About a dozen Rush Township residents attended the Tamaqua Area School District meeting Tuesday to voice their concerns about the district's plan, which will change the makeup of the student population at Rush Elementary School.

The Rush Township Elementary School housed students in grades K-1 until June 2015. Beginning in September, the district will move those students to its elementary schools in West Penn Township and Tamaqua. Elementary school students in the gifted and English as a Second Language programs will go to the West Penn school.District officials hope to provide educational services at the Rush Township school to students from grades K-12 by subcontracting with Behavioral Health Associates, Lehighton. BHA, which is licensed by the Pennsylvania Board of Education, will provide alternative educational programs for students with special needs. Students who will attend the school will be from the Tamaqua School district and also from schools which are part of Intermediate Unit 29, which includes neighboring schools such as Mahanoy Area and Pottsville.When Rush Township supervisors learned of the plan, they directed zoning officer Bill McMullen to serve the district with a notice of violation. Rush Township contends the proposed use does not comply with uses permitted by right, and that the district did not seek a special exception.The district has appealed the notice, and the township's Zoning Hearing Board will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the matter.During the school district meeting, residents who attended questioned the board's actions, saying they felt they weren't informed about the plan."We're disappointed in the way we were treated; we were overlooked and the decision affects us directly," said Andy Eremus of Meadow Avenue in Hometown. "We wouldn't be here tonight if simple procedure would have been followed."Eremus said all parties involved should have had a "sit-down" to discuss the plan. In addition to feeling they'd been out of the loop regarding the plan, Eremus said that residents had concerns about safety in the neighborhood.District Superintendent Carol Makuta addressed both those issues. She apologized for not directly notifying the residents, but said that BHA would be good neighbors."Our first step was to talk to the state (board of education) about reconfiguring the school to a K-12 facility. That was the protocol to follow and I didn't anticipate that you (the residents) would feel neglected," she said. "BHA will provide alternative and innovative programs; it's our responsibility to find ways to help keep kids in school, keep them healthy, safe and engaged in education.""We need help to do this," she added, citing financial challenges the district faces. "How do I provide a public education and make it affordable for all of us?"Makuta also said that class sizes are projected to be one instructor for five students. Also, the majority of students will get to school by bus or van."I regret that you folks felt you didn't know what was happening," she said. "You shouldn't be afraid of it; the people who are running it are quality professionals."Although the district hasn't finalized the financial details of the change awaiting the results of the zoning hearing board meeting board member Dan Schoener said the district could potentially save a half million dollars annually. The district has not yet finalized bus schedules or teaching assignments for students; that is done late in August each year.Hometown resident Adam Boyce, who said he moved to the area within the past month, said he and his wife had chosen the area largely because of the elementary school. He said he felt the district has acted hastily and was moving forward "on uneven ground.""We moved to the area and then learned of the change and were upset," Boyce said. "You've got to do something, and I get that, and you can't inform everybody."Boyce said he was concerned about students who would be attending the school who would be old enough to be licensed drivers, yet be inexperienced drivers who may have behavioral issues as well. Yet he added that he understood the district's desire to provide education for all students."Everybody wants electricity," he said. "But not the power plant in the yard."After the meeting, Makuta said she hoped the district could move forward with its plans, which she feels will benefit many students."The educational service provided by BHA are the types of services that the district can't typically afford," she said "And we have to remember that these are kids somebody's kids that need a different approach with their education to succeed."