Catasauqua Area School District has been actively working to improve the district for the benefit of the students. In the 2018-19 school year, some changes included the addition of two school resource officers and Salisbury Behavioral Health mental health professionals in the schools. There is another group working to help the students, and it is growing and becoming more focused.

The school district took part in the Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) in 2015. The PAYS is taken every two years, and the data collected allows the school district to see different risk and protective factors for the students and to better identify priorities for the future.

Amy Dymond-Jones, counselor at Catasauqua Middle School, said the CMS Student Assistance Team, along with Melissa Inselmann, CMS principal, and Shelley Keffer, coordinator of student services, each took a section of the PAYS results to read and report back. Denise Continenza, educator with Penn State Extension and coordinator of the Whitehall-Coplay Communities That Care, reached out and offered support to the Catasauqua personnel on how best to analyze the data and what the next steps could be.

The district decided to form the CASD PAYS committee. The committee included Dave Ascani, former Catasauqua High School principal; Continenza; Kris Hettrick, with Center for Humanistic Change; Inselmann; Keffer; Christina Lutz-Doemling, CASD director of curriculum and assessment; Joe Martellucci, with Lehigh County Drug and Alcohol; Shannon Van-Spanje, CMS counselor; Dymond-Jones; Pam Colton, with Valley Youth House; and staff from Pyramid Healthcare.

According to Dymond-Jones, the group first met Aug. 3, 2017. At this meeting, three goals were identified for the committee to focus on: “To decrease alcohol, drug and gambling use in students; to strengthen the students’ emotional well-being; and to support the economically disadvantaged students,” Dymond-Jones reported.

She noted the group met three times during the 2017-18 school year and three more times during the 2018-19 year.

Continenza is helping to structure the committee closer to the CTC model utilized in Whitehall. The CTC is a coalition-based prevention system that uses research-based methods and a public health approach to prevent problem behaviors such as violence, delinquency and substance abuse. Community members join school personnel to discuss the problems students are facing and how best to address them.

The CASD PAYS committee meets every other month. In the off-months, some members will attend meetings with the Whitehall group. At the July 19 Whitehall-Coplay CTC meeting, Continenza introduced Dymond-Jones to the members. Continenza noted Catasauqua’s existing group did not take much adjusting to fit into the CTC model.

“We can learn from each other and share resources,” Continenza said.

Dymond-Jones noted they have already added more members to the committee to include Suburban North Family YMCA, Catasauqua Community Food Bank, Catasauqua Presbyterian Church, Catasauqua Police Department and Salisbury Behavioral Health. She said they are adding more people from the school district, including Sheckler Elementary School counselors and Lois Reed, CASD business supervisor.

“We hope to have some members from the medical sector join us and a few students,” Dymond-Jones said.

Dymond-Jones reported on the Catasauqua Community Cares Program. This group helps run the district’s backpack program, which provides food to students who need it. She noted that while this is still a new program, they are feeding more than 120 students each week. They also utilize the Life Skills classes to help pack the bags, check inventory and deliver the bags.

This is a major step toward addressing the priority of helping the economically disadvantaged. She also noted Reed played a large role in getting the food to start the program.

The district is running research-based programs such as the Strengthening Families Program to help families connect better. Dymond-Jones also reported the sixth-grade students started the Botvin Lifeskills Training Program. This program is proven to reduce alcohol, tobacco, drug abuse and violence, while supporting the social and emotional development of youth.

The partnership with Salisbury Behavioral Health to have mental health professionals is already proving to help the students with their emotional well-being.

“These professionals are allowing students to access services they need in school, as a part of their school day,” Dymond-Jones said.

The CASD PAYS committee next meets 9 a.m. Aug. 14. If you want to get more involved, contact Dymond-Jones at 610-264-4341 or dymondjonesa@cattysd.org.