In her district update, School Superintendent Dr. Kristen Campbell celebrated “a positive and smooth” beginning of the 2023 - 2024 school year during the Aug. 28 regular meeting of the East Penn Board of School Directors.

Campbell informed the board around 8,000 students had returned to the classrooms earlier in the day. Before this first day of school, the administration welcomed approximately 50 new professional staff members and all faculty and staff spent four days in professional development.

Seventy students were recently enrolled in the district’s free Virtual East Penn Academy, or VESPA, K-12 program as an alternative to private cyber schools, Campbell reported.

Campbell introduced SafeArrival as a new online program for reporting student absences. There is also a toll-free phone number available to report absences.

SNAP Health Portal is another program available to families that will allow them to securely provide student medical information online to a school building nurse.

The superintendent asked parents and guardians fill out returning student forms by Sept. 1 to keep student records updated.

The East Penn Board of School Directors voted unanimously to renew Assistant Superintendent Laura Witman’s contract for a further term of five years ending Sept. 11, 2028.

In other personnel matters, the board accepted the resignations of Lower Macungie Middle School math teacher Courtney Hunsberger, Wescosville Elementary health room nurse Elizabeth Inman, Emmaus High School German teacher Sandra Ruch-Morrin and Emmaus High Director of Athletics & Activities Matthew Spengler.

Approved new hires include Ashley Shiroff as a special education teacher at Shoemaker Elementary and Robert Edwards to serve as special education and learning support teacher at Emmaus High School in a new contracted position.

The directors voted unanimously to approve a contract with Communities In Schools of Eastern Pennsylvania, Inc., or CISEPA, for July 1, through June 30, 2024.

The board voted collectively for the 2024 Pennsylvania School Board Association slate of candidates. The candidates for the PSBA elected positions include:

Allison Mathis (North Hills School District): 2024 President-elect for a one-year term.

Sabrina Backer (Franklin Area School District): 2024 Vice President for one-year term.

Karen Beck Pooley (Bethlehem Area School District): 2024-2026 PSBA Treasurer for a three-year term.

Marianne Neel and Michael Faccinetto: PSBA Insurance Trustees for a three-year term ending Dec. 31, 2026.

Assistant Superintendent Douglas Povilaitis led a second 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.” He mentioned some changes were made reflecting input from the board as well as school solicitor Marc Fisher.

Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit Board Member Dr. William Whitney reported on the first meeting with Dr. Gregory Koons, the unit’s new executive director. He spoke of new grant opportunities through the CLIU for paraeducator and alternative education certification.

Lehigh Career & Technical Institute JOC Member Paul Champagne mentioned approximately 2,400 students are enrolled at the tech school. The facilities and grounds have been cleaned up and improved.

There was one request to address the board. Alicia Du Plooy, of Upper Milford Township, spoke about Lower Macungie Middle School being added to the Targeted Support Improvement, or TSI, list. She said the state reported there were around 200 economically disadvantaged students experiencing lagging performance. Du Plooy noted Eyer Middle School was not experiencing subpar performance issues.

She questioned the time gap between when the district was notified of the school being placed on the list in February and when the administration and board appeared to seriously address the issue in June.

Board President Dr. Joshua A. Levinson announced an executive session was held before the public forum at 7 p.m. to discuss “personnel and also safety and security” and one was held Aug. 15 on “personnel items.”

The next regular school board meeting is scheduled 7:30 p.m. Sept. 11.

The public can access documents through BoardDocs via a link on the district website. Livestreaming of meetings is available on the district’s YouTube channel.