The East Penn Board of School Directors elected, then swore in Dr. Joshua Levinson at their regular meeting Sept. 24 to fill the seat vacated by Director Carol Allen who resigned Sept. 4.

Levinson is a chemical engineer working at OEM Group in Coopersburg. The 47-year-old Stanford grad serves on the board of the EPSD Education Foundation and is active in Scouting. He and his family live in Zionsville.

“The East Penn School District is a well run district and, in my opinion, is on the right track,” Levinson said. His son is a senior and his daughter is a freshman at Emmaus High School.

The board chose Levinson on the sixth round of votes with a final tally of 5-3 to serve as an interim member until the unexpired term ends December 2019. The other three candidates who responded to the board’s request to return for consideration for Allen’s vacant seat were David Heiser, Jeffrey Jankowski and Kevin Kelly. Diane Schaffer had been listed on the agenda, but dropped out prior to the meeting. All of the candidates had previously applied for the board positions now filled by Directors Allan Byrd and Seth Flanders. Jankowski had scored three votes in the final round.

Sydney Souliere and Sajan Patel introduced themselves as the new Emmaus High Student Government Advisory representatives to serve on the board for the 2018-2019 school year. Souliere is the vice president of SGA and Patel serves as secretary.

Superintendent of Schools Kristen Campbell updated the directors on Future Ready PA Index, a new school evaluation tool created by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Campbell announced, “It replaces, what many of us are familiar with, that’s been out for several years, the School Performance Profile.” She explained the new program provides “a more comprehensive, holistic summary of a school’s progress,” with less emphasis on standardized test results. According to Campbell, the PDE projects they will release the Future Ready PA Index sometime in the fall.

Campbell told the board that in partnership with the Wildlands Conservancy, sixth graders from Eyer Middle School will study “Climate Change in Our Watershed,” a program funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Proposed by Director Alisa Bowman, the directors unanimously agreed to support Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1098, which provides for automated enforcement of failure to stop for a school bus with flashing red lights, as well as establishing a School Bus Safety Grant Program Fund. An official copy of the resolution is to be sent to state Sen, Pat Browne, R-16th, a cosponsor of the bipartisan bill.

The proposed legislation would allow, but not mandate, districts to install cameras on the outside of buses to record stop arm violations. If it becomes law, the digital image evidence from those cameras could be used in court against motorists who fail to stop for a school bus loading or unloading students.

Prior to the vote, requests to address the board were granted to David Weidman, of Emmaus, Theresa Hegel, of Upper Milford Township and Amber Clark, of Allentown. All three requested the school board support Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1098. Clark was the parent who fought to get the Pennsylvania Senate to write the legislation after her daughter was almost run down when a vehicle sped past her stopped school bus.

A licensing agreement for the EHS Class of 2019 graduation ceremony in the amount of $15,000 to be held at the PPL Center was approved. Bowman voiced concerns regarding parking and facilities for people with disabilities at the new location. She was assured those concerns would be looked into by the superintendent.

In personnel matters, the directors accepted the resignation of Michael Ubbens, supervisor of middle level special education, effective Nov. 11.

The board approved the hiring of Jonathan Scherer to teach social studies at Eyer Middle School effective Nov. 27.

Director Charles Ballard reported the state legislature has few working days left to pass any proposed legislation before the November election recess. Afterward, he said some of the members would be reluctant to pass any laws as they would be considered “lame ducks.”

The school board held a first reading of updates to current board policies. These included changes provided by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association on how to run board meetings, child abuse policies and food service rules regarding student accounts.

There was an executive session scheduled prior to the public meeting on “employment,” according to board President Ken Bacher.

The East Penn Board of School Directors meet regularly 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of each month, with only one meeting in July. The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 8 in the board room of the administration building.