Members of the Bethlehem Area School District honored three departing board members at their regular meeting Nov. 16 at East Hills MS. Michelle Cann, Sudantha Vidanage and Basilio Bonilla Jr. all attended their final meeting as members of the school board. Vidanage and Bonilla have served the board for four years. Cann has served on the board for eight years, alternatively as president and vice president during her tenure.

Superintendent Dr. Joseph Roy praised their service. “Collectively, all of you have helped us re-establish ourselves as one of the premier districts in the region and the entire state, and we know that service came with a tremendous amount of sacrifice on our part and for that we are extremely appreciative.”

Roy continued, “Our children, our parents, our employees and our community will miss you.”

School board president Michael Faccienetto praised Cann in particular for championing the district’s newest facility, currently under construction, Nitschmann MS.

“When I first took on the role as president you were the vice president … and I remember sitting in Dr. Roy’s office and you said, ‘I want to talk about Nitschmann,” said Faccienetto, “And you said, ‘I don’t care if we have go to referendum, we promised to get it done, we have to do it.’ And now we’re six months into the project. It took a lot for you to get that done, and it certainly didn’t happen single-handedly, but without you we wouldn’t have even had the discussion.”

“You taught me a lot about leadership and supporting the board,” he added.

In other business, Faccienetto highlighted his recent trip to Harrisburg with other members of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA), representing school board members and administrators from across the state. Members of the PSBA met with state senators Frank Dermody (D) and David Reed (R), the minority and majority chairs in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, respectively, to discuss the current budget impasse in the state capital, particularly relating to education. The budget impasse has lasted over 150 days.

“I thought we’d come home with some optimism, but I was not as optimistic as when I woke up this morning,” said Faccienetto. “All we know for sure is that they’re at least talking, which is more than they’ve done in a while.”

Members of the Bethlehem Area School Board, including Faccienetto, have previously spoken out regarding a proposed back-end referendum by Governor Tom Wolf. A proposal would infuse roughly $350 million at the expense of imposing a back-end referendum on all future tax increases by school districts. The decision would require all school district tax increases to be subject to voter approval.

Director Angela Sinkler also provided a report on the school district’s newest committee, the Wellness Committee. The committee recently dispersed 702 doses of the influenza vaccine, in a weekend drive-thru clinic for BASD students and family members at East Hills.