Lehighton examines student rules

A future public meeting is in the works to discuss possible handbook revisions in Lehighton Area School District.

Lehighton’s school board voted Monday night to hold the session, which has yet to be scheduled, after several directors and a parent expressed concern over current policies.

Motions to approve three 2018-19 handbooks, one each for the high school, middle school and elementary school, were approved 6-3 on Monday, with directors David Bradley, Gail Maholick and Joy Beers voting no.

“I think the exercise of these handbook regulations and the policy that we currently have, are putting our kids in harm’s way,” Bradley said.

Bradley said during the meeting he had hoped to table any handbook revisions until the public meeting could be held.

“I think we have to give the kids something to start the year,” board member Rita Spinelli said. “Revisions can be made later and that’s fine, but we have to give them something.”

A policy regarding searches of students was specifically referenced at Monday’s meeting.

Last month, Fred Kemmerer said his son was “strip-searched” near the end of the 2017-18 school year, and nothing was found.

“There are lots of gray areas if things are not specifically spelled out regarding searches,” Kemmerer said. “As a parent, I would want to make sure I know my son could be subjected to this. Students’ rights are not expanded upon enough. I don’t think they know their rights when they show up at school and are questioned by an administrator.”

Lehighton’s handbooks are online and are approved before the start of each school year by the board, Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said.

Bradley also viewed searches as one of the areas he hoped to see addressed in the handbook.

“I looked and tried to find where a student could be frisked to try and find a potential tobacco product after they were falsely accused by someone else and I can’t find where we’re allowed to do that,” he said.

Dealing with vaping

During her report on Pennsylvania School Boards Association matters, Spinelli informed the board of an Education Week article outlining how districts are dealing with student vaping.

Monitoring the Future, a nationally representative student survey administered by the University of Michigan, showed 12 percent of eighth, 10th and 12th graders surveyed in 2017 had vaped in the previous 30 days.

Spinelli said the article referenced how easy it is to conceal the smoking device, called a Juul.

“They are selling clothing with pockets in that the kids can hide these in,” she added. “The point of this is, just because we don’t find something doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”

Cleaver said the vaping issue is growing and the district continues to do research regarding it.

“We’ve talked about having someone come in and talk to our students about it,” he said.

Police officers

Lehighton has garnered approval from Carbon County Court for its recently hired school district police officers, Ronald Kazakavage and Peter Salerno, to begin work this school year.

The officers will be both be paid $30 per hour and each work up to 120 hours per month (30 per week) for 10 months.

The district received a $40,000 grant for the first year and $20,000 for the second year to help pay for the officers.

“They have the same powers and have to follow the same guidelines as a borough police officer,” Cleaver said. “They are able to detain, make arrests and issue summary citations. They’ll be around to enforce good order in our buildings, on our grounds and on buses for the district.”