At the Whitehall-Coplay School Board committee meetings Feb. 14, financial impact items were reviewed, including budgets for Lehigh Career and Technical Institute, Lehigh Carbon Community College and Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit.

The budget for LCTI is $2,383,800.21, a $165,000 increase from the previous year, based on student participation and the district real estate value versus the rest of the county. The budget for the LCTI Academic Center is $223,340, an increase of $35,797.

For LCCC, Whitehall-Coplay School District’s responsibility is $445,937, an increase of $17,740. The debt service and capital budget is $105,036, a decrease of $1,926 from the prior year.

The CLIU budget for curriculum/instruction, education/technologies and building/maintenance is $58,159, an increase of $284. This is not the total CLIU budget.

Also during the finance portion of the meeting, the timeline for the 2022-23 school year budget was released.

The final budget proposal will be put forth April 11, and the adoption of the proposed budget will be April 25. The final budget will be presented May 9 and will be presented for approval June 13 before the committee meetings.

During the education/student activities committee meeting, Brooke Clary, WCSD director of special education, discussed renewing a contract with bilingual psychiatrist Mary Sharp-Ross.

Clary also proposed a WCSD contract with a licensed behavioral therapist who would come into classrooms, mainly at Gockley Elementary, to help in emotional support classrooms and to assist students with behavioral issues. She said she would like to have a behavioral therapist in each school.

Clary also recommended hiring a part-time psychologist to work with early intervention students. She said there are currently 31 students in need of these services.

Whitehall High School Principal Nate Davidson and Assistant Principal Heather Hampton discussed curriculum, including the addition of two asynchronous course offerings.

The two courses are English 12 Contemporary and World Literature and Social Studies 12 American Government/Economics. Both will be offered for college prep and honors levels.

Davidson said the asynchronous courses allow students to “gain the experience of a learning model similar to what they may come across at the college level.”

Davidson said this will offer a more “flexible learning environment where they could more easily embed work experience into their schedule when coupled with an excusal period.”

Students would not have to meet with teachers at a specific time and could work from home at their own pace. The courses are still facilitated by WHS teachers. Only students with a B+ or higher in past English or social studies courses would be allowed to participate.

WCSD Superintendent Dr. Robert Steckel announced some changes for the 2022-23 school year calendar.

Aug. 22 will be a professional development day/trade day, followed by regular professional development days Aug. 23-25.

The first day of school will be Aug. 29, and school will be closed Sept. 2 and 5 for Labor Day.

Four professional development days will be Oct. 10, Nov. 23, Jan. 13, 2023, and Feb. 17, 2023.

Early dismissals for conferences are set for Nov. 18, 21 and 22. Schools will be closed Nov. 24-28 for Thanksgiving break.

Winter break will be Dec. 23-Jan. 2, 2023.

Other holidays are Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 16, 2023; Presidents Day, Feb. 20, 2023; spring break, April 6-10, 2023; and Memorial Day, May 29, 2023.

The last day of school will be June 7, 2023, for students and June 8, 2023, for teachers.

Only one snow day will be built into next school year’s calendar. The new calendar will be recommended to the board Feb. 28.

Also during the meeting, the committee discussed the health and safety plan.

Steckel said, over the last two weeks, there has been a steep decline in COVID-19 cases and multiple days where no cases were reported. Attendance rates have been at 90 percent or above in all WCSD schools since Jan. 11.

Positive cases will continue to be posted to the website dashboard, and parents will receive emails about potential close contacts, although more specific contact tracing is no longer being done.

Doctor notes are required for students who use 10 or more remote-instruction days.

The use of alternate lunch locations, such as the gym, will be discontinued as of Feb. 22.

Both indoor and outdoor spaces will now be available for special end-of-year events in the district.

Christopher Schiffert, assistant to the superintendent, discussed piloting the Smile Pennsylvania mobile dentist program at Steckel Elementary. Smile Pennsylvania is offered at no cost to the district.

The next school board meeting is 7 p.m. Feb. 28.