The Salisbury Township School District this week received its first application for a charter school, a middle school that will emphasize the arts.

Thomas Lubben, founder of the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts (LVPA), applied this week to open a charter middle school for the performing arts within the district's boundaries. Salisbury Superintendent Robert R. Gross III announced the application at the school board's Nov. 14 operations committee meeting.

The proposed school would open in fall 2012 in the Washington School building at 1610 E. Emmaus Avenue, which is owned by KidsPeace. The KidsPeace website lists the school as "temporarily closed." The application states that the new charter school would lease the space from KidsPeace, Gross said.

The school district has 45 days to hold a public hearing about the charter school application. If the district rejects the proposal, the applicant can appeal to the state for reconsideration.

"It's a very comprehensive and well-done application," Gross said. "We will work with the board to scrutinize it."

Gross said he believes this is the first time Salisbury has received an application for a charter school within the district.

The application states that Lubben would hope to open the school with 300 students, and increase enrollment eventually to 450 students.

Lubben, a retired superintendent, publicly announced plans for a charter middle school on Oct. 25. He said the school will offer a traditional middle-school curriculum supplemented with an arts program taught by professionals in six areas -- dance, theater, instrumental and vocal music, visual arts and figure skating.

Although students won't “major” in any particular discipline as they do at LVPA, they will explore in-depth two branches of the arts that interest them, Lubben said.

“This is not the age of specialization, fifth through eighth grade,” Lubben told Patch.com last month.