At the Whitehall-Coplay School Board meeting May 6, Brooke Clary, director of special education, introduced students from Whitehall High School’s student focus group.

The group was formed in 2013. One of its primary goals is to help the Life Skills students feel more involved with their school’s community.

There are 24 focus group students who partner, or buddy, with 35 Life Skills students from the high school and Whitehall-Coplay Middle School.

Focus group students will be spending time with their Life Skills buddies at the Special Olympics track and field event, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. May 9 at the high school stadium.

Senior Gabrielle Olivieri spoke about a grant the group was recently awarded.

“I would like to recognize the honor we have received from the Workforce of the Lehigh Valley. They have awarded a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor to feature the best practices in education in our region, and the funds that we received went to producing a video for local schools to show what we’re doing in the community. The student focus group and the Life Skills partnership have selected us as a representation of Whitehall High School,” she said.

In other business, the board voted to re-elect George Williams as treasurer from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020.

The board approved the adoption of the proposed final 2019-20 general fund budget in the amount of $74,634,331, an increase of 6.03 percent from the year before. The final budget balances revenues with projected expenditures, utilizing fund balance, at a tax rate of 18.0679 mills, an increase of 4.98 percent from the previous year.

The board approved the appointment of Fox Rothschild LLP as solicitor for the school district, with a retainer of $19,500 per year, and an hourly base rate of $185.

The board approved the district summer school program, which offers summer makeup courses to middle school and high school students who have failed classes during the year. The cost of summer school is charged to the students’ families on a tuition basis. Physical and health education courses cost $115, with all other courses costing between $225 and $300.

The board approved new high school textbooks and software, including “Intro to Criminal Justice,” at the cost of $4,273; “Hole’s Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology, H.S. Ed.,” at the cost of $3,942; “Hole’s Human Anatomy & Physiology, 15th edition,” at the cost of $19,635; and “Java Software Solutions of AP Computer Science, 3rd Ed.,” at the cost of $2,079.20.

The board adopted the middle school novel “OCDaniel,” by Wesley King, at the cost of $431.40, and “Interactive Music” as an elementary school resource, at the cost of $12,267.11.

The board approved a request from Mayor Michael P. Harakal Jr. for the use of three district buses for the Camp Whitehall program.

The contract with Sprinturf LLC, of Daniel Island, S.C., for the synthetic turf soccer/field hockey project was also approved.

The board voted on a resolution to accept bids to replace the high school’s roof. The resolution was approved.

The board will hold committee meetings on finance/personnel, operations/transportation and education/student activities 4 p.m. May 28 and June 24.

Other important dates include an intergovernmental meeting 6 p.m. May 16; athletic awards 6:30 p.m. May 29; senior awards 7 p.m. May 30; and graduation 7 p.m. June 3.

The next school board meeting will be held 7 p.m. June 10.