After observing a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims of the recent unrest in Charlottesville, Va., the East Penn Board of School Directors received sunny news about the district climate survey results at the Aug. 14 meeting.

Assistant Superintendent Denise Torma, who coordinated the project, introduced Romina Fraiegari from the National School Climate Center to the board. Fraiegari presented a district overview of the results of a recent survey taken by faculty, administration, staff, students in grades three to 12 and their parents or guardians. Each group had been questioned on how they perceive the school’s climate for learning and with a high response rate, all were pretty much on the same page.

Fraiegari explained on a scale of one to five, a score of 2.5 or lower was “negative,” 2.5 to 3.5 was “neutral” and above 3.5 was considered “positive.” NSCC factored in the median score where the respondents’ averages were considered at mid-point as being more accurate than a means average.

In the 10 schools surveyed, East Penn scores were “Overwhelmingly positive for the district,” Fraiegari said, in the areas of safety rules and norms, social support for adults and students in the broader category of interpersonal relationships and in the physical surroundings. East Penn also scored high in respect for diversity.

She noted areas for improvement included a sense of social-emotional security and in social and civic learning. “It is common to see scores for this dimension dip as students transition to higher grades,” Fraiegari said.

Torma told the board they will now, “Unpack the results on the district and school levels,” with a focus on common themes and with factoring in other data.

School superintendent Dr. Michael Schilder and board president Alan Earnshaw expressed opinions school climate directly affects student achievement.

Along the lines of student achievement, Schilder announced the administration decided to make changes to the grading system, abandoning the tougher 92 to 100 percent for an “A” for a range that would be considered “more fair.” Starting with the current 2017-2018 school year, 90 to 100 percent is an “A,” 80 to 89 percent is a “B,” 70 to 79 percent is a “C” and 60 to 69 percent is a “D.” Anything below 60 percent is considered “failing.”

Schilder said the decision was made after two years of consideration and is one that does not come under the purview of the board. When asked by board member Carol Allen how it compares with Parkland’s grades, Schilder responded “Parkland has 90 to 100.”

The board accepted the resignations of Emmaus High School English teacher Jamie Nemet effective July 14 and Eyer Middle School speech teacher Blaire Blaufarb effective Sept. 30.

Three school nurses also tendered resignations during the summer break. These were Pamela Deysher-Blacker from EHS, Katie Hall from Shoemaker Elementary School and Darla Stoeckmann from Willow Lane Elementary School.

Judith Lingold was approved by the directors to teach fifth grade at Macungie Elementary School with a start date of Aug. 21.

Matthew Richards was also approved to teach chemistry at EHS to replace Paul Valent who recently resigned.

The school board went through the first reading of school district operations policy series 800 – Operations: Part 2 of 2 and series 200 – Pupils.

Director Charles Ballard reported the state legislature was in recess. Ballard said, “We have a budget but no money to pay for it,” and a pending School Code Bill hasn’t passed both houses either.

Directors Rev. Waldemar Vinovskis, Carol Allen and Ballard were appointed as voting delegates for the upcoming PSBA Delegate Assembly.

A 15-minute executive session was held on real estate matters prior to Monday’s public board meeting and another executive session was held on personnel matters following adjournment.

The East Penn Board of School Directors meet regularly 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of each month.

The next meeting is scheduled Aug. 28 in the board room of the administration building.