One of the topics discussed at the Oct. 18 Whitehall-Coplay Communities That Care meeting was how best to reach the community.

Denise Continenza, CTC coordinator, mentioned the group is often at community- and school-related events, but members do not see a lot of traffic. Michelle Khouri, district registrar, noted many people do not know what the group is or the many benefits it offers to the students in Whitehall-Coplay School District.

One suggestion was to take out a billboard mentioning something positive the group has done or with a statistic noting the progress the group has made over its eight-year life span.

School board member William Fonzone noted the district is working with the township to install a billboard on MacArthur Road. The delay in installation is due to a township ordinance against electronic billboards in the area.

There was continued discussion of vaping in the schools. Gabe Dillard, assistant principal at Whitehall High School, noted there have been less reports of vaping this year. Angela Friebolin, principal at Whitehall-Coplay Middle School, said her administration has not had any students caught vaping. Both Dillard and Friebolin questioned whether the students were vaping less or if they are learning to hide it better.

Christopher Schiffert, assistant superintendent, mentioned there is more information about the dangers being introduced to the students. He also said the greater media attention surrounding the dangers could play a factor in reaching the students.

Hannah Miller, a senior at WHS, mentioned many of the students who were vaping to “be cool” or “just for fun” have stopped. She noted most of the people still vaping in school are the students who have become addicted.

Schiffert noted the district is still looking into adding vaping detectors at the high school. It was reported at the last meeting the monitors could cost $1,000 each. Schiffert noted there are additional costs as well, such as wiring and connecting into the system. He said it could cost as much as $2,500 to get one sensor up and running.

Laura Long, with Whitehall Area Rotary Club, mentioned the club could potentially help with some of the funding. Schiffert also mentioned the district is waiting to hear about some grant money expected to come to the schools.

In other business, Schiffert noted the public service announcements created by Andy DeAngelo involving underage drinking and social hosting are being played on the scoreboard during football games and have all been posted to the district website.

“I think they are outstanding,” Schiffert said.

He noted they are quick, short yet poignant messages designed to reach both youths and parents.

It was mentioned having underage drinking be a topic for the annual meeting in January.

Continenza noted the possibility of opening the meeting up to state representatives, other elected officials and superintendents from neighboring districts to share the message and accomplishments of CTC.

The CTC next meets 8:30 a.m. Nov. 15 at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3355 MacArthur Road.