Speakers Defend Aging School: Panther Valley Board Hears Ideas for Reusing the Lansford Building.

By Chris Parker, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

Feb. 7–The 90-year-old Panther Valley Middle School in Lansford may be old, need repairs and not up to current state standards, but those who spoke at a hearing Tuesday — including two school directors — believe the district should keep it.

They told the school board the district should make some improvements and keep the building in use as an school.

The hearing, required by state school code, was held to gather public opinion before the school board decides whether to close the school. The board won’t consider the matter for at least three months, said solicitor Robert T. Yurchak.

The district is building a $17 million middle school behind the high school on Route 209 between Lansford and Nesquehoning, and there has been talk of giving or selling the old building to Lansford.

“I plead with you not to close the Lansford Middle School,” Nesquehoning resident Roy E. Angst told the board.

He said the district will need the classroom space, even with the new middle school.

School Director Dennis Vavra asked the board to keep the school and use it for an early childhood education center. The center would include kindergarten, pre-first grade and first grade.

He acknowledged the elementary school in Nesquehoning is is too small for the number of students. Some students are in portable classrooms.

Vavra asked the board to authorize a study to determine what it would cost to convert the old school into into an early education center.

School Director Wayne Fritzinger asked the board to consider the feasibility study when it meets on Tuesday, or consider building a wing onto the elementary school.

School board President David B. Hiles said he supports closing the school for “purely financial reasons.” He said it would cost too much to renovate and maintain the building.

School officials have said it costs about $45,800 a year for the school’s heat, electricity, water and sewer service.

Irene Genther, also of Nesquehoning, urged the board to keep the old school open, especially in light of the discovery of several rusting industrial drums on land near the high school. She said the drums may contain hazardous material that could endanger the health of students at the high school and new middle school.

She said the district has to find out what’s in the drums before allowing children into the new school, scheduled to open in September.

That sparked an argument with Hiles, who contends the drums contain nothing but aluminum pigment made by the nearby Silberline Manufacturing company.

One man became so angry with the argument that he stormed out of the meeting room, slamming the door.

Genther also suggested housing students with special needs, and perhaps a charter school, at the Lansford building.

Rita Klekamp, a Lansford resident and president of that borough’s Concerned Citizens group, said Lansford cannot afford to heat or maintain the building.

Klekamp said the number of students attending Panther Valley schools is projected to increase, and the district will need the building for classroom space.

She criticized the board for building the new middle school — accusing school officials of having an “edifice complex” — when it should have funneled the money into education.

Lansford Borough Councilman Dwight Penberth spoke in favor of the borough acquiring the school, saying it could rent out space.

Former Councilwoman Rose Mary Cannon disagreed, saying the district should keep the building.

chris.parker@mcall.com

610-379-3224

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

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