SkillsUSA winners from Northampton Area School District were honored by the board of education.

“You should be very proud of them. I am,” Northampton Area High School Assistant Principal Kimberly Levin said at the March 25 school board meeting.

Top winners in the SkillsUSA District 11 competition go on to the SkillsUSA Pennsylvania Leadership and Skills Conference, April 10-12, at Hershey Lodge & Convention Center, Hershey.

The 2019 SkillsUSA theme is “Champions at Work: Career-Ready Starts Here.”

The Jan. 30 SkillsUSA District 11 competition at the Agri-Plex, Allentown Fairgrounds, was postponed because of a snowstorm Jan. 29.

“All the students had different competitions in February,” said Levin, SkillsUSA adviser for NAHS.

The 52 skilled-trade contests, in which more than 400 District 11 career and technical education students from schools in the greater Lehigh Valley competed, were rescheduled at several regional locations throughout February.

Months of planning go into the contest with more than 300 volunteers ordering equipment, supplies and working with vendors and host venues. Students compete in hands-on skilled trade competitions administered and judged by experts in the particular industry.

NAHS students who attend the Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School and are SkillsUSA District 11 winners, with the award each received and the competition category listed, include:

Brandon Balliet, gold, teamworks; Anthony Hughes, bronze, CNC milling specialist; Jordan Krische, gold, firefighting (two-time winner); Michael Kuzio, gold, HVACR; Benjamin Murdock, bronze, crime scene investigation (two-time winner); Julia Pletz, silver, related technical math; Owen Roth, silver, CNC turning specialist; Zackery Siekonic, silver, CNC technician; Robert Smith, gold, collision repair technology (two-time gold medalist); Amy Swierczek, bronze, crime scene investigation (two-time winner); Mason Taschler, gold, precision machining; and Arianna Viera, bronze, cosmetology

In other business at the March 25 board meeting, school directors voted 9-0 unanimously to:

• Authorize the NASD school board president to execute the termination of deed of easement granted by NASD to Lehigh Township Sept. 15, 1994, and recorded in the Northampton County Recorder of Deeds Office. The deed had conveyed an easement for a right of way to Lehigh Township on the easterly side of Blue Mountain Drive along the frontage of Lehigh Elementary School. The deed of easement must be terminated to allow for the school district to convey all or a portion of the easement area to Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for a right of way in connection with the construction of the new Lehigh Elementary School project.

• Authorize the school board president to execute the indemnification agreement that permits NASD to commence construction of the new Lehigh Elementary School project prior to receipt of the highway occupancy permit from PennDOT, prior to the recording of the final land development plans and prior to the execution of the township improvements agreement and township maintenance agreement.

• Authorize the school board president to execute the stormwater best management practices operations and maintenance agreement between NASD and Lehigh Township to assure the satisfactory operation and maintenance of permanent stormwater facilities to be constructed for the new Lehigh Elementary School.

• Approve the hiring of Billie Fruit, technology technician, effective on or about April 8, at $25.83 per hour, with benefits.

• Extension of employment to Sandra Bischof, long-term substitute special education instructional assistant, Siegfried Elementary School, effective March 25 through the last student day of the 2018-19 school year, at $10.53 per hour.

• Temporary transfer of MaryAnn Weaver, special education instructional assistant, Siegfried Elementary School, to George Wolf Elementary School, effective March 25 through the last student day of the 2018-19 school year.

• A contract for services with Ivan J. Rosario, American Sign Language-English interpreter, on an as-needed basis, Jan. 1 through Dec. 31.