The East Penn Board of School Directors reviewed a presentation on proposed school counseling K-8 curriculum at the Feb. 23 regular meeting.

Director of Educational Alternatives Jennifer Carolla was assisted by Dr. Susan Fuller, a school counselor at Jefferson Elementary School and District Instructional Coach Tiffany Shimmel in explaining the social emotional learning curriculum and related resources.

School counseling K-8 curriculum aligns with the district comprehensive plan (2025-2028) to provide a culture for learning that fosters increased attendance and student engagement.

Each level of the curriculum builds on life skills learned in kindergarten like “name feelings and ask for help,” “learn personal space and boundaries” and “identify trusted adults,” through using coping skills to respond respectfully to feedback, peer pressure and stress, recognizing bullying, as well as monitoring and adjusting goals in the higher grades.

These lessons are a reflection of PA ACT 71: Youth Suicide Awareness and Prevention and Erin’s Law and PA ACT 61: Anti-Bullying Law.

Tier 1 schoolwide instruction is to be delivered with consistent pacing and language across all schools. With grades K-5, the counseling lessons are provided one or two times per month and with grades 6-8, the counseling lessons would be provided twice per trimester.

Resources for this would be “Harmony” for K-5 by Harmony Academy, “Positivity Project (P2)” by Positivity Project for Grades 6-8 and “Erin’s Law Curriculum” for K-8 by Erin’s Law Foundation, Emily Kuhn, Abby Schaber, Rachel Anderson and Dr. Abbi M. Long.

Success would be measured through student surveys and counselor contact data.

Business Administrator and Treasurer Robert Saul provided the board with a 2026-2027 budget: expenditure presentation. In his overview, Saul explained “Roughly 85-90% of the budget growth is concentrated in three areas: wages, benefit and transportation.”

Saul described how group insurance premiums are going up as well as transportation costs and charter/cyber school tuition.

The rise in Lehigh Career & Technical Institute contributions are related to the larger number of East Penn students enrolling in the tech school.

While debt service payments are declining as debt is paid off, Saul noted the district still needs to work on reducing the projected $2,141,801 budget deficit representing approximately 1% of total expenditures.

As a work in process, there are several more steps to go, as more data becomes available, until the last presentation and adoption of the final budget happens June 8.

The board was given an opportunity to review a draft of the 2026-2027 East Penn School District student/teacher calendar.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Douglas Povilaitis explained the calendar features 183 student days and 189 teacher days, with two inclement weather makeup days already built into the calendar. If needed, additional inclement weather days would include March 24, 2027 as a full day or if three closings occur on or before March 15, 2027, there will be early dismissal March 25. The tentative student’s first day for the new school year is Aug. 24 with graduation tentative for June 6, 2027.

If fewer than three inclement weather days are used, the last day of school will be June 9, 2027. Otherwise, June 10, 11, 14, 15 and 16, 2027 will be makeup days if needed.

The school board voted unanimously to adopt a Public School Facility Improvement Grant Resolution requesting a Public School Facility Improvement Grant in the amount of $7,049,200 from the Commonwealth Financing Authority to be used for a Guaranteed Energy Savings Act facility improvement project at Lincoln Elementary School.

These energy-saving projects include heating, ventilation and air conditioning system upgrades, health and safety improvements, building envelope upgrades and other eligible facility modernization measures. If successful, the grant would offset 75% of the cost for the already planned project, Saul said.

When asked by board members, Facilities Director Steven Onushco said the district could possibly apply for this grant for related work on the high school in the future as infrastructure projects are being phased in.

The directors also voted unanimously to adopt a resolution to establish a Technology Stabilization Fund within Fund 39 (other capital projects fund) for the purpose of setting aside and reserving financial resources to finance long-term capital investments in district-wide technology infrastructure. These include expenditures related to wireless and wired network systems, server and data center infrastructure, core switching and backup systems, as well as network security and fire wall systems.

Povilaitis and Solicitor Marc Fisher fielded questions during a second reading of one new policy on non-curriculum related, nonschool-sponsored, student-initiated groups and updates to existing policies on academic standards, curriculum, exemption from instruction, extracurricular activities, interscholastic athletics, diabetes management, and district social media.

In her district update, Dr. Kristen Campbell lauded Emmaus High School alumnae Alli Hoff Kosik, author of a soon to be released debut novel titled , “Too Blessed to Stress.”

“It has been a really busy weekend for our winter athletes,” Campbell said, as she listed championship accomplishments by the high school rifle team, girls basketball team, boys swim team, girls swim team, boys wrestling and girls wrestling. She recognized seven LCTI students inducted into National Technical Honor Society from EHS. Spring sports practice begins March 1.

The superintendent said local scholarship opportunities have opened up for current high school seniors through the district’s counseling website and applications are due March 13.

She encouraged members of the community to check out the Emmaus International Fair 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 7 in the EHS Cafeteria. Campbell promoted the spring musical “Jekyll & Hyde” scheduled for March 23 for Golden Age Card holders and March 24-29, as well as other theatrical productions hosted at the middle and elementary schools.

Kindergarten registration opens online March 1 and yearbook sales are underway. The district is working on the 2026 Summer Camp & Activity Guide and seeks information from local organizations offering summer programming.

“Pretty quiet in DC and Harrisburg,” Jeffrey Jankowski said as he spoke about Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed state budget with $20.6 billion allocated to the Pennsylvania Department of Education during his legislative report. There is pending legislation in the works on student cellphone bans in schools. A cursive writing law for schools has recently passed. Jankowski noted an increase in education funding on the federal level.

There were no requests for public comment.

President Shonta Ford mentioned an executive session was held before the public forum 6 p.m. on “confidential and legal matters.”

The next regular school board meeting is scheduled 7:30 p.m. March 9. 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.