BASD: No tax increases

The Bethlehem Area School District’s final 2019-20 budget was approved by the Board of Directors during a special meeting June 17 at the administration building. The budget contains no tax increases on property owners. The vote was 7-1 with Director Eugene McKeon dissenting.

New principals named

The Bethlehem Area School District has hired Erin Hines, Erin Martin-Medina and Courtney Wertman-Stambaugh as new elementary school principals. All three earned master’s degrees in educational leadership from Lehigh University. Martin-Medina and Wertman-Stambaugh each earned K-12 principal certification at Lehigh University.

Hines was a former administrative intern at Clearview ES. Prior to that, she was a special education teacher at Fountain Hill ES. She completed Lehigh’s Urban Principals Academy (U*PAL). She will start July 1 at Hanover ES.

Martin-Medina, an assistant principal and principal in Allentown School District from 2011-present, will start July 1 at Donegan ES.

Wertman-Stambaugh, a sixth grade teacher at Nitschmann MS from 2006-14, a principal at Fleetwood HS from 2017 to 2019, and assistant principal and acting principal with Allentown School District from 2014-17, started June 17 at Fountain Hill ES.

Lincoln: Principal named MVP

Lincoln Elementary School Principal Benita Draper was named the MVP of this year’s three-day BASD Summer Literacy Institute, which included elementary principals and BASD Literacy 4 Me attendees.

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