Quakertown students can say goodbye to those free passes on election days.
That's because administrators may have finally succeeded in removing Neidig, Quakertown, Richland and Tohickon Valley elementary schools as polling places.
The Bucks County Board of Elections is expected to vote at its Tuesday meeting to relocate these polls. If approved, the school district would no longer have to cancel classes on election days.
This issue came to a head this month when the district realized there would be significant scheduling problems and a cost associated with the special Sept. 29 election for the 24th state Senate District, a seat vacated with the resignation of Rob Wonderling.
The school board agreed to move a planned non-instructional day on Monday, Sept. 28 to Tuesday, Sept. 29 to accommodate the special election.
But the switch came with a stipulation -the county must reimburse the district the estimated $5,000 cost associated with the change, which would cover transportation costs for vocational technical, private school, and other students who still had class and needed to be bused.
The switch in days was creating an additional problem. Monday, Sept. 28 is the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, and the district would have had to excuse any students observing the holiday.
A solution seems to have been worked out to remove the polls from the four elementary schools for this and all future elections. This would mean students would be off on Monday, Sept. 28 as originally intended, and return to class on Tuesday.
The following are the proposed polling place changes to be approved by the election board:
??Neidig Elementary to Trinity Lutheran Church, 102 N. Hellertown Ave.
??Quakertown Elementary to the James A. Michener branch of the Bucks County Library, 401 W. Mill St.
??Tohickon Valley Elementary to East Swamp Church, 2405 East Swamp Rd.
??Richland Elementary to Strayer Middle School, 1200 Ronald Reagan Dr.
Although Strayer is a Quakertown district school, the building has a separate section that can accommodate voters without interfering with students.
For more than a year, Quakertown administrators have been trying to get polling places out of the buildings because it interferes with instruction.
Because of the space needed to vote and concerns about having strangers in the schools, the district closes not only those schools affected, but the entire district to maintain consistency.
It means students lose days in the spring and fall and it creates scheduling conflicts with Pennridge and Palisades, as all three try to coordinate their calendars because of the Upper Bucks Area Vocational Technical School.
There is one other proposed polling place change associated with the special election.
The county is expected to move Springfield voters who normally cast ballots at Zion Lutheran Church to Springfield Church of the Brethren at 920 Passer Rd.
Zion Lutheran cannot accommodate voters on Sept. 29. The move, if approved Tuesday, would be temporary and voters would be back at Zion Lutheran for the general election on Nov. 3
It is estimated that the special election for the 24th state Senate District, being held five weeks before the November election, could cost the cash-strapped state $400,000.
Earlier this month, Bucks County commissioners agreed to write a letter of protest to state officials. One commissioner called the special election a "waste of money."
The special election requires the county to lease 25 voting machines from a New Jersey company at a cost of $11,250, which would be reimbursed by the state.
Hilary Bentman can be reached at 215-538-6380 or hbentman@phillyBurbs.com.