Northampton Area School District officials hope to continue offering English classes for adult residents in spring 2020 if the program can continue to be funded.

Embracing English for Adults, which annually attracts approximately 15 adult students who are parents or relatives of NASD students, is 100-percent funded through Title III, a federal grant program to improve education that began as part of the Higher Education Act of 1965.

“If we can get enough funding, we’ll run the class again in the springtime because it’s been so successful,” said Dr. Kathleen E. Ott, NASD director of data, grants and special programs.

The free seven-week course was held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, Oct. 7-Nov. 20, in the Northampton Area High School library.

“We started this three years ago,” said Christine Nemeh, English learner teacher at George Wolf, Moore and Lehigh elementary schools. Other teachers in the NASD program include Stephanie Szoke, Robin Matis and Allison Hozza.

“It’s good for the students and the community,” Ott said in her presentation about the program to the NASD Board of Education at the Nov. 25 meeting.

Several district residents who were enrolled in the class this fall attested to its success.

Adult students attending the school board meeting included husband and wife, Fadi Alsayegh and Salma Chalhoub, as well as Luisa Cruz, Joyce Gutierrez and Jacqueline Caicedo.

“We just moved to the United States three months ago. We are from Syria,” Alsayegh said. “The class is very good. It helped us.”

The couple has children in Siegfried Elementary School.

“We had a very good experience,” Chalhoub said.

“I’m from Colombia,” said Caicedo, an NASD resident for 20 years. “My two boys graduated from Northampton Area High School. One joined the Army. A daughter is a senior. I didn’t have time to learn English. I had to work.”

Cruz, who has been living in the region for 16 years, previously in Allentown until moving to Northampton last year, has two daughters, with one in college and one who is 12 years old.

“I have to say, ‘Thank you,’” Cruz said to school directors.

“I have two children in Siegfried,” Gutierrez said. “This class helped us a lot. Thank you so much.”

Class topics included daily activities, time, action verbs, cultural differences, banking, shopping, transportation, community activities, employment, health, restaurants, schools, American holidays and writing.

Ott’s school board presentation noted the English learner students speak Spanish, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Arabic, Turkish, Italian, Punjabi, Mandarin Chinese, Tagalog, Urdu, Amharic and Afrikaans.

The classes, said to increase diversity and cultural awareness in the classroom, school and community, tie into NASD’s No Place for Hate initiative.

The goals of the English for adults class are to empower adult learners in the community to be successful, to build lasting relations with parents and families of students and to better understand, embrace and celebrate the diversity of the community.

With the goals in mind, NASD school directors received copies of a multicultural cookbook.

In other business at the Nov. 25 board meeting, school directors voted 8-0, with one director absent, to approve:

• Creation of the Coach Gwen Whildin Memorial Scholarship Fund to benefit senior scholar athletes. The fund, now at about $9,000, provides each eligible student $500. The Gwen Whildin Memorial Pool is expected to be dedicated 5 p.m. Dec. 12 at Northampton Area Middle School.

• Hiring of Kayla Turner, long-term substitute fourth-grade elementary teacher, George Wolf, effective Dec. 13 for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year, at $280.61 per diem

• Individual contracts for services with Kelly M. Deibert, Jacqueline Funk and Ivan Rosario for ASL-English interpreter services on an as-needed basis, Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2020

• A half-year sabbatical for Sheila Mengel, special education teacher, Moore Elementary, effective Jan. 22, 2020, through the remainder of the 2019-20 school year

• Resignation of Dawn Nickischer, NASD assistant business administrator, effective Nov. 29

• Revised job description for NASD assistant business administrator and the newly created senior accountant position, effective Dec. 3

• Hiring of Jason Williamson, senior accountant, effective Dec. 3, at an annual salary of $64,000, prorated with benefits

• Retirement of Robert Yost, printing services technician, effective Dec. 30

The board of education is next scheduled to meet 6:30 p.m. Dec. 16 in the administration building, 2014 Laubach Ave. The agenda is expected to include the first presentation of the 2020-21 NASD budget.