne Dwyer and Byron Arner. Gloria Bowman, Stephen Holland and Andrew Yenser voted no, with Wayne Wentz absent.Resh said he intends to have members of the district's budget and finance committee meet with the Pennsylvania Department of Education to go over options for the district and report back to the full board.Exploring options"I would just like to see what other options are available," Beltz said. "If there is another viable option, I'd like to pursue it. If the elementary center is the best option, that is where we'll go. I'm not so sure it is the best option right now. That's why I ran for this board."Lehighton Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver made it clear he had no input on the moratorium motion."It wasn't my recommendation," he said. "I believe the direction of going with an elementary center is a fair and appropriate one and in the best interest of the taxpayers and students."Resh acknowledged that he asked for the motion to be put on the agenda.Solicitor William Schwab said any board member could ask for a motion to be put up for vote."It didn't pose any legal issue for the district because it doesn't affect anything we are already under contract for and committed to paying," Schwab said.It also doesn't prohibit any reviews from going forward such as those from Lehighton Borough's planning commission or the Carbon County Conservation District.The next step in the PlanCon process, according to Cleaver, would be going out for bids, and Monday's moratorium doesn't affect that timeline."We were planning to go for bids in the spring anyway for the elementary center," he said. "We'll continue to get the board the information they are requesting in the meantime, and as long as the direction on this project doesn't change, that is still the timeline we are looking at."The district has been debating whether to build the elementary center or renovate four existing elementary schools built in the 1950s: Mahoning, East Penn, Franklin and Shull-David.To date, Lehighton's administration has recommended the elementary center, and the previous board voted in September to borrow $32.5 million for the project. Cleaver said to date the district has spent $1.18 million on plans, reviews and designs for the new school including almost $600,000 in construction documents.In favor of schoolBefore the vote, board members, faculty members and parents spoke passionately about their desire to see the elementary center plans continue to move forward without delay."Don't freeze us out," Laurel Zimmerman, a Franklin Elementary third-grade teacher, said. "I dream of a time when I no longer have to worry about what I may walk into when I go to school each day. Will there be a leak in roof? Will the heat be on? Can my students have a safe place to learn?"Bonnie Cortese called Monday's moratorium a delay tactic and said the new board members should have been doing their homework all along."If they weren't," she added, "they don't belong at this table."Autumn Abelovsky, mother of two children at Shull-David Elementary School, said in May her children come home soaked to the skin because the school does not have air conditioning."They aren't just warm, they are hot," she explained. "You can't read what they wrote because there is sweat on the paper."Deficiencies in buildingsStacey Duerst cited more deficiencies in the current elementary buildings.She pointed to leaky roofs, cramped libraries and gym classes held on a stage so lunch can be served as reasons for consolidation to a more modern elementary center."Maintaining a school that serves only 150 students does not make economic sense," Duerst said. "Ask any contractor how a renovation budget for a 50-year old building looks like, let alone four. For the new board members, you are now an advocate for our students. You are not just minding your own wallet."Stopping the planning process now, former board member Larry Stern and current directors Bowman and Yenser said, would cost taxpayers more in the long run.Bowman said previous estimates show renovating the four schools would result in a necessary tax increase of over 2 mills, while building a new school would have no negative impact on the district's current debt service."We have had facts presented over and over again," Bowman said. "I don't want to incur any more costs when we have a direction in place."Stern, who was voted off the board in this year's primary election, supported the elementary center while he was a voting member.Slowing things down is going to drive the project's costs up, he said."The economy is coming back," Stern added. "Bids won't be as competitive as they might have been in past. The slower we go, our cost for this or any building project will increase."With the moratorium in place, Resh said he would like to "get something moving in the early part of January" as to the future direction of the renovation versus new school debate.Part of Monday's motion calls for the board to consult and retain professionals as may be necessary to educate the new board members on the project and alternatives."I don't know who that would be, but they would have to go through the clearances to come into our building that anyone else has to this point," Cleaver said.In the future, Resh said, he plans to discuss agenda items with Cleaver before a board meeting. In the meantime, he preached patience."Too many people are ready to throw the new people under the bus too quickly," he said. "Lehighton meets again Jan. 11 for a building project workshop.