Despite the school board’s summer calendar mandating only one July meeting, its members – sans Vice President Susan Baxter and board member Edward Andres – met July 12 to approve several new hires.

The meeting – which followed on the heels of June 28’s annual budget confirmation – lasted a brisk eight-and-a-half minutes, with President Dr. Shamim Pakzad breezing through the otherwise limited agenda.

Notably, the board approved three full-time specialized teachers and one dedicated substitute for employment. The first three, Megan Bath, Devin Kelly and Beverly Sparling, were appointed to their new positions as a package.

In a self-submitted biography in the district’s email newsletter, Bath said she taught at Colonial Intermediate Unit 20’s Colonial Academy in the Partial Hospitalization Program for the past eight years. She will work in the high school helping students needing emotional support.

DeSales University and Cedar Crest College graduate Kelly will be employed as a learning support teacher in the middle school. She said she’s no stranger to the district, having spent several years with Colonial IU 20 on campus at the elementary school in an instructional assistant role.

Sparling has a Master’s Degree in education from Temple University and spent eight years as a student, teacher and missionary in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. She will join the elementary school’s Spanish Immersion program.

Additionally, the board approved Caitlin Pages, a Maryland native with seven years of experience as a language arts teacher, as a long-term substitute teacher dedicated to special education.

In other news, Pakzad somewhat surprisingly informed attendees of the board’s recent receipt of Andres’ formal letter of resignation. District Solicitor Mark Fitzgerald said that upon its approval – which will likely be determined at the July 26 meeting - the next steps in naming his replacement will be further discussed.