By Sarit laschinsky

Special to The Press

Northwestern Lehigh School Board Treasurer Marci Piescienski read a letter to fellow board members toward the end of their Aug. 19 virtual meeting announcing her resignation effective Sept. 1, as she will no longer reside in the district.

“Although I will no longer reside in our district, I will continue to be an advocate for quality education for children, but now it will be for the children and families in Carbon County,” she read. “This has not been an easy decision for me to make, as Northwestern has been an important and influential part of my entire life.”

Piescienski is a second-generation school district graduate.

Her three children graduated from Northwestern Lehigh and her oldest grandson currently attends.

In addition to serving as board treasurer Piescienski worked in the business office, volunteered at Northwestern Elementary, served as an instructional assistant in the middle school, was co-organizer of the first two years of the 5K event benefiting the education foundation and instructed community education fitness classes for more than 12 years.

“It is with much appreciation to have had the honor to serve as a member of the board of directors for the past three years. The Northwestern staff, administration, school board and community are beyond compare - past, present, and I am certain will be in the future,” she said.

Fellow board members, administrators and school staff wished her well in her future endeavors, and thanked her for her vision, leadership and dedication to the district and the community.

“I want to thank you personally for taking such an active role in our community, and especially my personal thanks for being part of this board, because you’ve always had the best interests of our children in your heart and all the decisions and opinions you brought to the discussion here at the board meetings,” board President Willard Dellicker said,

He added Piescienski showed her love for children and caring in her career in childhood development.

“Carbon County is lucky to have you be a part of them now,” he said.

“Northwestern is home and family, thank you all,” Piescienski said in closing.

Superintendent Jennifer Holman said the resignation would be accepted at the board’s September meeting, and a new treasurer would need to be appointed.

She asked members to come to the Sept. 2 workshop with plans to fill the vacant position.

Additionally, under recognitions, Director of Human Resources Luann Matika noted the retirement of 10 district employees - Donald Allen, Dorothy Brobst, Joni Novotnak, Sandra Horvath, Debra Snyder, Randall Holzer, Richard Freyling, John Halasovski, Louise Halasovski and Bonita Youwakim.

Their combined service tallied 181 years, or 32,580 school days.

“This is an awesome list of people who are with us this evening retiring, and who have given many, many years to the service of this school,” Dellicker said.

Under personnel, Matika also noted the recent retirement of high school special education teacher Pamela Tonkay after 31 years, and the hiring of Amber Csrenko as a long-term substitute learning support teacher at Weisenberg Elementary, and Jessica Marquardt as a short-term substitute MTSS/Reading Specialist at Northwestern Elementary.

Branching off from the district’s updated health and safety plan, Dellicker also asked about district athletics, noting the board had an approved program to proceed with fall sports, and asked if there were any objections to starting up the athletics program if recommended by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.

No board members objected.

Director of Athletics and Activities Jason Zimmerman said he anticipated the PIAA would go forward as expected, which they did Aug. 21 in a 25-5 vote, and said the first official day of practices and tryouts would be Aug. 24, with contests starting Sept. 11.

He also said the Colonial League would meet to determine scheduling and provide students with as much of a fall season as possible, noting that some schools may opt out of playing and variables may prevent a season from happening.

In other business, the board approved the submission of the district’s Continuity of Education Plan to the Department of Education, as well as a plan to apply for flexible instruction days for the 20201-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years.

Director of Curriculum LeAnn Stitzel said these days had been an option for Pennsylvania districts for years as a way to continue providing instruction on days when schools are traditionally closed, such as inclement weather or emergencies.

Stitzel said flexible instruction days count toward the total number of required instruction days and do not need to be made up, and up to five can be used in a school year.

She also said the district would communicate its intention to use these days to families moving forward.

Several agreements related to the upcoming school year were also board approved.

Apex learning will provide online courses and teaching service to the district digital academy, the Center for Humanistic Change will provide Student Assistance Program Liaison Services, and Seesaw will provide management of elementary online programs for $4,455.

The board also heard the first readings of two policies about the use of live stream video on school district property and discrimination/title IX sexual harassment affecting students and approved two policies regarding federal fiscal compliance and employment of substitutes.

Regarding operations, bus stops for the 2020-21 school year were approved, as were rates for Brandywine Transportation van services, plus an addendum related to contractual changes resulting from COVID-19 disruptions, extending cancellations for facility rentals, and one-year agreements with WeatherProofing Technologies for building roof maintenance for $16,063.24, and with McClure Company for HVAC maintenance for $13,550.

The board accepted a $45,000 cash donation from the district Educational Foundation to assist with online learning in the 2020-21 school year, which will fund purchases of cameras and microphones for classrooms, and partially fund the purchase of eLearn21 for online course content.

Stitzel also reported in the foundation report a part-time development director was recently hired to serve as a point of contact for all foundation programs, assist with PR and communications and major focus on ways to raise funding.

Lastly, under committee reports, member James Warfel said Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit had originally planned to cut some behavioral health services due to budget constraints, but reported that after working with the county office on mental health, the IU secured funding to maintain all programs, including the partial hospitalization program, through Dec. 31.

The next board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 16.