After 43 years, seven with the East Penn School District, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Thomas Seidenberger announced his retirement Sept. 23 before the school board. Almost in the same breath, Seidenberger announced the retirement of the board's treasured secretary, Cecilia Birdsell, who has served the district since 1974.

Seidenberger said he had reached his decision after "soul-searching, looking in the mirror, and reaching the age of 65," promising to work with the school board in finding a "mutually convenient" time for his departure. Birdsell will retire simultaneously, the colleagues of seven years stepping down together.

The date for this has not yet been fixed, but Birdsell said their letters would appear at the next board meeting in October.

In 38 years, Birdsell has missed only two meetings. She said afterward the decision, forming for the last 10 years, was difficult; Seidenberger declined to comment on his announcement, slipping away to an executive session of the board after the meeting.

Board Vice President Alan Earnshaw spoke warmly about both Seidenberger and Birdsell.

"It has been a tremendous priviledge to serve with Tom and Ceil over these past several years. I can't think of a more dedicated, more experienced, more professional educator than our superintendent. …We can never find someone to replace you, but we will find someone to succeed you."

President of the Board Charles Ballard offered similar sentiments, saying of them, "It will be a tremendous burden trying to replace two such valued members of our team."

But in only a few moments it was business again as usual.

The board will consider revisions to its longstanding policy on public comment at meetings, required by the Sunshine Act but lately falling under scrutiny. In particular, it was Lynn Donches who put forward the idea that the board ought to review the policies and practices of other districts, a task duly undertaken by Seidenberger over the course of the summer.

Donches responded to Seidenberger's findings Monday evening by again encouraging the board to open their formal discussion of agenda items to public comment during the meeting, rather than prior, as its place in the structure of the agenda dictates.

Most board members are showing little interest in the concept. Julian Stolz backs Donches, and promised to deliver up his own set of mark-ups on the current policy for review by the Pennsylvania School Board Association's policy service.

Those opposed to the idea included Earnshaw, who holds the current policy has seen but few problems to date and called Donches's suggestion "unworkable. The current policy fits the letter and spirit of the law," Earnshaw said.

Ballard reminded the board by definition school board meetings are meetings held in public as opposed to public meetings. "This is not an argument with the public, it's a place to hear the public and for the board to make its decisions in public," Ballard said. "I am not in favor of establishing any kind of dialogue in the public meeting." Ballard also proffered that anyone wishing to engage in dialogue with him may do so by other avenues of communication, such as telephone and email.

At one point in the discussion Donches moved the board suspend its rules in favor of allowing audience member Ms. Susan Coenen, who had raised her hand, to speak, but it did not pass the vote.

Earnshaw is not comfortable with Donches or anyone crafting a new policy from scratch, citing a previous attempt by Donches at doing so had left something to be desired. Instead, she and other board members will submit their suggestions for change to the PSBA policy review committee, which will aggregate the revisions into something they think is workable, according to Ballard, and then send it back to the District.

Seidenberger and Ballard both made a point to address the recent accusations levied at the board that the school district was in some way deliberately excluding mention of the Emmaus High School rifle team from the 2012-2013 yearbook. Seidenberger looked into the matter after the Sept. 9 meeting when parent and school board candidate Chris Donatelli brought the issue to his attention. The superintendent determined that it was most likely an oversight, tracing the issue to a lost CD whereon was stored the photo of the rifle team selected for inclusion.

The yearbook is a student publication, Earnshaw told the board, suggesting they could take away student involvement and make the yearbook more professional and minimize the chance of oversights but that this would be a disservice.

Earnshaw pointed out the district has shown multiple proofs of supporting the rifle team, including signing contracts to lease a rifle range for their use in practice. In addition, Ballard made a point of describing the more tangible evidence of the district's recognition of the team's accomplishments, to wit: the announcement of team success in the Athletic Capsule, as well as on the school television broadcast and website, trophies and seasonal awards displayed in the lobbies, a pennant displaying the team's championship, to be updated shortly, and a commemorative plaque promised to each team member memorializing their achievements.

Seidenberger reported Emmaus High School Principal David Piperato is prepared to create an insert for the rifle team in the yearbook.