At the Dec. 4 Catasauqua Area School District Board of Education meeting, board members took the opportunity to reorganize for 2019.

They unanimously re-elected Carol Cunningham as president and Duane Dietrich as vice president. The board also unanimously voted to reappoint David Knerr as the solicitor for the school district and Don Panto as the Pennsylvania School Boards Association liaison.

Superintendent Robert Spengler gave a brief preliminary presentation on the budget talks for the 2019-20 school year. He said he is requesting not to exceed a 2.9-percent property tax increase. Spengler reported he was being conservative with the numbers thus far since it is so early in the planning. The current plans report $32,381,820 in revenue, a $778,000 increase.

He mentioned the district is already planning some capital projects, including sidewalk work, a bus replacement, new lockers for the sixth grade, Alumni Field work and computer and server upgrades. Spengler said he also recommends adding another school resource officer for Catasauqua Middle School and Sheckler Elementary School.

Sheckler Principal Eric Dauberman took time to honor the Students of the Month for November. They are Alexander Bernini and Lilliana Raad from first grade, Alexandra Ruberte and Bentley Weaver from second grade, Destiny Falk and Emery Miller from third grade and Liam McGinley and Chloe Paulas from fourth grade.

CMS Principal Melissa Inselmann announced the Star Players of the Month for both October and November. The October students include Oghosa (Chelsea) Ehanire, fifth grade; Brooke Weidaw, sixth grade; Alexis Henry, seventh grade; and Avah Cosenza, eighth grade. Those honored for November are Jonathan Barber, fifth grade; Doryan Cene, sixth grade; Dylan Carfara, seventh grade; and Kyli Cruz, eighth grade.

Inselmann and seventh-grade teacher Lisa Roth gave a brief discussion on the Shop With a Cop program, which was held Dec. 1. They mentioned there were 14 families that took part in the event, which pairs students with Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority officers for a shopping trip at Target at Airport Center. This program helps students and families who might not have the means to buy gifts during the holidays the opportunity to share in the Christmas spirit. The Random Acts organization provided $300 per family for the students to buy Christmas gifts for their families as well as a $100 Wegmans gift card to assist with holiday dinner shopping. This year’s participants also received a sweatshirt from Phillipsburg Easton Honda. Roth brought a sweatshirt for Cunningham as president of the board.

The board voted to approve several student teachers and interns. Robert Merel, from Muhlenberg College, will work with high school social studies teacher Eric Anthony, effective March 18-May 8, 2019. Frank Lukaitis, from DeSales University, will work with high school English teacher Michaela LaBar, effective Jan. 18-April 19, 2019. Patrick Ludlow, from DeSales University, will work with high school social studies teacher Alexis Sziy, effective Jan. 18-April 19, 2019. Tracy Davis, from Lehigh University, will work with Dr. Christina Lutz-Doemling, director of curriculum and assessment, effective Dec. 3-May 31, 2019.

Wayne Karess, district network manager, reported he and Knerr have been working on a proposal to update the wireless access points in the district. This would include upgrading 30 old points and adding 50 new ones. This would bring the total number of wireless access points in the district to 140.

The board will next meet 7 p.m. Jan. 8 in the district administration office board room, 201 N. 14th St.