SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — Parkland School District may add five full-time and 12 part-time positions next year.
Assistant Superintendent Timothy Chorones on Tuesday gave the School Board a presentation about staffing the district may need to add to next school year’s budget.
- Parkland School District may add five full-time and 12 part-time positions next year
- A final decision will be made as part of budget discussions in the coming months
- The board also honored students on the high school’s esports team and Springhouse Middle School’s MathCounts team.
- There were also several disagreements between board members during discussions
Chorones said the administration feels these positions are needed because of increased enrollment and programming changes.
Last year's staffing proposal included the equivalent of about 20 new full-time positions.
After Chorones’ presentation, Superintendent Mark Madson gave a presentation that showed data indicating the district’s middle and high schools are projected to exceed capacity in the next five years.
Madson said the administrative team worked to only add positions that are necessary.
“We're really funneling down to what are essential positions that we need to add," he said. "And those were some very long and difficult conversations to get to this point.”
The presentation also included a list of six clubs at the high school that are eligible to become official this year: Eports Club, Mental Health Awareness Club, Law Club, Operation Smile Club, Take a Break Club and the Firefighter Information Training Organization.
New clubs go through a provisional period before becoming official clubs.
The district’s Community Relations and Development Director Nicole McGalla said the proposed budget likely will be presented in May and finalized in June.
Students honored
The school board honored students on the high school’s esports team and Springhouse Middle School’s MathCounts team for recently winning state championships.
The Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference, or PETE&C, Rocket League Statewide Tournament Champions included students Chase Robbins, Enrique Rivera, Johnathan Brown, Kayden Gombocz, Amogh Bhati and Ethan Redden.
The Pennsylvania Scholastic Esports League, or PSEL, League of Legends Winter Season State Champions included students Amogh Bhati, Alixix Ratjavong, Euhno Lee, Courtney Pavidis and Eric Chen.
The esports team co-presidents are students Arleigh Shilling-Askew and Ryan Connors, and the esports team advisor is science teacher Andrew Marth.
The Pennsylvania MathCounts Team Champions include Lucas Yang, Oscar Liu, Wesley Yu and Eddy Zhang. Zhang is also the Pennsylvania Individual MathCounts Champion.
The MathCounts advisor is math teacher Kevin Hallman.
Disagreement on the board
The board discussed an agreement with school administrators regarding compensation and benefits, known as the Act 93 Agreement.
School Board Director Patrick Foose said he did not support approving the contract because it stipulates that the administrators’ raises cannot be below teachers’ raises until 2028, as long as they have satisfactory job performance.
“We should be negotiating fairly with each of these unions separately and not having one union influence the other in terms of salary increases,” Foose said.
“Additionally, I believe the level of scrutiny the board should have over administration should be greater than that of teachers.”
“You see real estate signs saying ‘for sale, Parkland School District.’ Why is that? It’s because we have excellent people working here. And the glue that holds all of our staff together is our administration.Robert Cohen, Parkland School Board director
Director Robert Cohen said he supported approving the agreement because he thinks it will help the district attract high-quality candidates for open positions.
“You see real estate signs saying, ‘For sale, Parkland School District.’ Why is that?” Cohen said. “It’s because we have excellent people working here. And the glue that holds all of our staff together is our administration.”
The board voted to approve the agreement 8-1, with Foose as the only dissenting vote — a trend in recent school board meetings.
Breaking into song
During the board’s roundtable discussion, Foose sang part of the song "Tomorrow" from the musical "Annie."
“This overwhelming sense of optimism is what I am feeling about when I discuss my frustrations with the lack of transparency seen by this board on numerous occasions,” Foose said.
“We are public servants and should put the needs of our community ahead of self when we make multimillion dollar decisions that can greatly impact the potential careers our students can have.”Patrick Foose, Parkland School Board director
Foose then proposed a new policy to limit the amount of outside boards on which a single board member can serve, because three board members have seven of the assignments.
“In our role as board directors, we support students, protect taxpayers, and should ensure transparency through practicing good government strategies,” Foose said.
“We are public servants and should put the needs of our community ahead of self when we make multimillion dollar decisions that can greatly impact the potential careers our students can have.”
Board Vice President Marisa Ziegler responded by offering to let Foose give the Lehigh County Technical Institute report in the future.
“You do sit on that committee,” Ziegler said. "So I will gladly turn over the responsibility of taking up the report if you would like to.”
Both Foose and Ziegler are running to keep their seats in the upcoming municipal election.
