The Northwestern Lehigh School Board met at 7 p.m. Sept. 16, with President Todd Hernandez calling the meeting to order.

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association and the Northwestern Lehigh School District School Board recognized Becky Hite, Lauren Hunsicker and Jennifer Sevantis for their five years of service.

Board members approved several personnel changes including resignations, substitute recommendations and position changes.

The board members also approved student internship experiences with East Stroudsburg University and DeSales University.

James Hawk, director of operations, asked board members to approve quarterly water testing and routine inventory checks, as well as adjustments to treatment programs at Northwestern and Weisenberg elementary schools, Northwestern Middle and High schools.

First-grade and second-grade students at Weisenberg will attend Princess Who? at the Children’s Theater at DeSales University in April with costs covered by student activities.

A Character Education assembly for Weisenberg Elementary will occur in March.

Administrators reported that the school year has begun with enthusiasm from students and staff.

Fall activities include a fun run at Weisenberg Elementary Sept. 26 and at Northwestern Elementary Oct. 8.

A sixth-grade mixer occurred Sept. 11 at the middle school. The mixer was successful and sponsored by the PTO.

The Northwestern Lehigh School District Foundation announced three upcoming fundraisers: Sept. 23 — Drizzle Ice Cream — Tiger Takeover, The Buttered Crumb — Order potpies and shoofly pies for pickup Oct. 1 and a Clay Shoot — Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays (4 person teams) Oct. 18.

Jason Zimmerman, athletic director, was incredibly happy to report that Northwestern Lehigh will now have a sports psychologist who will work with student athletes.

The psychologist will help students address school, sports, peer pressure and other challenges.

An assembly for the entire student body as well as a parent session with the psychologist will occur later in the year.

A Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) grant has funded the psychologist program.

Zimmerman mentioned the new athletic website is easier to navigate.

Also new, the concession stand will now take credit card payments.

Zimmerman was also pleased to report on a new digital Hall of Fame started very successfully this fall.

Northwestern Lehigh has once again applied to participate in T-Mobile’s Friday Night 5G Lights competition, which offers eligible schools the opportunity to compete for football field improvements and other prizes including $5,000.

Schools can rally their communities by sharing on social media to get additional sweepstakes entries.

A major topic of discussion was a memorandum of agreement between the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit (CLIU) and Northwestern Lehigh School District regarding required wellness checks for full-time online students.

The students attending Northwestern’s Digital Academy full-time are in that category.

These wellness checks are a new Pennsylvania mandate, and schools must comply.

Northwestern reached out to CLIU for support with this process which includes weekly checks designed to monitor student participation, the safety of the learning environment and the general well-being of students learning from home.

CLIU will coordinate the weekly meeting with students.

If the student misses the meeting, CLIU will document attempts to contact the family and schedule a second meeting.

If the student misses two meetings, a conference will be set up.

If contact between the student and CLIU is not established, an officer from the Northwestern School District will make a home visit.

The district hopes to use a safety and mental health grant to cover the cost of the program.

If there is inadequate grant funding, the expense would come from the school’s general fund. The CLIU support passed with a 3-2 vote.