East Penn Forced to Deny Open Enrollment Requests

The effects of the belt tightening done in the during the 2011-2012 budget process were evident at Monday night’s school board meeting, when a Lower Macungie man approached the board for help with what he believes to be an unfair situation.

Travis Flexer is upset that East Penn will not bus his son from Alburtis Elementary School, where he will be a first-grader in September, to his family’s preferred daycare provider, First Impressions Child Care Center on Main Street in Macungie. His son attended kindergarten and daycare there last year.

Flexer said that he and his wife petitioned the district to change their son’s school assignment to , which busses students to First Impressions. That request was denied. They then asked to be assigned to , which also busses to First Impressions. That was turned down too.

East Penn Superintendent of Schools Thomas L. Seidenberger said East Penn has had to deny the “open enrollment” requests of seven or eight families looking to change schools this year, blaming class sizes in first grade at schools like Willow Lane that are hovering at 29 students.

“It’s sad,” Seidenberger said. “As people have retired, we haven’t filled open positions. It’s the first year that we’ve had to say ‘no.’ I see no reason why we should be artificially elevating class sizes.”

At the board’s July 11 meeting, Seidenberger reported that the district had 7,886 students registered for 2011-2012. Since then, he said, the registration numbers have jumped to 7,925 -- 31 more elementary, six more middle school and two more high school students.

Flexer addressed the board during the public comment portion of Monday night's meeting about his belief that Alburtis Elementary School is the only one in the district not providing district bussing to daycare providers. Flexer said that he and his wife need pre- and post-school care for their son.

In an interview after the meeting Seidenberger said that the district provides bussing from all elementary schools to certain daycares – Alburtis Elementary included. But, the daycare facilities need to fall along existing bus routes to and from the school.

First Impressions is simply too far away from Alburtis Elementary for the district to realistically provide bus service, Seidenberger explained.