Board Meeting: March 20, 2000
Minutes
BETHLEHEM AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT MARCH 20, 2000
BOARD OF SCHOOL DIRECTORS REGULAR MEETING
REGULAR MEETING
The Regular Meeting of the Board of School Directors of the Bethlehem Area School
District was held on March 20, 2000, beginning at 7:09 p.m., in the Auditorium,
at East Hills Middle School, 2005 Chester Road, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
MEMBERS PRESENT
The Board Secretary called the roll: Members present: Directors Amato, Craig,
Gallagher, Glancy, Heske, Leeson, Venanzi, Williams, and Koch - 9. Student
member representatives Ann Fischer and Joseph Svetecz were also present.
OTHERS PRESENT
Others present: Thomas J. Doluisio, Superintendent of Schools; Paul Stevens,
Solicitor; Stanley J. Majewski, Jr., Board Secretary; administrators; members of
the press and other interested citizens and staff members.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
At this point in the meeting, the Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
SILENT MEDITATION
President Koch requested that the audience observe a moment of silent meditation.
SPECIAL MEETINGS
Mr. Doluisio reported the following executive session of the board:
An executive session of the Board of School Directors was held this evening.
Student discipline and a student concern regarding special education placement
were discussed.
COURTESY OF THE FLOOR TO VISITORS
The following persons addressed the Board of School Directors:
1. Naomi Grossman of Vitalistic Therapeutic Center stated that there is
unfinished business regarding the application for the Vitalistic Therapeutic
Center. On February 24 some board members visited the Vitalistic Therapeutic
Center. Vitalistic staff was pleased that the board members took the time to
visit and seemed enthusiastic about the children and program. Vitalistic staff
also visited the classes that were suggested by the Bethlehem Area School Board
members, in particular the S.P.A.R.K. program. They also attempted to visit the
partial hospitalization program which is under the auspices of Colonial
Northampton Intermediate Unit where the school district contracts for pupils of
the district. Because of confidential issues, this meeting was postponed. It
was learned that the program allows enrollment of four grade levels in that one
class. Addressing the district's concerns of duplication of services, Mrs.
Grossman stated that the ages of children in both of these programs were outside
the parameters of Vitalistic's application. The S.P.A.R.K. program is definitely
a preschool program. The partial hospitalization classroom has nine older
children, mainly in fourth and fifth grades. This is not within Vitalistic's
target age group of their application. Vitalistic feels assured they have not
duplicated any services available in the Bethlehem Area School District which
would be applicable to their application. Mrs. Grossman stated that Vitalistic
has submitted a letter to the district's counsel to help clarify why the vote was
taken on February 28. In conclusion she stated that in good faith Vitalistic
attempted to answer every question asked by the district, supplied hundreds of
pages of documentation in three books. It is interesting that the
administration, just before the vote, brought forth ten reasons why the board
should not vote for the charter. However, Vitalistic is finding difficulty in
finding something new that was not addressed by the state appeal board.
Vitalistic also submitted that in its yellow book which is in the application.
Mrs. Grossman thanked the district for its time. The application is taken. It
was not a frivolous application, quite the opposite. Vitalistic did bring before
the board a school that has performed a much needed service to this community for
27 years, one which is led by talented community volunteer board members and a
group willing to be the founders of a charter school in this region. Their
purpose was only to assure the continuation of this therapeutic educational model
for children who are in need of this program. She stated it is regrettable that
the board and administration did not see the school in the same light as many
social agencies, schools, and business groups. Mrs. Grossman thanked all those
who wrote letters of support.
FEDERAL PROGRAMS UPDATE
Mr. Doluisio stated that at the January 2000 board meeting, the board gave
authorization for the administration to apply for funds under the Reading
Excellence Act. The primary goal for this grant is to insure that every child is
reading by the end of grade three. The district submitted a proposal on behalf
of the three eligible schools: Donegan, Marvine, and Fountain Hill, that would
assist those schools in meeting the district's literacy goals. The district has
been notified that it has received a $500,000 grant award for the 2000-2001
school year. Another $500,000 will be available to the district the following
year, provided the district meets our program goals. Mr. Doluisio congratulated
those principals, Mrs. Cintr—n, and everyone else having a part in bringing half
a million dollars to the children in those three schools.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
Mr. Doluisio acknowledged a significant accomplishment on the part of Nitschmann
Middle School. Nitschmann has long had a very competitive Math Counts team,
competing with other schools and school districts across the state. At the
state's competition, Nitschmann won first place in the Math Counts competition.
David Chi, one of the four student team members, took fourth place across the
state in the competition. His team mates: Vince Roscioli, Kyle Super, and John
Abbott also contributed a great deal to the number one ranking that Nitschmann
achieved. It is a major achievement for our school district and Nitschmann
Middle School, Tom Kartsotis, and his staff. The coach is Chuck Bloss. Because
of being coach for the number one team, he will be the coach of Pennsylvania's
team in the national competition which will take place in Washington, D.C., later
this spring. Mr. Doluisio offered his heartiest congratulations to Nitschmann,
Tom Kartsotis, and Chuck Bloss. Mr. Perfetti stated that Mr. Bloss and his team
will be at the May meeting to be recognized. Director Glancy added that this is
the second time Nitschmann has won the Math Counts state championship under Mr.
Bloss's direction.
PRESIDENT'S COMMUNICATIONS
President Koch stated she received a letter of thanks from the Allentown School
Board for including them in the hearing with Vitalistic Therapeutic Center. It
is a good thing to work with other school boards from time-to-time.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Curriculum Committee - Director Williams reported that the Curriculum Committee
met on March 6. The committee was presented with an overview and examples of the
implementation of math programs in elementary, middle, and high schools. At the
elementary level, the Addison Wesley and the "Investigation Series" are used.
Used at the middle school level is the "Connected Mathematics Program" and the
"Core Plus" in the high school. The focus of the three instructional approaches
is the achievement of standards in mathematics. The committee also viewed a
standard paced math class at Freedom High School on the video presentations being
viewed one per month.
Finance Committee - Director Glancy reported that the Finance Committee met on
March 13. The meeting opened with a discussion on tax incremental financing.
Representatives were present from Bethlehem Steel, City of Bethlehem, and the
Redevelopment Authority of the City of Bethlehem. Bethlehem Steel is now
requesting a revision to the plan that the district already approved to include
paying for structured parking facilities. This would require that the time frame
be extended from 12 to 20 years and the financing amount change from $7,000,000
to $30,000,000. Once the additional $1,500,000 in taxes from the project is
generated and retained by the TIF district, 85% of the taxes will be put into
escrow and 15% will be kept by the city, county, and school district. By the
year 2005, it is anticipated that additional tax revenue in the amount of
$507,000 will be generated and deposited with the school district. By 2010, the
school district may receive $920,000 in tax revenue; in 2021, the school district
may receive $4,100,000 a year in tax revenue from this project. The board was
very excited about the possibilities this project will generate for our community
and the region.
Facilities Committee - Director Heske stated he was not present, but reviewed the
minutes of the March 6 Facilities Committee meeting. Facilities related agenda
items were reviewed. There was an update on the construction progress.
Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School - Director Venanzi reported that the
Vo-Tech Board met on March 7. The highlight of the meeting was a young girl who
was the winner of the VICA skills presentation in the prepared speech. It's
always nice when students come to the meeting and show their skills.
Northampton Community College - President Koch stated the main thing received at
the Community College Board of Trustees meeting on March 2 was a presentation
about the adult basic education program, most of which is done off campus. They
have GED programs, ESL, family literacy, basic parenting classes. They talked
about how this state is considered a semi-high immigration state with many new
people coming in from both South America and the former Soviet States. These
programs are basically grant driven. There is also a basic work force
development program which has placed over 500 people into jobs in the area. They
run work-placed literacy programs. There are several industries in the area
whose workers do not speak very much English.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A motion was made by Directors Leeson and Venanzi to approve the minutes of the
February 14, 2000, Special Board Meeting and February 28, 2000, Regular Board
Meeting. The motion carried by voice vote.
RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE ADMINISTRATION
Mr. Doluisio presented the recommendations of the administration.
NEW AND MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS
Mr. Doluisio commented on Mrs. Grossman's statements. The night of the hearing
he saw what was characterized as an endorsement by Northampton Community College
of the Vitalistic Therapeutic proposal. Tonight, again, verbally, the district
has been told that the community college has endorsed this charter school
proposal. He stated he needs to clear the air, because that is not the fact. The
fact is that an employe of the community college, using the community college
letterhead, wrote a letter in support of Vitalistic Therapeutic. That is a long
stretch away from the college endorsing Vitalistic. Mr. Doluisio stated he has
spoken personally with the president of the college, who assured him that what he
has just stated is correct.
President Koch thanked Kathleen Parrish for the wonderful article she did on our
school programs. One reason she brought this up is since we have our wonderful
New Standards program we are so proud of it. She received in the mail a request
for participation at the Public Education Excellence Fair. Some board members
will remember attending this presentation, the School Leadership Conference, at
the Hershey Convention Center. At the first one we attended, board members
walked up and down the aisles looking at all the other participating school
districts. Our board members would ask them what they are doing in new
standards, and the participants looked very blankly at us. We concluded that we
were far ahead of these people in so many things and asked why we were not a
participating district. President Koch requested that we consider entering this.
We have so much to show off. We should be sharing with the other school
districts and bragging about what we're doing.
Director Craig added that one of the sessions he attended at that conference had
to do with alternative programs for students who are struggling. He brought up
our David Project and was amazed that none of the group members knew what type of
program he was talking about.
COURTESY OF THE FLOOR TO VISITORS
No one wished to address the Board of School Directors.
ADJOURNMENT
Directors Gallagher and Glancy moved to adjourn the meeting which carried by
voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 7:46 p.m.
Attest,
Stanley J. Majewski, Jr. Board Secretary
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