A pause for a prayer for the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims and their families, a diving board for the middle school project, movement on the long-stalled district solar energy project and a new five-year contract with the district superintendent.

These topics were among those at Monday night's Northampton Area School Board meeting the week before Christmas, a meeting muted by a tragedy that has resonated with educators, parents and students across the nation.

On Dec. 17, before the moment of silence that follows the Pledge of Allegiance to open school board meetings, board Vice President Jane Erdo spoke about the Connecticut tragedy.

"When we have a tragedy like this, it can either destroy our system or it can draw us together," said Erdo, who said she spoke at the request of board President David Gogel. "As a school district, as a board, our hearts go out to the community in Connecticut. We pray and keep in our hearts those families and this community and our country as a whole."

The school district Safe School Committee at its Dec. 18 meeting was to take up the issue of preventing tragedies like the one in Newtown, Conn., where 20 elementary school children and six adults were shot and killed.

Joe Wilson, north east director, Pennsylvania Tactical Officers Association, was to speak to the committee. Wilson, a consultant at the Lehigh County District Attorney Office, was a member of the Pennsylvania State Police where he was east team commander of the Special Emergency Response Team.

NASD has increased security ever since its time in the national media spotlight stemming from a May 25, 2006, standoff at the high school when a student barricaded himself in the stairwell. The student had a box cutter and a buck knife, fireworks, bottle rockets and smoke grenades in a backpack and a .22-caliber rifle in a guitar case.

It was announced at Monday night's meeting that, in response to public demand at the Dec. 6 middle school project meeting, bids for the Northampton Area Middle School and Secondary Campus Project will include an alternate bid for a swimming pool that will include a diving board.

"We'll either get a pool with a diving board or we don't get a pool at all," said Jay Clough, principal, KCBA Architects, which is the architectural firm for project.

The swimming pool is an add-on, or alternative bid, in the middle school project and, if included, must be approved by the school board.

Clough said the Middle School Leadership Committee met Dec. 13, following the Dec. 6 meeting, and decided to include a diving board, advocated by several persons.

Clough's disclosure was in response to a comment Monday night by Charles Longacre, of Moore Township, who urged the board to include a diving board as part of the alternative bid for the swimming pool.

The Northampton Borough Planning Commission voted Dec. 12 to recommend approval of the final plan for the middle school to Northampton Borough Council, which is scheduled to meet tonight, Dec. 20.

"Once we're through all of that, we're all set and ready to go," said Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik.

Requests for bids for the middle school project are to be advertised Jan. 4. A pre-bid meeting for prospective bidders is to be held at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 22 in the Northampton Area High School auditorium.

Deadline for receipt of bids is 3 p.m. Feb. 7. Bids are expected to be opened at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 7 in the high school auditorium. The school board could vote on them in February.

March 15 was mentioned as a possible date for groundbreaking for the middle school project.

On the matter of the solar project, school directors voted 8-1, with one abstention, to approve an agreement expected to move forward the solar panel project for Moore Elementary School.

Board member Darin Arthofer voted against the measure. School Director Jennifer Miller, voting by speaker phone, abstained.

"We finally have an agreement between all parties," Gogel said before the vote. "This project hopefully is going to be in place and be ready to go."

Following the Dec. 17 meeting, NASD Solicitor C. Steven Miller explained to The Press that the agreement had been reached during mediation by Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, to which an appeal had been made of a Northampton County Court of Common Pleas ruling.

The resolution approved by the board authorizes Kovalchik to sign an agreement on behalf of Northampton Area School District with Moore Township Board of Supervisors, Moore Township Zoning Hearing Board and MetroTek Electrical Services Company.

NASD signed a contract to purchase electricity from MetroTek upon completion of the solar project, which was also to include solar panels at Lehigh Elementary. The Lehigh Elementary solar project is still in litigation following decisions by Lehigh Township officials and objections by Lehigh Township and district residents.

School board members voted 9-0 to approve an agreement to protect the school district from incurring any costs regarding the Moore solar project. MetroTek is to erect 4,700 solar panels on land adjacent to Moore Elementary School.

The $6-million Moore project is estimated to save NASD at least $1.5 million in energy costs during 20 years.

Monday night, board members heard a report about program studies for the 2013-14 school year from Maureen S. Sproul, NAHS acting principal, and Lydia Hanner, NASD director of curriculum and instruction.

A biology seminar will be added. The English seminar and math seminar will continue. The seminars provide support studies for the Keystone Exams.

The seven-cycle science schedule will become six cycles to allow for the seminar.

Added will be AP algebra III, AP U.S history and AP physics. The latter two were included this year but not listed. Students had requested AP physics.

Also added will be a Photoshop course. Yearbook will become an after-school club.

"You are going to see a whole lot of changes in regards to the Keystones," Kovalchik said.

"The reason we kind of pulled back [on the changes] is because we're searching for a new high school principal," said Kovalchik." We'd really like to have the input of the new person, hopefully by February when he or she is approved.

"We're looking at some wholesale changes at the high school," Kovalchik said.

Homeroom will become Period 2. Each day will begin with a subject class to encourage students to arrive on time.

One minute will be added to each class, from 42 minutes to 43 minutes.

"As you can see, every minute counts," Kovalchik said.

In other business, the school board voted 9-0 to approve a five-year contract with Kovalchik as superintendent, July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2018, at an initial salary of $136,605, which represents a 2-percent increase over his 2011-12 salary, with a 2-percent increase each year of the contract.

"I'm pleased with what you do for the district," Erdo said to Kovalchik.

Kovalchik thanked the board for approving the contract.

"I think the district has made great strides in the past few years," Kovalchik said, thanking the "administrative team."