The East Penn School District Board of School Directors unanimously approved a real estate tax resolution regarding misdirected 2025 real estate tax payments at the Sept. 8 regular board meeting.

The resolution exonerates tax collectors from collecting “penalties and to honor discount or face amounts for certain 2025 real estate tax payments misdirected through bill-pay services,” like from online payments made through a bank.

This provides some protection for taxpayers who made their payments on time but “in some cases, payments were misdirected by the financial institution to municipal bank accounts rather than being properly issued as paper checks to the elected municipal tax collector, even when the taxpayer correctly designated “EPSD–[Municipality] Tax Collector” as the payee.

“The Board of School Directors finds it just and reasonable to provide narrowly tailored relief due to the mistake of the financial institutions and not the taxpayer, while preserving the integrity of the statutory discount and penalty framework and avoiding precedent for unrelated late payments,” according to the approved resolution.

The resolution applies only to 2025 and requires the affected taxpayer to provide “substantial proof” with the refund request. The elected tax collector is authorized to administer these exonerations upon receipt of sufficient documentation.

“Pennsylvania law holds that taxpayers are responsible for ensuring their taxes are paid in a timely manner,” Solicitor Marc Fisher said. “There are very rare and limited exceptions to that requirement and this happens to be one of those.”

Fisher explained recent tax payments made through a Wells Fargo Bank’s and other financial institution’s online bill pay services were mistakenly sent to municipal accounts and not to the tax collector. He noted it may take several weeks for refunds of the misdirected payments to reach the affected taxpayers, causing them to miss school tax payment deadlines.

Fisher emphasized that because neither the taxpayers, tax collector, school district or municipal governments were at fault, those who were affected and missed the Aug. 31 discount deadline will receive relief on a limited basis.

There is a deadline for this: “No relief shall be available for payments received by a municipality after Oct. 31, 2025, regardless of when the refund or notification occurs.”

During her district update, Superintendent Dr. Kristen Campbell instructed parents and guardians to fill out the online returning student forms and update student medical information through the SNAP Health Portal for the 2025-2026 school year.

She encouraged families to allow their children to participate in a couple upcoming surveys, noting there is an option for them to view the questions and to opt out.

She listed wins for the Emmaus High School teams competing in boys and girls fall sports.

In partnership with the Emmaus Rotary Club, the district’s Fall 2025 Supplemental Feeding Program schedule is now posted on the district website.

Campbell put out another reminder there are flexible part-time positions still available for support staff, food service and crossing guards.

In personnel matters, Campbell introduced three board-approved new administrative hires to the directors. Newly-minted Supervisor of Humanities Sarah Raber, Supervisor of Special Education Karen Fairclough and Emmaus High School Assistant Principal Wendy Myers were warmly welcomed with a round of handshakes.

Michael Stamberger was approved as a second shift custodian at Lower Macungie Middle School pending documentation.

The East Penn School Directors voted collectively for the 2026 Pennsylvania School Boards Association Slate of Candidates running unopposed for the following positions: Holly Arnold from the Tunkhannock Area School District as president-elect and Matt Vannoy from Sharon City School District for vice president. They each serve one-year terms. Kathy K. Swope and Roberta M. Marcus were chosen to serve three-year terms as PSBA insurance trustees.

All voting was unanimous.

Lehigh Career & Technical Institute Joint Operating Committee member Adam Smith described the hard work put in by administration and staff over the summer to upgrade and prepare the facilities for the incoming 2025-2026 class of tech students.

There was one request to comment at the meeting. Lower Macungie Township resident Todd Farber advocated for stop-arm cameras being installed on district school buses.

He said programs like BusPatrol cameras generate evidence packages to help local law enforcement issue citations to drivers who ignore the red flashing lights at school bus stops. According to Farber, there is no cost to the school districts or transportation companies. The program is funded through the fines collected from violators. “Just wondering why East Penn does not have this when every other school in this area has stop-arm cameras,” Farber remarked. “Is it going to take a kid getting hit before something’s done?”

The next regular school board meeting is scheduled 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22. The public can access documents through BoardDocs via a link on the district website. Livestreaming of meetings is available on the district’s YouTube channel.