We the taxpayers, residents, parents, and former students of the Southern Lehigh School District, ask the Pennsylvania Department of Education to not grant permission for the Southern Lehigh School Board to close the Lower Milford Elementary School located in Lower Milford Township, Lehigh County.

We base this request for these reasons:

-It is not in the best interest of the students in K-3 classes. It dissolves neighborhood schools and forces Lower Milford students to travel a greater distance to a larger, less effective school. Many five year old children will be spending almost 40% of their day away from home riding the school bus, close to the 50 minute maximum allowed by law. This change affects only Lower Milford children depriving them of an equal opportunity for a quality education.
-It disenfranchises the residents of Lower Milford Township by shutting the only school in the Township. It removes the only declared Emergency Rescue Center for Lower Milford Township without notice or compensation. It increases the potential for increased crime and vandalism by leaving an unmonitored property requiring increased vigilance by the Township.
-The School Board acted in bad faith by holding the public meeting, as required by law, and setting Nov. 27 as deadline for written comments. It then extended the deadline without public notice, thereby depriving citizens additional time to modify and expand comments. In addition, the Board NEVER acknowledged or discussed comments by the public in an open meeting as should be required by Sunshine laws. They further stated that they never read the comments by suggesting the Lower Milford Supervisors should have presented their analysis which found serious errors in the Board's presentation in "3 minute segments" before the Township even started the analysis (Stated at the March 10th Board meeting).
-There is evidence that the tone of the School Board meetings indicated a clear bias towards the closing of the Lower Milford Elementary School. Studies were manipulated to support an “Ends to justify the means” with minimal evidence to support how they arrived at their conclusions.
-There was a great disparity in the application of construction costs, life cycle costs, and other expenses between the Lower Milford Elementary and Hopewell Elementary schools. Expense comparisons should have been made in a manner consistant between both schools (Apples to Apples).
-Within a few days following the school closing vote, the costs for the project were modified. If this change were applied consistently across proposed options prior to the Board's vote, the option that allows Lower Milford to remain open (option E), would have become more attractive and possibly would have been the option voted on by the Board.
-The members of the School Board were elected to represent the best interests of both the taxpayers and most importantly, the children. They did not acknowledge the 550+ signature petition presented on February 24th 2014 opposing closing of Lower Milford Elementary-this petition is equivalent to more than 2.5 times the number of parent sending children to Lower Milford Elementary or over half of the families in the Township.

It is understood by the undersigned that Hopewell Elementary School is in need of a major repair or replacement, and we are not opposed to any reasonable action to that facility that will improve the education for those respective children. However, it should not come at the expense of closing another excellent facility and the quality of the educational experience of other children.

We are asking the Pennsylvania Department of Education to reject the Southern Lehigh School Board's vote to close Lower Milford Elementary and for the DOE to do one the following:
-For the DOE to Conduct an unbiased study of their own on the options available for the 3 elementary schools in the Southern Lehigh School District without any interference or influence of the School Board or administration to arrive at an unbiased conclusion.
-Veto the School Board vote and require the Board to restart the process from the beginning, using numbers that can be clearly justified by their respective sources.
-Require the Southern Lehigh School Board to come up with a “Happy Medium” solution that will allow for the Lower Milford Elementary school to remain open, and to repair/replace Hopewell Elementary School as needed without any undue hardships to the students.

Choosing either the first or third option would be the most ideal for us.

Bottom line-
There is no need for Lower Milford Elementary School to close. The facility is in excellent condition without an excess of capacity, but not too small that it hinders the educational experience of it's students. The students of Lower Milford are entitled to an equal educational opportunity as those who live in Upper Saucon Township and the Borough of Coopersburg without undue hardship. A smaller Hopewell can be built and Lower Milford can remain open at a minimal impact to both students and taxpayers. Please allow for a way to make this happen.

Thank you,
The residents, students, and taxpayers of the Southern Lehigh School District.