On the first day of the 2019-20 school year in Northampton Area School District, an increase in fifth-grade enrollment at Col. John Siegfried Elementary School, Northampton, necessitated hiring an additional elementary school teacher.

As classes got underway Aug. 26, the NASD Board of Education approved hiring a consultant to see what other enrollment increases may be on the horizon, an issue that could determine the fate of existing buildings, new facilities and the district’s 90-some-acre Seemsville property.

School directors voted unanimously 9-0 at the Aug. 26 board meeting to approve, on recommendation of the administration, Mary Ann Weaver as a fifth-grade elementary teacher at Siegfried Elementary School, effective retroactive to Aug. 26 for the 2019-20 school year, at an annual salary of $52,755.

The school board also voted 9-0, as recommended by the administration, to approve an $8,750 contract with FutureThink for an enrollment projection study and redistricting analysis.

“For the first time in my career as superintendent, we had a spike in fifth-grade enrollment before the start of the school term,” NASD Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik said after the meeting.

“[Aug. 21, 22 and 23], we had 10 students enroll, five on Friday, in grade 5 alone at Siegfried,” Kovalchik said.

Prior to the enrollment increase, the fifth-grade class size average of Siegfried’s six fifth-grade classrooms was 27. With the increase, class size average increased to 32, which Kovalchik described as “not the best enrollment for our students.” With the additional teacher and classroom, class size average is 26.

Consulting with Borough Elementary Schools Principal Renee Sallit, it was decided, Kovalchik said, to convert Siegfried’s STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) classroom to a fifth-grade classroom.

The hiring of the fifth-grade teacher brings the number of new teachers hired in August to three. At the Aug. 12 board meeting, two kindergarten teachers were hired, one each at George Wolf Elementary School, Bath, and Lehigh Elementary School, Lehigh Township, because of an August spike in kindergarten enrollment at the two schools.

Kovalchik said the average number of additional teachers hired in August in NASD is two.

FutureThink has worked with more than 1,000 pre-K-12 school districts “to make informed decisions to improve their learning environments,” according to the firm’s website. The firm has done enrollment projects for school districts across the United States.

Kovalchik said FutureThink will look at NASD enrollment and its buildings.

“They’re going to project out to see what development may be occurring, as well as commercial projects. We want to see where the growth is,” he said.

“The district has four buildings, three of which are about 100 years old, and one of which is about 60 years old,” Kovalchik said after the meeting.

Kovalchik said the study is part of NASD’s capital and facilities study. Older buildings include Washington, the tech center, with 15 employees; administration building, with 30 employees; Franklin Elementary School, with 130 kindergarten students; and Moore Elementary School, with 400 students.

There are 840 students in Borough Elementary Schools (Siegfried and Franklin), 500 students at Lehigh Elementary School and 500 students at George Wolf Elementary School.

Concerning the Route 329 Seemsville property, Kovalchik said, “If we’re going to pursue that property as a project, or other property, it will be in terms of our future growth in the district. We’re collecting data to make a sound education decision in the interest of the district.”

Shifting student population in the district is where the redistricting analysis of the FutureThink study comes into play.

Kovalchik said the FutureThink study will take two months. He expects to have the results by November.

Kovalchik said the first day of classes went well.

“Overall, it was a very nice run of opening day,” he said, noting he visited the secondary campus and elementary school campuses.

The start of the school year held special significance for at least one school director, who saw his grandson off to his first day of kindergarten.

School Director John Becker said, “I’d like to thank the Lehigh Elementary School staff for making my grandson’s first day go well.”

Becker, his wife, Debra, and his son’s mother-in-law, Chris Hosen, waited with grandson Tobias Becker for his first school bus ride. Becker’s twin grandchildren, Emmett and Charlotte, 3, were also there.

Tobias’ father and Becker’s son, Jacob, is a Northampton Area Middle School social studies teacher. Tobias’ mother, Crystal, is an NAMS guidance counselor. They had to be at NAMS and couldn’t be at the bus stop.

Tobias’ parents, however, were at the bus stop at the end of the school day, as was John Becker, who said of Tobias, “He was tired by the time he got home.”