The Feb. 9 Saucon Valley School Board meeting saw the board handle, among others, two pressing pieces of business: the election of a new permanent superintendent and the evolving Health and Safety Plan.

Acting Superintendent Jaime Vlasaty was hired by the district to assume the position permanently. Previously serving as Assistant to the Superintendent, Vlasaty had been in the acting role since Dr. Craig Butler’s retirement in September 2021.

Board President Dr. Shamim Pakzad shared some details about the process during which Vlasaty was selected. Several rounds of interviews were conducted, he said, with the final round with Vlasaty and another applicant concluding the previous week.

“A good cross-section of members of our community” participated in the process, he added. The group, whose names Pakzad read aloud, included teachers, administrative and support staff and student representatives.

Ultimately, Vlasaty was elected unanimously for a four-year term, expiring in June 2026. She took the opportunity to address the board and a handful of attendees.

“We just heard a parent comment about how our school district is broken,” she said, “and I would say that’s probably true.” She continued, “It’s going to take parents and teachers and kids and community and all of us sitting here to (fix it). I’m both honored and humbled to be in a position to see that through.”

The other major news coming out of the meeting is, after much consternation from several vocal district parents and residents, the district’s move back to optional masking for students and staff under the current Health and Safety Plan.

The plan, which was approved in the autumn months but overridden by the Pa. Department of Health’s mandate until it was ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court in December, calls for masking only under established running case number benchmarks.

An action item regarding potential changes to the Plan appeared on the meeting’s agenda, perhaps added preemptively due to recent changes to the Pa. Sunshine Law act requiring such motions to be publicly posted before the meeting’s commencement.

Board member Edward Andres, who has been a vocal opponent of masking under any circumstances, asked Vlasaty – under whose discretion the call for masking ultimately falls according to the plan – if she could assert her intention to “remain in the status quo” through at least Feb. 22, which is the next scheduled board meeting.

(All three buildings are currently operating under ‘mask optional’ conditions and had been for several days as of the meeting, Andres said.)

When Vlasaty asserted that, “optimistically,” Andres’ assumptions were correct, his concerns appeared to be at least temporarily satisfied, as he asked the board to strike the action item from the agenda with the intent of pushing it to the Feb. 22 meeting.