Two of the four Northampton Area School District buildings that are up for sale have been sold. NASD Board of Education voted to approve the agreements of sale for the former Moore Elementary School and Franklin Elementary School at the July 20 meeting in the auditorium of Northampton Area High School.

The board voted 7-2 to sell Moore Elementary, 2835 Mountain View Drive, Moore Township, to New Story LLC, for $3,400,000, subject to the terms of the agreement of sale and the Pennsylvania School Code.

Voting “yes” for the agreement of sale were board President John Becker, Vice President David Gogel and Directors Dr. Michael Baird, Zachary Kromer, Ross Makary, Jamie Marchiano and Fran Shehab. Voting “no” were Directors Joshua Harris and Kristen Soldridge.

“New Story’s schools serve students with autism, emotional and behavioral disabilities and mental health challenges,” according to the New Story website, newstory.com/about-us.

New Story, founded in 1997, has 75 private, licensed academic school locations serving 3,800 students and clients ages 5 to 21 by 2,800 educators, therapists, clinicians and paraprofessionals, the website reported. New Story locations in Pennsylvania include Allentown, Kutztown, Reading, Lancaster, Harrisburg and Scranton. They also span New Jersey, Ohio, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland and Virginia.

New Story is owned by Audax Private Equity, which acquired the firm in 2019 and is headed by CEO Jon Bicknell.

“New story is a for-profit and will be adding to the district tax rolls,” Marchiano said before the vote.

“I am glad to see that Moore will be continued to be a school,” former Moore Elementary School Principal Dr. Katherine Mack said.

After the meeting, NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik shared his thoughts on the sale.

“I think it’s a plus for our school district and for the region,” he said. “We have a need for such services.”

The school directors voted unanimously 9-0 to approve the agreement of sale of the former Franklin Elementary School, 855 Lincoln Ave., Northampton, including the adjacent playground, with Tony Sayegh for $1,025,000, subject to the terms of the agreement and the Pennsylvania School Code.

As of press time, it is not known what the use will be for Franklin.

Moore Elementary is on 17.75 acres along Mountain View Drive (Route 946) in the northeast of the 97.3-square-mile district. Moore, built in 1957, is a one-story building with a two-story classroom for a total of 97,600 square feet. There were additions and/or renovations in 1966, 1972 and 2001.

The school board voted to close Moore at its July 21, 2025, meeting, reversing a vote taken Jan. 13, 2025, to renovate Moore for $51 million.

An estimated 200 people attended an April 4, 2024, town hall meeting in Moore Elementary School to discuss its fate.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for July 27 for East Allen Elementary School, 7200 New Seemsville Road, East Allen Township. Community open houses are planned for 6-8 p.m. Aug. 21 and 8 a.m.-noon Aug. 22 at East Allen Elementary School.

The mascot for East Allen Elementary School is a tiger, as illustrated on the website for East Allen Elementary School, which includes artist renderings of the school.

Still for sale are the former Washington technology center and former district administration building, both in Northampton. Numerous offers are believed to be under consideration by NASD for each building.

Kovalchik said the buildings’ transactions are not expected to be finalized for several months.

“That won’t be known until wintertime,” Kovalchik said after the meeting.

Once the sales are completed, the school board is expected to vote on allocation of the funds.

School directors voted 6-2, with one abstention, at the July 20 meeting to approve $125,000 in additional costs for the NAHS roof project. The item was added to the agenda.

Voting for the roof project’s added cost were Becker, Gogel, Baird, Kromer, Makary and Shehab. Voting against the added roof cost were Marchiano and Soldridge. Harris abstained from voting.

Arif Fazil, senior business development leader at CHA Consulting Inc., presented two options for the additional roof work at the meeting July 20.

Harris said this was not enough notice to evaluate the options. Fazil said he was informed July 16 of the need for the added work.

The first option, to not do additional work, would have reduced the roof repairs cost by approximately $96,705.

The first phase of repairs to the portion of the NAHS roof is expected be completed by Aug. 17.

NASD applied for a grant for the second phase of roof repairs. Kovalchik said the district was told a decision on the grant has been postponed from May until October.

The school board voted Feb. 9 to authorize CHA Consulting to apply for the Public School Facility Improvement Grant Program. The school board approved Proposal 1 by WTI General Contracting of $1,602,433 for a portion of the NAHS roof repairs. The school board voted to delay Proposal 2 by WTI General Contracting of $1,424,951.

School directors voted 9-0 at the meeting July 20 to approve a change order to FieldTurf USA Inc. for track depression repair work at the Northampton Area Middle School stadium turf field in the amount of $47,224.55, increasing the contract total to $727,224.55, subject to proper execution of all change order documents.

Repairs were made on the northeast corner of the visitors’ side of the Erdosy field track where there was an uneven area.

The Erdosy Stadium turf replacement project is to be “substantially complete” by Aug. 3, in time for the start of football practice, with completion expected Aug. 20.

The school board will next meet 6:30 p.m. Aug. 17 in the NAHS auditorium, 1619 Laubach Ave.