Catasauqua Area School District Board of Education held its Nov. 13 meeting at Lehigh Career and Technical Institute, Schnecksville.

The board mentioned discussions have been going well between Catasauqua Middle School Principal Melissa Inselmann and the CMS Parent-Teacher Forum regarding the dress code. Parents addressed the school board at the Aug. 14 meeting to share their concerns regarding inconsistencies and ambiguous wording they noted in the dress code. An updated, revised dress code is expected to be presented to the board in January.

Kathleen Kotran, district coordinator of instructional technology and federal programs, reported the district received $2,500 from the school safety grant program. She mentioned those funds will help go toward expenses for the new district school resource officer.

Dr. Christina Lutz-Doemling, director of curriculum and assessment, also informed the board the Educator in the Workplace program is progressing. The program is possible because the school district received a special grant from the state that allows members of the school district community to get out into the world and talk to employers from different industries. This will help educators gain a better understanding of future career needs. They will use this information to help shape the curriculum to better prepare students for the future.

She reported they made some positive connections at a Nov. 7 event at DaVinci Science Center and its Made in America program. These connections were with people from Manufacturers Resource Center. The MRC Dream Team brings different interactive presentations into the classroom to connect with students about exploring manufacturing careers. She mentioned several teachers have already reached out to try and schedule a visit from the Dream Team.

Lutz-Doemling added they will be visiting with B. Braun and PPL in December.

The board approved several extracurricular positions for the 2018-19 school year. Thomas Reap, Brandon Keks, Thomas Falzone, Brett Zieber and James Snyder were all approved as assistant boys basketball coaches. The approved assistant girls basketball coaches are Robert Ardle, Steven Bradley, Joshua Blake and Katie Buczynski. Kyle Rusnock and Branden Strohl were appointed as assistant wrestling coaches. Ashley Schmidt was approved as the Future Business Leaders of America adviser.

There were several substitutes approved at the meeting as well. Thomas Eroh, recently retired bus driver, was added as a substitute bus driver with Virgil Roque. Several guest teachers were added to the substitute list, including Kenneth Reiter, Hannah Arnold, Anna Trzaska, Stefan Trzaska, Fatoumata Savane-Diakite, Steven Semmel and Barley Melcher. Christopher Creyer was approved as a substitute teacher.

Catasauqua High School Principal Adam Schnug reported National Honor Society students are beginning their efforts to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. According to Schnug, the students are aiming to raise $2,000 for the organization.

Lois Reed, district business supervisor, provided the board an update on the work the Catasauqua Community Cares Program is doing in the district. This group works toward fighting food insecurity among students and sends students, who might not otherwise have anything to eat, home with food on the weekend. They prepared approximately 150 bags for students to take home over the Thanksgiving weekend. These bags contained foods like cereal, pasta, macaroni and cheese and peanut butter.

With the Thanksgiving holiday taken care of, the group is now focusing on preparing for the longer Christmas break. Community members can help by dropping food donations off at Catasauqua Middle School, 850 Pine St. Specific items asked for are macaroni and cheese, cereal, canned soup, peanut butter, crackers, pudding cups, fruit cups, granola bars, breakfast bars and individual snacks. The group also collects cash donations and checks made payable to Catasauqua Area School District Activities - C3P.

The board will next meet Dec. 4 for the reorganization meeting. The board meets in the board room of the district administration office, 201 N. 14th St.