Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts is seeking to have its charter renewed by Northampton Area School District.

“We offer an intensive and rigorous preprofessional artistic education,” said Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts Superintendent and CEO Dr. Carise Comstock in her presentation at the Feb. 14 NASD Board of Education meeting.

When contacted by Northampton Press, NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik stated, in an email response, that a vote on a five-year renewal of the charter for the arts school is scheduled to be on the agenda of the board of education meeting, set for 6:30 p.m. March 14 in the auditorium at Northampton Area High School, 1619 Laubach Ave., Northampton.

NASD last approved the charter for the arts school in 2018.

The NASD board allocated $277,000 for district students to attend Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts in the 2021-22 school year. The cost is $13,000 for a regular education student and $30,000 for a special education student. The NASD budget included approximately $5 million for charter/cyber students for the 2021-22 school year.

Enrollment for the 2021-22 school year at Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts is 600, with students from 48 school districts and 12 counties, including 222 students from Northampton County and 17 students from NASD, Comstock said.

The charter arts school has 92 employees, including 64 teachers, 48 of whom have advanced degrees and with an average nine years of teaching experience, Comstock added.

Students at the arts school, located in the south side Bethlehem arts district, major in one of seven artistic areas: dance, literary arts, production arts, theater, visual arts, vocal or instrumental music. It has a dual curriculum, whereby students take artistic curriculum and core curriculum courses, and offers core curriculum courses at the college preparatory, honors and advanced placement levels. There are 90 student performances, exhibits and events during the school year. The graduation rate is 99 percent for its seniors.

The school received charter approval soon after the Pennsylvania Senate bill in 1997 set up charter schools in the commonwealth.

Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts, which in 2003 began in the former Sure-Fit factory building along East Broad Street, Bethlehem, opened its new facility at 321 E. Third St., Bethlehem, in 2015. It is one of five high schools in the Lehigh Valley to make the Top 100 Pennsylvania Schools list on U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 rankings.

The NASD website reports the COVID-19 seven-day building total numbers for Feb. 16-22, as of Feb. 22, are: NAHS, 4, up from 0 as of Feb. 17; Northampton Area Middle School, 1, down from 4; Borough Elementary Schools, 1, no change; Moore Elementary School, 1, up from 0; Lehigh Elementary School, 0, no change; George Wolf Elementary School, 2, up from 1; and district administration building, 0, no change.

The number of positive cases of COVID in NASD for the 2021-22 school year to date is 1,120.