A new board sat for the first time Dec. 9 in prelude to a new year which promises new challenges in the form of increased enrollment, unfunded mandates and a couple of major personnel changes now set for the end of the school year.

Superintendent Dr. Thomas Seidenberger spoke in brief to the board of his concerns for enrollment in the district among other things, an element that will play a large part in the role of the new superintendent.

Seidenberger offhandedly mentioned his tenure extending into the end of the school year, and later confirmed he and Cecilia Birdsell, the longstanding board secretary, had announced to the board their intention to remain until that point.

Part of the evening's procedures marked the board's green light for a formal search for a new superintendent and board secretary. The board passed a motion to approve a contract between the district and the Pennsylvania School Boards Association for the latter to provide clerical and professional consultation services.

The $6,000 contract is part of a process Seidenberger says has been initiated. PSBA has begun to search for candidates nationwide.

Newly appointed Board President Alan Earnshaw said he "is happy for a contract at this level," noting it provides executive search services at a much lower cost than comparable services in other industries. Director Waldemar Vinovskis also called it "an amazing bargain."

In other action, the board approved the Emmaus High School program of studies for the 2014-2015 school year. After the meeting Seidenberger was proud to say in the particular point of maintaining courses in the district, he has not failed in his tenure as superintendent and no programs have been cut.

"For this board, it's top of their list to have outstanding educational programs," Seidenberger said. The superintendent sees the district's course programs has part of its commercial marketability, making it a "top shelf district" for interested candidates.

As part of a regular cycle, the board has also engaged the Pa. Economy League to conduct a demographic analysis of the district to aid in the administration's projections for the district's budget.

Seidenberger listed three reasons behind conducting this study. A rising economy and the certainty of new housing developments in the district, such as Mill Race with 27 new homes on the way, points toward increased enrollment in the near future. Seidenberger noted homes are being sold faster.

In addition, PEL will visit each municipality in the district to see what developments have been approved and what land areas might likely be developed into housing areas.

Finally, the superintendent noted he will be transitioning out in the coming months and the demographic survey will prove useful for an incoming superintendent.

Seidenberger said it will certainly fall on the incumbent and his successor to consider the problem of enrollment in the district. Wescosville Elementary is at full capacity, reported Seidenberger, and Macungie Elementary is not far behind. Wescosville was reported at 30 students in one fourth grade class, and 29 in a fifth grade class.

On average, class sizes in the high school are good, said Seidenberger. The real concern is with the elementary schools and to a lesser degree the middle schools, particularly sixth grade at Lower Macungie and Eyer.

Special education continues to be a challenge for the district to finance, reported Seidenberger. To date the district's unanticipated expenditures in special education alone have been $840,000. As an illustration of these costs, Seidenberger said paying for a nurse to accompany a special needs child on a bus can cost upwards of $30,000. "The students this year have a lot of profound needs," Seidenberger said, who also referred to the year as unlike any other in his administration.

Special education enrollment is only expected to increase, according to Seidenberger, who acknowledged the district is attractive to families with special needs children.

In six years there have been no increases to special education funding in the state, and Seidenberger said he plans on lobbying the state legislature to see this addressed. Though public schools are required to provide special education services Seidenberger says, "It's more than a contract, it's a covenant…We're doing our job. No one is saying 'Don't come to our schools,' but the legislature has to pick up their responsibility and the Feds, too."