At the Catasauqua Area School District Board of Education meeting Sept. 11, the board voted on the final plan of the school district’s comprehensive plan for 2019-22. Director of Curriculum and Assessment Dr. Christina Lutz-Doemling said this plan meets all the state’s Department of Education requirements and has been a work in progress over the past few years. It was unanimously approved.

Lutz-Doemling was also excited to have the board vote on the new advanced placement calculus course to be offered at the high school. She reported the class already has five students and meets all the requirements for a college class.

“It’s good to see another AP class in the curriculum,” board member Duane Dietrich commented.

Board members voted to approve the second reading of the new food services policy, as well as the policy for audio and video devices on buses and the policy regarding homeless students.

Jessica Kroope, Catasauqua Borough councilwoman and school district parent, raised some concerns about the homeless students.

“Until I attended the meeting last month, I had no idea we had homeless students,” she said.

She went on to ask about what resources are made available to these students.

Superintendent of Schools Robert Spengler reported the district has homeless liaisons who work with the students and their families to get them into a more stable position. It was also mentioned the teachers and staff have banded together to help the students as well.

Kroope suggested running a coat drive to help these students prepare for the colder weather.

As an additional note, Kroope mentioned that she, other members of borough council and members of Main Streets, the borough’s small business owners association, are working on decorating the new municipal building. She said they are considering using one of the areas as a gallery for artwork created by the high school students.

Board President Carol Cunningham reported that thanks to the new addition of a school resource officer in the district, Catasauqua Area School District is fully compliant with recommended action from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.

Laura Gregson, a teacher at the elementary school, has been approved for tenure.

The board appointed additional extracurricular positions for the 2018-19 school year as well. Amanda Graser has been approved as the indoor winter guard instructor, with Robert Arnold as the assistant instructor. Both Selena Safadi and Megan Kanyuk were approved as assistant field hockey coaches.

Kroope was approved to serve as a substitute teacher, and Jennifer Fendrick was approved as a substitute van driver.

Spengler reported there will be a town hall meeting regarding the opioid epidemic. It will be held 6 p.m. Sept. 27 at Catasauqua High School.

He also took time to comment on how well the opening of the new school year went.

“Thank you to our parents, teachers, support staff, administrators and community for such a smooth start,” he said.

As mentioned before, one of the focuses for the new year is to identify the district’s priorities for the future. To accomplish this, there will be a number of surveys released to gather more information from community members and parents. There is a community survey posted on the school district’s website, cattysd.org, now.

Spengler wants as much input from the community as possible to enhance the district and bring it to the forefront of modern education.

The next school board meeting will be 7 p.m. Oct. 9 in the district administration office, 201 N. 14th St.