Staff hirings have been approved by Northampton Area School District Board of Education.

NASD school directors voted 9-0 at their most recent meeting, July 20, to approve Kyleigh Straub, TPE first-grade teacher at Lehigh Elementary School, as of Aug. 17, at $66,055, with benefits; Nicole Barthol, LTS kindergarten teacher at Lehigh Elementary School, Aug. 17-April 6, 2027, at $66,055, prorated, with maintaining ESPA benefits; Michelle Weissmann, 1:1 instructional assistant at Northampton Area High School, effective Aug. 17, at $22.38 per hour, with benefits, paid through ACCESS funding; and Austin Hicks, K-2 autistic support instructional assistant at East Allen Elementary School, effective Aug. 17, at $22.38 per hour, with benefits.

Other approvals included the following.

• Participation of April Krempasky and Courtney Schnyderite in the 2026-27 German American Partnership Program, June 8-25, 2027, which includes accompanying district students to Germany for the exchange visit and coordinating and hosting the visiting German students to the district. The cost to the district for the program will not exceed $3,600. The cost for the program is included in the board-approved 2026-27 curriculum budget.

• Full-time district staff, part-time district staff, substitutes, coaches and extracurricular staff to be eligible to serve in various roles associated with district initiatives, programs and events as needed and to authorize payment for these duties in accordance with their applicable contractual rates, established district hourly rates or approved substitute rates of pay, effective July 1 through June 30, 2027

• Revised professional and support staff transfer list, effective for the 2026-27 school year

• Mentor and inductee list for the 2026-27 school year, including stipend payments for 2026-27 school year

• Resignations of Anne Lutz, instructional assistant at Northampton Area Middle School, for retirement, effective June 4; Rachel Laird, teacher at Lehigh Elementary School, effective June 5; and Melissa Mayer, instructional assistant, George Wolf Elementary School, effective June 4

• File district-initiated tax assessment appeals for properties recommended for appeal based on Policy 628 guidelines

• Revised and new curricula for the 2026-27 school year: AP Computer Science Principles, HS Civics and Government, HS Personal Finance, HS Introduction to Business, HS Entrepreneurship, HS Business Law, HS Introduction to Programming, Grade 5 Growth and Development Lesson, MS Family and Consumer Science, MS Design Thinking & Innovation, HS Career Design Lab and HS Special Effects

• Contract with Lehigh Learning Academy to provide education and behavioral services to students

• Memorandum of understanding, summarizing the partnership between Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Lehigh Valley and NASD with $20,000 set aside from the 2025-26 IDEA CCEIS funds

At the May 11 meeting, NASD school directors voted 9-0 to approve transfers of Mary Frantz, supervisor of technology services to director of technology, at $117,000, with benefits, effective July 1; Joshua Deutsch, technology and assistive technology technician to supervisor of data and information services, at $90,000, with benefits, effective July 1; Timothy Vrabel, technology technician to network support lead, at $90,000, with benefits, effective July 1; and Bradley Charles, network analyst to senior network analyst, at $96,000, with benefits, effective July 1.

Other approvals included the following:

• 2026-27 Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 general operating budget of $4,697,319, with the NASD portion as $51,163 and costs for other CIU20 programs and services of approximately $7.2 million in 2026-27, an $800,000 increase from the 2025-26 school year; and Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit nonmember school district and charter schools special education services agreement

The school board next meets 6:30 p.m. Aug. 17 in the auditorium at NAHS, 1619 Laubach Ave., Northampton.