October 13, 2026 at 7:00 PM - Workshop Meeting

Description:  Board President will call the Board Meeting to order.

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Please rise, recite the Pledge of Allegiance and observe a moment of silence.
 

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	Ms. Joy Beers		Mr. Jeremy Glaush		Dr. Alex Matika
	Mr. David Bradley		Ms. Denise Hartley		Ms. Heather Neff
	Mrs. Lory Frey		Dr. William Howland		Mr. Timothy Tkach

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Welcome to the Workshop Meeting of the Lehighton Area School District Board of Directors. This meeting serves as a Committee of the Whole and includes reports and discussions related to Academic Affairs, Policy, Finance, Athletics, Buildings & Grounds, Personnel, Technology, and Safety & Wellness.

Public comment is now open and opportunities will be provided at the conclusion of each committee's portion of the agenda. Comments should be limited to matters related to the committee currently under discussion.

Please note that this meeting is being recorded. Speakers will be recognized in the order in which they signed up. When called upon, please state your name and municipality of residence for the record. Each speaker will be allotted three (3) minutes.

We respectfully request that all comments be directed to the presiding officer and presented in a courteous and respectful manner. The Board values public participation and encourages constructive dialogue.

Failure to adhere to these guidelines, including the use of profanity, personal attacks, disruptive behavior, or comments unrelated to the committee topic being discussed, may result in the forfeiture of speaking privileges for that comment period and/or removal from the meeting.

Thank you for your cooperation and participation in the governance of our school district.

Description:  Recommendation to request retroactive approval of the following School Enrichment Journey requests:

1. LAMS Gifted/WSCM (Anna Leigh Conway) - October 21, 2026 - 8:00 AM-2:00 PM - Manufacturer Location TBD - To film and conduct interviews for What's So Cool About Manufacturing? Competition.
2. LAMS FBLA (Kevin Kotch) - October 21, 2026 - 7:30 AM-2:30 PM - ESU Innovation Center - Regional Leadership Workshop.

Description:  Recommendation to approve the purchase of SkyCiv Structural Analysis and Simulation Software for use by LAHS Science Olympiad students participating in structural design and engineering competitions at a cost of $50 paid out of the LAHS Science Olympiad Budget.

Sky Civ is a simulation software package that allows students to test structural designs before actually building them for competition. This will allow them to design and test several models and fine tune before construction. This is a valuable tool to eliminate hours of trial and error. 

https://skyciv.com/olympiad/#content

 

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Public comment is now open for Academic Affairs.

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Public comment is now open for Policy.

Description:  Recommendation to accept the following donations:

1. $989.28 from the Carbon County Commissioners to cover the remaining expenses from the 2026 BRAVE Camp.  The camp was fully covered by the Carbon County Opioid Settlement Funds.
2. Various Hula Hoops from Giant Food Stores to the Elementary Center to be used for Health/Wellness/Physical Education.

Description:  Recommendation to approve a Non-Disclosure Agreement with Bluewave Technology Group, enabling the District to provide Accounts Payable and vendor invoice data for a no-cost Rapid Technology Assessment to identify potential operating expense savings across the District's IT and
telecommunications infrastructure.

Bluewave Technology Group serves as an independent technology advisor and sourcing partner that helps school districts optimize their IT, cybersecurity, cloud, and telecommunications operations focusing on potential operating expenses reductions. Depending on the size of the school district, Bluewave projects annual expense savings in the 3 to 10 percent range by informing the school district of potential billing errors, eliminating redundant services, and perhaps renegotiating vendor contracts across connectivity, voice systems, cloud, and wireless plans.

Bluewave provides a no-cost, risk-free Rapid Technology Assessment through the evaluation of 12 months of expense data within 7 to 10 business days following the financial data collection. There is minimal time commitment from district staff. The district retains 100% of all identified savings; Bluewave does not take a contingency fee or percentage of cost reductions.

To execute the rapid assessment, the Board of School Directors is requested to approve a non-disclosure and authorization agreement. Once approved, the school district provides the following simple steps to initiate the review: 12 months of Accounts Payable (AP) data for IT and telecom expenditures, one month of recent vendor IT/telecom invoices and a brief discovery conversation with the district’s IT Director. Upon completion, Bluewave delivers a detailed Summary of Findings, and potential actionable recommendations to reduce total cost.

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Public comment is now open for Finance.

Description:  Recommendation to approve the following Candidates for Athletic Coaching/Manager positions:

2026-2027 Fall Season
Anthony Thomas - Volleyball Announcer 


2026-2027 Spring Season
Gwen Remaley -  Assistant Track and Field Coach

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Public comment is now open for Athletics.

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Public comment is now open for Buildings & Grounds.

Description:  Approval of the following candidates for employment in accordance with the respective contracts:

Melena Koutch - long-term substitute for speech and language therapist at a Step I Master's Degree and a salary of $58,700, prorated for the 2026-2027 school year, effective October 6, 2026, pending any necessary documentation.

Description:  Recommendation to approve the following Candidates for Extracurricular Positions:

Lydia Weller - Extracurricular Stage Manager at a stipend of $1,700.00.

Description:  Recommendation to approve the following Candidates for Substitute Positions:

Lori German - Substitute Nurse 
Julia Spencer  - Substitute Lunch Aide 

Description:  Recommendation to approve the following resignations for retirement with appreciation:

Bernard Nalesnik - Middle School Social Studies Teacher effective at the end of the 2026-2027 school year after 31.93 years of service to the District.

Rhonda Zerbe - Elementary Center Teacher effective at the end of the 2026-2027 school year after 32.89 years of service to the District.

Rebecca Tite - Middle School Librarian effective at the end of the 2026-2027 school year after 14.88 years of service to the District.

Diane Brownmiller - Elementary Center Librarian effective at the end of the 2026-2027 school year after 19.81 years of service to the District.

Ann Shoenberger - Elementary Center Paraprofessional effective at the end of the day on January 4, 2027 after 26.84 years of service to the District.

Julie Willet - Elementary Center Paraprofessional effective at the end of the day on January 4, 2027 after 26.84 years of service to the District.

Description:  Recommendation to approve the following Professional Development Opportunities:

Employees #532, #1852, and #1928 to attend the 2026 SAS Institute in Hershey, PA, December 7-9, 2026, at total cost not to exceed $3,000 to be paid out of the 2026/2027 professional development budget.

Description:  Recommendation to acknowledge the following employee requests for FMLA, not to exceed 12 weeks:

Employee # 927 - FMLA beginning September 7, 2026.

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Public comment is now open for Personnel.

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Public comment is now open for Technology.

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Public comment is now open for Safety & Wellness.

Description:  We are now at the closing of our Workshop Meeting and are offering an additional opportunity for public comment on our Board Meeting.