The East Penn Board of School Directors gratefully accepted three donations totaling $23,104.84 at the Aug. 14 regular meeting.

The East Penn School District Education Foundation gifted the district with $15,900 for the Project Lead the Way 6-12 program. The foundation also donated $5,254.84 designated for purchasing calculators to benefit district students.

The school board accepted an initial contribution of $1,950, as well as additional future contributions, to be deposited into the EPSD Memorial Fund to establish the Colleen Krause-Straw Memorial Scholarship Fund to support an annual scholarship for one graduating Emmaus High School senior.

“Just a hearty thank you,” Director Alisa Bowman commented on the EPSD Education Foundation’s recent donations and for Dr. Joshua A. Levinson’s service with the organization.

As president of the school board, Levinson expressed gratitude to the larger community’s support of the foundation. He also expressed appreciation to the friends and family of Colleen Krause-Straw for funding the memorial scholarship created in her memory.

East Penn School District Director of Educational Alternatives Jennifer Carolla and Vice President of Operations Wendy Seifert led a presentation on Community in Schools to address board questions from a previous meeting.

With the site supervisor position vacant for awhile at Lower Macungie Middle School, the data presented came from Eyer Middle School and EHS.

CIS assists with support for at-risk students to help keep them in school by addressing their nonacademic obstacles to facilitate their academic success.

The nonprofit agency’s “Five Basics” philosophy was explained to the board members as: A one-on-one relationship with a caring adult; a safe place to learn and grow; a healthy start and a healthy future; a marketable skill to use upon graduation and a chance to give back to peers and community.

This is accomplished with a 3-tier system with schoolwide services as first tier, targeted programs at the second tier and individual support at the third tier.

Among stated goals is increasing attendance with schoolwide initiatives as well as individual student interventions.

Another goal is to help students in general attain a sense of belonging with clubs and activities, mental awareness initiatives and positive messaging. Small groups learn conflict resolution skills and individual students are case managed with academic, behavior and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) goals.

Data tracking success rates varied.

The directors expressed appreciation for the presenters’ willingness in providing detailed data and information.

The 2023-2024 Lower Macungie Middle School Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) Plan was approved unanimously for what was presented in June.

Having incorporated the board’s previous feedback, including involving special education educators in the planning and transparency with what educational materials are being used, the “enhanced” elementary social studies curriculum was unanimously approved.

In personnel matters, the board accepted the retirement of Wescosville Elementary School special education teacher Sandra Burdick, effective Aug. 2 and the resignation of Shoemaker Elementary School special education teacher Katelyn Carpenter, effective Oct. 6.

Superintendent Dr. Kristen Campbell recognized Burdick’s 33 years of service to the district.

Nicole D’Emilio was board approved to serve as assistant principal at EHS effective Sept. 8.

Additional approved new hires include math teacher Jessica Becker and reading seminar instructor Kristin Ervin for Eyer Middle School, elementary teacher Christine Cornish for Macungie Elementary School, special education teachers Matthew Reightler for EHS and Lee Curtin for Wescosville Elementary School. All are effective Aug. 17.

In her district update, Campbell spoke about Lehigh Career & Technical Institute students from East Penn who placed high in the National Leadership & Skills Conference held in Georgia in June.

With the new school year about to begin for students Aug. 28, she encouraged families to check out the district’s free Virtual East Penn Academy K-12 program as an alternative to private cyber schools.

This will be the first year tickets to EHS sporting events can be purchased through GoFan the superintendent announced.

Campbell asked Gold Card members to update their information on the district’s website and asked for community support for the upcoming third annual EPSD Education Foundation Golf Outing scheduled Oct. 2.

The board held a first reading of new policies for “Resource Materials” and “Data Governance – Storage/Security,” as well as updates to existing policies including “Records Management” and Security of Computerized Personal Information/Breach Notification.”

Levinson announced an executive session was held before the public forum 6:30 p.m. to discuss “items on personnel and litigation.”

The next regular school board meeting is scheduled 7:30 p.m. Aug. 28. The public can access documents through BoardDocs via a link on the district website. Live streaming of meetings is available on the district’s YouTube channel.