East Penn School District

Willow Lane Plans Approved in Narrow Vote

Directors of the East Penn School Board vote 4-3 in favor of approving physical changes to the Willow Lane Elementary School grounds.

In a vote that couldn't have been any closer, the East Penn School Board on Monday approved the physical changes—site revisions—to the Willow Lane Elementary School grounds. Alan Earnshaw, Francee Fuller, Kenneth Bacher and President Charles Ballard voted in favor of the approval, and Lynn Donches, Julian Stolz and Michael Policano voted against. Samuel Rhodes and Rebecca Heid were absent. Ten parents approached the board during the public comment segment of the meeting to express their extreme displeasure with the plan that was presented at the Feb. 25 meeting. Parent Susan Coenen presented a 17-page report that she says demonstrates that the district's plan is in direct conflict with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's "Safe …

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careless fills

2:14 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2013

will do mr. donches - your tape should be definitive. FYI mcall.com makes a direct quote - In siding with the parents, school Director Julian Stolz said: "When you get their approval, you'll get mine." in the present version of their story: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/eastpenn/mc-east-penn-willow-lane-0311-20130312,0,2637335.story dated 9:08 p.m. EDT, March 12, 2013 which appears to be a 17 …   more ›

East Penn School District

East Penn's 2013-14 Budget to Stay Within State Tax Cap

Directors decided East Penn School District does not need the safety net of going beyond its index this year.

The East Penn Board of School Directors on Monday unanimously agreed not to exceed its state-imposed tax cap of 1.7 percent as it hunkers down to formulate its 2013-2014 budget. Each year the state calculates a rate cap for each district. For 2013-14, East Penn's rate cap -- the maximum amount taxes could go up -- is 1.7 percent. The calculation does not mean taxes will automatically go up 1.7 percent, but they won't go higher than that. For the past several years the board voted to exceed the maximum tax rate decided for the district by the state, but this year it doesn't need to. Before the vote, Business Manager Debra Surdoval presented the budget outlook which also included a look back at the 2012-13 fiscal year. "The ending fund …

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Giovanni Landi

3:52 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013

for real – your comment makes no sense. Did you even read the article? You are saying that Stolz and Donches are bad because they wanted to spend down the excess fund balance instead of raising taxes. You said "this would have destroyed the credit rating and had major negative consequences". Well I hope you're going to attack the administration with this same logic now that they are recommending …   more ›

East Penn Schools Will be Open Nov. 28

School board votes 8-1 to make up September "snow" day on Thanksgiving Monday.

Parents in East Penn School District are going to need to save a couple of slices of the Thanksgiving turkey for the lunch box since their kids will be heading to school on Thanksgiving Monday. Nov. 28 officially became a make-up day in East Penn as a result of a vote at last night’s school board meeting. Superintendent of Schools Thomas L. Seidenberger said that he and his team had spent the better part of the last three weeks getting the opinions of administrators and teachers in the district. “The consensus is, ‘let’s make up the days before we move into the winter months,’” Seidenberger said. Seidenberger told the board that the district had learned “through informal channels” that the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PA DOE) was …

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East Penn Kids Will Head to Class October 10

The school district has gotten no response from the Pennsylvania Department of Education on whether it will excuse two September "snow" days.

According to an electronic newsletter from the East Penn School District emailed this morning, Oct. 10 will now be a regular school day. An ALERT NOW message will be going out to parents later this afternoon to inform them that Oct. 10, previously earmarked as in-service day for teachers, is no longer a day off for students. The school district asked the Pennsylvania Department of Education to excuse East Penn from two missed days during the first week of school due to flooded roadways, but the district has not yet gotten an answer from the state. Superintendent of Schools Thomas L. Seidenberger asked the East Penn Board of School Directors at the board's Sept. 12 meeting to allow the district to turn the Oct. 10 in-service day into a …

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East Penn School Board Votes to Buy Group Training Pass

One-time expense will allow all board members to participate in assortment of Pennsylvania School Board Association training offerings.

The East Penn Board of School Directors voted Monday night 9-0 to purchase a “value pass” for training offered by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA). The $799 expenditure will allow all nine board members to participate in a pre-determined package of PSBA training programs without paying any additional fees for a one-year period. That package includes a series of fall seminars, a series of spring seminars, eight lunchtime audio conferences, and 10 Web-based training programs. Board President Charles Ballard brought up the concept of the value pass to the board and asked that they consider approving the purchase. The cost of attending a single fall seminar would be $100 per person, Ballard pointed out, using an upcoming …

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Willow Lane Parent Addresses School Board About Class Sizes

Carol Bettler, who is also a 2nd grade teacher in Northwestern Lehigh School District, reads a letter she wrote to the East Penn Board of School Directors at Monday night's board meeting.

Carol Bettler said her appearance before the East Penn School Board Monday night was a "spur of the moment" thing. Bettler, who lives in Wescosville, had written a letter that she planned to mail to the board, expressing her concerns about class sizes at Willow Lane Elementary School, where her son is a first grader. When she realized that the board was meeting last night, Bettler decided to attend the meeting and share her thoughts with the board face-to-face. Bettler, who is a second-grade teacher in Northwestern Lehigh School District, handed out copies of her letter to all nine school board members and Superintendent of Schools Thomas L. Seidenberger. She then read the letter to the board in its entirety. Her son's first-grade class, …

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Kathy Kennedy

11:25 am on Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Sounds like Mark Wood is an ignoramus who doesn't have a clue. My sister Carol went into teaching for the love of teaching and is certainly not in it for the money. You have missed the whole point of her letter. Perhaps you should get your head out of your ass while performing your so-called research. Perhaps you should join your brother and your aunt.   more ›

Seven Gen Asks for Charter Extension

East Penn will conduct evaluation of Seven Generations Charter School before making decision.

East Penn Superintendent of Schools Thomas L. Seidenberger told the School Board Monday night that Seven Generations Charter School is requesting a five-year extension of its charter. The district, he said, is bound by state law to perform an evaluation of the charter school before making any decisions, and Seidenberger said he would expect the process to be much like a Middle States visit. Seidenberger said he will talk to other districts to learn more about how they are conducting their charter school evaluations and then come back to the board with a recommended process for conducting the Seven Gen evaluation. Seidenberger said he would like to try to do the evaluation before Christmas.

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East Penn School Board Meetings Now Online

Resident John Donches is video taping the meetings himself.

Thanks to the efforts of John Donches, 559 Minor St., East Penn School District school board meetings are now being video taped and made available online. Donches addressed the school board during the public comment portion of Monday night’s school board meeting to share what he called the “good news” -- after asking the board to make the meetings available on the district Web site for nearly two years, he said, he managed to get the meetings online himself. Donches, who is running for Emmaus Borough Council, has been a regular fixture and East Penn school board meetings, championing the cause of Web casting meetings. Recapping his crusade, Donches said the board repeatedly told him that the $8,000 price tag associated with his request was…

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School Board Member Outed for Texting

Terry Richwine takes Julian Stolz to task for sending text messages during East Penn School Board meeting.

Calling it a “rude and objectionable” behavior, East Penn School Board member Terry Richwine tattled on fellow school board member Julian Stolz for sending text messages during Monday night’s school board meeting. “At the very least, it is rude,” Richwine said, “and if he is asking for direction from a non-board member (during meetings), that is rude and to me objectionable.” Richwine said that last night is not the first time that he has seen Stolz, who sits next to him, texting during the meetings. “And, if it is to the point that he is receiving direction from some else, that is very worrisome,” he reiterated. Richwine asked the East Penn solicitor if text messages sent or received by a board member during a meeting are part of the …

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Ron Beitler

11:59 am on Friday, September 16, 2011

ya kinda glanced article. If it's a recurring problem and others have told him prior that it's distracting or that they suspect he is getting outside instruction.. then that is definitely a problem. If it's an issue, then is turning devices to airplane mode during meetings too much to ask for? Like I said, NOT a Julian supporter. Just get defensive over the smart phone issue. I had a job once …   more ›