Three new and two reelected members joined the board of East Penn School Directors Dec. 7 for the board’s annual reorganization meeting. Joining the board for the first time are Carol Allen, Paul Champagne and Chris Donatelli.

Charles Ballard and Kevin Bacher were reelected and sworn in alongside the new directors.

Alan Earnshaw was elected president by unanimous vote of the new board, having served the past year in the same capacity.

“I appreciate the confidence of my fellow board members and I will serve with diligence in this capacity,” Earnshaw said.

Dr. Kevin Bacher was then elected vice president by unanimous vote of the board.

In other regular business, the board approved the meeting schedule for 2016, which can be viewed online, with the first meeting scheduled Jan. 11, 2016. There is one last meeting of the calendar year Dec. 14.

Two presentations followed, the first regarding the Emmaus High School program of studies, presented with proposed revisions by the administrative staff, comprising Dave Piperato, principal of Emmaus High School; Todd Breiner, assistant principal; and Laura Witman, supervisor, secondary level curriculum.

Much of the board’s discussion revolved around preparation for Keystone exams, particularly remediation courses being developed for students who are not proficient on the exam, proposed for the next school year.

The first is literature standards which would require an additional English teacher. The semester course would “align with the standards assessed on the Literature Keystone exam and provide individualized instruction to students in anchor areas identified as needing improvement,” as listed in the program of studies.

Champagne questioned Piperato on why the rate of students who are not proficient on the exam (30 to 50 percent) is so high. Piperato, backed by Superintendent Dr. Michael Schilder, responded the district’s response rate is not unusual and remediation programs are in place from kindergarten through grade 12. Schilder added the Keystone exam is a fairly new test and acknowledged some adjustments may still be necessary, but this is outside of his control.

Piperato said there is still a lot of room for growth and emphasized students are assessed on a whole year of study in one day, which is not necessarily indicative of that student’s performance for the year.

When asked by board member Ziad Munson whether remediation would be necessary without the Keystone exams in place, Piperato said no.

Further courses being proposed include an Algebra I standards course and a biology standards course, both with the same intent to provide remediation for students not proficient on the Keystone exam.

“I appreciate how the high school administration treats the program as an evolving and fluid document,” Schilder said. “You don’t always see that in high schools. I commend you all for creating an evolving document. That’s exactly what it should be.”

Business Manager Debra Surdoval provided a 2016-2017 budget outlook, an annual presentation to give the board an idea of expected expenditures, revenues and budget goals as they currently stand.

On Dec. 14, a vote is expected regarding the state index, which determines how much the real estate tax rate can be raised and whether the district will need to request exceptions to raise taxes higher than the state index. Last year the state index was 2.2 percent. The district applied for exceptions and was approved to raise the tax rate 5.2 percent, but raised it only 3.3 percent. Next year’s index is 2.8 percent.

If the board does not vote Dec. 14, a preliminary budget will be made available to the public Dec. 22 and the board will vote on the proposed preliminary budget Jan. 8, 2016. Updates to the preliminary budget will be provided in April 2016 and a proposed final budget will be reviewed May 9, 2016.

The final budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year is expected to be adopted June 13, 2016.

Salaries are expected to increase by 2.3 percent, rising to $59,980,633 next year; benefits 9.6 percent rising to $36,424,476; and other expenses 1.5 percent. The total increase in the budget without the budgetary reserve is estimated now at 3.8 percent to a total of $140,483,268.

So far there is no information on state or federal funding. Charter school costs are estimated to increase from $4.25 million to just under $4.5 million next year.

Surdoval reported the district’s debt service will halve from where it currently stands at $15,210,712 by 2018-2019 and then continue to drop.

Schilder presented current needs, what he terms the “competition of funds” in the district. Currently included in the budget is a reversal of this year’s decision to cut 10 percent from building and department budgets, restoring those line items.

Schilder then moved into a list of program improvements for the board to consider, asking board members not to look at dollar signs yet but to take into consideration the merit of each improvement and its weight on the district. Among these were secondary science resources, long overdue for revision; advanced placement psychology texts; full-day kindergarten including a primary education instructor; an after school extended learning program at the elementary level; drama/musical production stipend on the elementary level; and additional middle school clubs.

For facilities, Schilder said the administration has assessed a need for an architectural facility study. Emmaus High School, in order to meet the demand for more biology labs, has the capacity to convert existing space. Security cameras have been requested at Lincoln Elementary School who has the lowest number of cameras in the district.

Technological improvements include new Chromebooks for students to establish equitable ratio of students-to-computers.

In athletics, the diving boards are in need of replacement bases, which are showing signs of wear.

Personnel needs include a school resource officer, under discussion earlier this year, Keystone remediation teachers for the proposed courses, two sixth grade teachers and ESL teachers for middle and elementary school levels. There is also a call for another assistant principal at Shoemaker and Willow Elementary schools, where the population at each exceeds 700 students.

Ballard suggested a referendum be put to the district’s voters for the full-day kindergarten to raise taxes and establish a permanent fund for that program. If the voters want it, he’ll support it, he said.

New courses being proposed included STEM Physics Honors, AP Psychology, Introduction to Engineering Design and Principles of Engineering.

The board voted to approve these with the exception of Munson and Donatelli, who abstained, Munson because of not reviewing the material thoroughly and Donatelli from a concern regarding the proprietary nature of the engineering curricula.