Two weeks after Lehighton Area School District's board vice president unveiled his plan for repairing four aging elementary schools, teachers, taxpayers and parents turned out Monday night to voice their feelings.

Many of the speakers at Monday's board meeting expressed displeasure with several comments made by director Richard Beltz at the Feb. 8 workshop session.Beltz, who supports keeping Franklin, East Penn, Shull-David and Mahoning elementary schools open, said there are no structural issues and no code violations in any of the four buildings.He also advocated for "using fans, opening windows, moving desks away from windows, allowing students to bring bottled water to class and planting trees to create shade" as low-cost methods of controlling classroom temperature.Upon questioning by Mike Lusch, a high school physical education and health teacher, Beltz said he homeschooled his children, and if Lusch "was truly passionate about what his kids learned in school, he would homeschool his children as well.""I think it shows a lack of respect for our profession," Christina Haupt, an East Penn Elementary School teacher told Beltz Monday. "I think it shows very little desire on your behalf to support public schooling or educators."As vice president of the Lehighton Area Teachers Association, Dan Williams said he was also concerned with the comments."We believe public education is the most important experience a child can take advantage of," he said.Beltz did not comment on the homeschooling remark Monday, but did stand firm in his belief that repairing the four schools is the best way to go as opposed to constructing one elementary center and potentially sell, or lease, the existing buildings."I'm not good at public speaking," he admitted. "I'm here because I felt like I could make a difference and represent the taxpayers who were not represented under the previous board. I think our best bet is to make the repairs to the elementary school on an as-needed basis."After Lehighton resident James Cunfer called Beltz's plans to open windows in the schools ridiculous and cause for a security concern, Beltz responded, "why don't we put bars on the windows and make them the prisons they really are."No amount of opening windows or planting trees will help cool down certain rooms at Shull-David Elementary School, parent Autumn Abelovsky said."The room I was in for my parent meeting at the start of the year was 98 degrees," she noted. "Six people had to leave the room because they felt like they were going to pass out."Beltz read a letter he said was given to him by a local property owner declaring that voters in the 2015 election resoundingly rejected the idea of an elementary center when they voted in three members who support keeping the existing schools.A passionate Tom Wertman, a Lehighton resident since 1972, said he believes the trio was voted in after "lies, deceitfulness and scare tactics.""You told people taxes were going to triple and seniors are going to lose their homes," Wertman said. "It makes me sick to think what happened here."Currently, the board is split with four members supporting a new elementary center and four in favor of keeping the existing schools.Wayne Wentz, a pro elementary center director, said his side of the table will "do everything possible to get the new building through.""I've been in the buildings with kids so hot that sweat is running down their backs and so cold they have to wear jackets in the winter," Wentz said. "This is a no-brainer."To high school social studies teacher Cory Hartsell, the board is in "disarray."Hartsell spoke against repairing old schools due to never knowing what you'll find when you start opening up walls."When you start updating, you have to bring everything up to code," he said. "You'll come across plenty of things you didn't plan for."Backing up comments from former board member Larry Stern and fellow teacher Laurel Zimmerman, Hartsell said Beltz, along with new board members Marianne Dwyer and Byron Arner have not had a major presence in the schools."Your faces are not evident in our buildings at all," Hartsell told them.Board President Hal Resh said he felt too much of the discussion at board meetings over the past few years has been dedicated to building projects."There are other things we should be discussing within the schools right now and we're not addressing those as boldly as we should because we're fighting over this or that."Fellow board member Gloria Bowman, however, said she feels Lehighton has made great strides in its academics."We are building the district for the betterment of the students and community as a whole," she said.Lehighton awaits Carbon County President Judge Roger Nanovic's decision on who will fill its vacant ninth seat, an appointment, which will likely swing the tide one way or the other for the district's building program.Nanovic has set a hearing for March 4 to consider the six petitions filed to date for the open seat.