Remove voting from our schools!

There was a Pennsylvania State Trooper shot on Election Day during a traffic stop in Plainfield (link below) and the suspect fled. This prompted a school lockdown due to an active shooter on the loose in our District (Nazareth). Our Elementary - Kenneth N. Butz - school is the only school out of six in the District that is used for voting. Despite the school being on lockdown with children inside, voting continued with the public entering the gymnasium to access the polls. Unfortunately, during voting the School District does not retain jurisdiction over the gym and cannot lockdown that portion of the school. This is a CONFLICT OF INTEREST in today’s day in age that unnecessarily puts our children’s safety at risk despite strict District adherence to protocol. Reference the recent school shooter in California, he moved along because of the lockdown. However, should this have occurred at our school the shooter could have easily gained entry.

The Northampton County Board of Elections has been petitioned in previous years without any change to the venue. I, along with two other concerned parents, were interviewed by WFMZ 69 News (link below) after seeing that the online petition (link) we started garnered significant public support. Our grassroots effort has yielded 1300 signatures in roughly 72 hours. Also, parents have secured a commitment from the Fire Department to host future voting - less than one mile from the school.

Our one and only goal is to create a safer environment for our children and relocate the voting location.

PA Trooper Shooting
http://www.lehighvalleylive.co...

Petition
http://chn.ge/2iU4NTk

WFMZ 69 News Coverage
http://www.wfmz.com/news/lehig...

Regards,

Crystal Mulada and Paul Soporowski