TREVORTON — A motion to move ahead with renovating the Leck Kill and Dalmatia elementary schools was approved 5-4 Tuesday night by the Line Mountain school board.

The vote stops talk of closing either school, said board President Troy Laudenslager.

“The question will now be, how do we want to proceed and what do we want to do?” he said. “And each step along the way, there will have to be votes.”

Recommendations for improvements will come from the property committee.

Directors Charles Sample, Jeffrey Blasius, Bryan Buddock, David Keim and Robin Rebuck voted for renovations. Voting against the motion were Marilyn Kauffman, Lauren Hackenburg, Dennis Erdman and Laudenslager.

Not everyone in attendance was mollified by the vote. “Although it seems like the elementary school will stay open, Leck Kill cannot rest easy,” former school director Penny Balavage said.

Earlier in the meeting, the board unanimously agreed to apply for a $1 million Renewable Energy Program grant from the Commonwealth Financing Authority to be used for building construction, including a geothermal system. Superintendent David M. Campbell and business administrator Philip Rapant Jr. will submit the documents.

The drive to fund a 17-child pre-kindergarten class at Dalmatia continues, federal and state grant coordinator Donna Politza said. “It all depends upon getting a Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts grant,” she said. Politza did not give the amount being sought.

The class would be for 3-year-olds up to kindergarten level. Candidates would be those at risk of academic failure, either because of income, language, cultural or special-needs issues.

The Nutrition Group, of Danville, was approved as the district’s food service management company for the 2009-10 school year.