Palmerton board deadlocks on approving comprehensive plan

A three-year action plan required by the state Department of Education is at the center of a school board controversy in Palmerton Area School District.

Each district in the state has to complete a comprehensive plan, formerly known as the strategic plan, to, among other things, guide continuous improvement efforts, identify future goals, and improve educational opportunities and achievement for students.

Facing a Nov. 30 deadline to have the lengthy document submitted to the state, Palmerton’s board deadlocked 4-4 on approving it Tuesday night, with several board members questioning who wrote it and how the information within it was compiled.

“We have never had a single presentation on this plan, and now it has come up on the agenda for approval 10 days before it is due to the state,” Director Kate Baumgardt said. “I don’t know anyone who was asked to participate in putting this together, and the proposed plan doesn’t include who wrote it. So, I want to know who did our job for us?”

Sherry Haas, Tammy Recker, Charles Gildner and Barry Scherer voted to pass the plan Tuesday night, with Baumgardt, Kathy Fallow, Josh Smale and Earl Paules dissenting. Josann Harry was absent.

“As long as I have been on the school board, the administration has put this document together,” Scherer said. “Is there a way we can pass this to meet the deadline and then begin working on the next one to start to get back on track here? Why hold up the process?”

The board scheduled a special meeting for 6 p.m. Wednesday to take another vote on the plan before the state’s deadline.

“If you don’t pass the plan before the deadline, you would be out of compliance with the law,” said Palmerton solicitor Shawn Lochinger. “I honestly don’t know what the penalty would be for that because I’ve never seen it come up before where a district was thinking of not passing it in time.”

The proposed plan is required to be available for public review for 28 days before adoption. It can be viewed on the district website at https://bit.ly/2R0XMQl.

Fallow said she had just received the proposed plan last week and, even with another meeting on Wednesday, doesn’t envision her vote changing.

“It’s almost 100 pages,” she said. “I don’t see how I can get to a yes on this in a couple days. I think this is a severe lack of planning on the part of the administration and I don’t even know who to blame because there are no names on the document.”

Palmerton Superintendent Scot Engler missed Tuesday’s meeting due to illness.

On Wednesday, he expressed disappointment at the outcome of the session.

“It is unfortunate that we need to reconvene to approve the comprehensive plan for the Palmerton Area School District,” he said. “I remain extremely appreciative to all those who contributed to the development of the plan in accordance with the guidelines we were given. The unkind, and misguided, comments by a select few should in no way detract from the outstanding work that is being done every day for the betterment of all the students in our district.”

In other districts, Baumgardt said, the committee that works on the comprehensive plan is made up of a diverse group.

Lehighton’s committee, she added, includes three parents, two community representatives, a board member and eight administrators.

One Palmerton resident in attendance Tuesday, Doris Zellers, spoke on the issue, calling it “alarming and disappointing that the board is asked to vote on something they haven’t read or done the legwork for.

“It is time someone is held accountable,” she said. “Just because something has always been done a certain way doesn’t mean it was right.”

Tuesday’s controversy comes one month after Palmerton taxpayer Mike Snyder lauded the district for “great teachers, great administration and great leadership.”

“This is one of the most progressive districts I know of in the area,” Snyder told the school board. “I believe Palmerton is already done with its Chapter 339 plan (a K-12 School Counseling Plan required by the state), when some districts haven’t even started theirs. Things are happening here with Mr. Engler more than anyone thinks.”