With newly-appointed board member Seth Flanders taking the oath of office, the East Penn Board of School Directors voted unanimously to adopt the final 2018-2019 budget with some revisions.

According to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Schilder, the tax increase was reduced to 1.64 percent and the district had enough in the budget to hire an additional science teacher.

Authorized expenditures totaled $153,281,114, with a tax of 18.3808 mills per dollar of assessed valuation on real estate. Other levied taxes include a one-half percent earned income tax and a one-half percent real estate transfer tax. The Senior Citizen Real Estate Tax Rebate Program will continue for the 2018-2019 year with no changes to eligibility income guidelines.

The school directors readily approved newly promoted Kristen Campbell’s five-year contract as superintendent of schools with a starting salary of $157,000. Campbell begins her new position July 1 upon the retirement of Schilder. “She completely blew us away at the interviews. She really has the vision to take our school district to the next level,” Board President Alan Earnshaw said.

Two new kindergarten faculty were approved to start Aug. 20 – Jameson Lausch at Wescosville Elementary School and Keri Greenawald at Shoemaker Elementary School. The board approved Jessica Weibley as a seventh grade language arts teacher at Eyer Middle School to replace Lisa Walker who resigned.

On other personnel matters, the board accepted the resignation of Macungie Elementary School fourth grade teacher Amy Bishop and Eyer special education teacher Krystel Oleksza Three faculty members who recently resigned from Emmaus High School include boys and girls tennis coach Dimitri Diamandopoulos, German teacher Meghan Pribicko and math teacher Denise Teles-Carl.

The directors also approved the retirement of Lower Macungie Middle School custodian Robert Jones III effective July 6.

After much discussion about the pros and cons of artificial turf for the high school stadium football field, the board voted 7 to 2 to approve a $1,450,000 marketing sponsorship with Lehigh Valley Health Network. The district will continue with LVHN as sole provider for sports medicine services in exchange for the healthcare organization financing synthetic turf and a new scoreboard. As part of the agreement, LVHN would be allowed advertising space on the scoreboard and along the field. Retiring EHS Athletic Director Dennis Ramella successfully addressed the concerns most of the board had regarding cost and safety. Director Paul Champagne voted against the contract citing a lack of “thorough economic analysis.” Director Carol Allen voted “no.”

The directors gratefully accepted a donation of $2,297.44 from community members to be applied to the accounts of district families who are both eligible for free or reduced lunches and currently have a negative account balance.

After volunteering to fill a vacant seat, Flanders was appointed to the Lehigh Career & Technical Institute Joint Operating Committee.

Addressing the board prior to the start of the meeting, EHS teacher Susan Arnold presented Earnshaw a “Friend of Education Award” on behalf of the East Penn Educational Association on his last evening as board president. She also gave him several gifts adorned with the names of various East Penn schools like mugs and socks in recognition of his service. Arnold, the organization president and who has been with the district since 1983, had high praise for the rest of the directors as well. “I don’t know that there has ever been a board that has been so attentive to the community, students and teachers, all at the same time,” she said.

Earnshaw was also honored by his fellow board members at the end of the meeting with a plaque inscribed with “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think,” attributed to Albert Einstein. A board member since 2001, Earnshaw resigned due to an out-of-state job relocation.

Additional requests to address the board were granted to five others from the audience.

Macungie resident Mike Huff addressed the board saying, “Two months ago, my son at Emmaus High School came home from school feeling bullied for being heterosexual after being forced to watch a daily barrage of purposeful, planned indoctrination videos against his straight orientation.” Huff demanded an opt-in policy be immediately adopted to allow parents to control what their children are exposed to.

Michelle Blagbrough, of Allentown, claimed her parental rights had been blocked by the school superintendent and solicitor in regard to those same videos. She objected to the administration’s not allowing parental review of the “highly controversial information” prior to its presentation.

Weighing in on the issue, Diane Gramley, from the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, traveled across the state to protest what she called the “lack of parental rights in the district.”

Schilder said the approximately 30-second short videos had been student projects from the high school’s Gay Straight Alliance Club and were shown during the morning announcements. Student-generated work is protected by law according to the superintendent. Schilder said the videos focused on “giving advice to straight kids about how to be more sensitive with gay kids,” adding, “We have been doing this for about four or five years.”

Emmaus resident Barbara Tantaros requested the board again consider videotaping the meetings and posting them online to allow for more transparency. She called it a “no brainer.”

Graduating senior Miles Zakos returned to urge the board to not cut the elementary planetarium trips from the district budget. Schilder announced later, during the budget presentation, that the program was to be maintained.

The East Penn Board of School Directors meet regularly 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of each month. The next meeting is scheduled June 25 in the board room of the administration building.