Frequently asked Questions

What is cross filing? Why are school board candidates allowed to cross file?

Cross-filing is when candidates have their names on both the Republican and the Democrat ballot in a primary. School Board candidates typically crossfile because the job is not supposed to be political. The business of the board is one that involves budgets, policy and facilities. Board members are tasked with working with the administration, negotiating contracts and deciding when schools need to be repaired, closed or replaced. They listen to presentations on the importance of class size, how to make schools safer and best practices for education. A board is a team of ten – nine elected members and the School District Superintendent. When they work together well, the district functions smoothly.

Why is the School Board considering renovations on Liberty Bell, the High School and the athletic fields?

Just seven years ago, the board voted to close Lower Milford Elementary, tear down Hopewell Elementary and build a new Hopewell Elementary School. Lower Milford’s local population was always smaller than that of Upper Saucon and the cost to transport Upper Saucon and Coopersburg students to the school was expensive. It was discovered through building studies that repairing Hopewell would be more expensive than building a new school. Because of Lower Milford Elementary's location, away from most of the population, and the need to replace Hopewell with a newer building, the board voted to close Lower Milford and replace Hopewell with a slightly larger building and divide the population of the current Lower Milford’s students between the two Elementary schools. The vote to close the schools was 6-3. I voted against closing and was concerned about future growth although our demographic studies did not predict large growth.

This brings us to today. While the population increase was within the parameter of the studies done, it was on the upper edge and the projection is for more growth in the coming years. Meanwhile we have a High School that needs a new roof. Our auditorium has never been renovated and it’s the oldest in the county. It cannot fit the entire school body. The front of the building is not secure. The last time the HS was renovated at all was in 2003. Liberty Bell elementary also does not have a secure entrance and we need more classrooms. Our stadium has needed replacing for years, but it cannot be simply fixed because then it would need to be ADA compliant. Once you start renovating an older building or structure it needs to be ADA complaint to todays standards and rules. It's important for everyone to be able to attend school district events.

Students go to School to learn. Why do we need to worry about auditoriums and stadiums?

Every student needs a motivation to go to school. For some students it is just the academics. For some students it is being on a sports team, or the speech and debate team or being in the school play. Learning happens in many places besides the classrooms. My youngest son, who is in cyber security in Seattle, learned his tech skills in Computer Science classes and the robotics club. My middle child learned how to be a good writer in Mr. Hershey’s English class and how to get along well and follow directions in band. He is a Business analyst in New York City. My oldest child learned about teaching through a job shadowing experience that lasted for a month at Lower Milford and why volunteering is important through Key Club. She now is a manager for a non-profit, also in New York City. Learning is life long but the joy of learning, the want to learn, to explore, should take place at schools, as well as at home.

Why are property taxes so high? Can the board get rid of them?

State legislatures make the laws that determine how school districts are funded, not school boards. The legislature has mandated that taxes are to be paid by property tax. In Southern Lehigh, 85% of our revenue is from local taxes. The state provides 22% of our budget but they make the laws that determine how we can run our schools. According to this chart, 2021_County_Municipality_Millage.pdf (lehighcounty.org) Southern Lehigh has the lowest millage rate of any surrounding district. Our millage rate is lower than that of an Allentown or Bethlehem resident. School Inequities is a huge problem and one that removing property taxes does not solve. Contact your local state government officials to discuss funding problems –State Senator Pat Browne and State Representative Milou McKenzie. Every year our expenses go up and our needs increase so we use our fund balance to keep our taxes as low as possible. You can learn about how budgets are created by attending School Board meetings and reading information on the SLSD website. This is the latest budget presentation: Preliminary Budget Presentation 3-22-2021.pdf (boarddocs.com)

How did the School Board handle COVID -19?

We are still handling it, but when schools all over the country had to close on March 15th of 2020, we immediately switched to online instruction and made sure every student in every building had a working device. Because we were already a 1:1 district this just meant getting the devices into the hands of the students that didn't already have their school issued device at home. We also provided WIFI hotspots for families that needed that. Teachers and administration worked together to create online instruction. Fortunately, we already had a platform eLearn21 – A world of opportunity awaits you. (cliu.org) that we've been using for years for students that had reasons for not coming into the building daily, like gymnasts and Olympic hopefuls. A few High School teachers also had classes that were available online previously. An expanded remote learning platform was built Draft SLSD Remote Learning Options FLYER Free meals were offered to all students: SLSD "Meals To Go" Pick-Up Form (google.com)

We created a pandemic team made up of staff, administration, representatives from St Lukes , and two school board members that happened to be a doctor and a nurse: COVID-19 Resources / Pandemic Planning Team (slsd.org) We also created a new position of Pandemic Coordinator and moved our HS Vice Principal, Tom Ruhf into that position. This team worked tirelessly to create a Pandemic response plan that would allow us to move to different models as the country and state guidelines and rules changed.COVID-19 Resources / Health and Safety Plans (slsd.org) As this health emergency turned political, we chose to follow the science and the recommendations of the CDC, The Pennsylvania Department of Health and the interpretation of those rules from our pandemic team.

We knew immediately that students with special physical needs and learning differences would need more attention and our office of Special Needs and Student Services kicked into high gear to access every student that already had an Individual Education Plan to see how their needs could be met. These students were allowed in the building first.

Our plans seemed to change week by week as the state and country recommendations changed and as scientists learned more about the problem. The best analogy I like is that we were building the plane while flying it. Not only did teachers take classes to enrich their online teaching skills, our building staff worked at making the physical buildings safer. Once we were cleared for students to come in, every single area of every building was measured for safe distancing, not only in the classrooms but in the offices and specials rooms. Everything was re-worked to make it safe and student and staff friendly. A more robust remote model was put in place and some teachers taught only remote, SLSD Remote Learning Model Overview - Google Docs.pdf

We did surveys to see what families wanted to send their students in for in person learning or in a hybrid model. Teaching in a hybrid option is far less than ideal for students and teachers but because of spacing guidelines and our building spaces, that was our only choice until three things happened - more families opted to learn full remote, the guideline for student spacing changed and our teachers and staff were immunized. This happened in the late winter of this year. Our schools had students in seats in the classrooms earlier than most schools in the county, starting in the fall.

At the end of the second quarter, all students that were in a hybrid learning situation were able to come in person four days a week. Starting April 12, every student that wants to learn in person four days a week, will be able to do that. Teachers use Friday to help students that need extra attention and many students come in for special instruction and labs. Because a majority of the teachers are also teaching remotely, they use Friday for intense lesson planning, since they do not have that time during the week.

Sports and extra curricular activities continue to be a huge challenge but with guidance from the sports leagues and our pandemic committee students have been able to play all sports with a modified schedule and attendance policy.

When is the new School Board installed?

The new board is installed the first week of December at a reorganization meeting. This is the only meeting in December.