November 20, 2017 – Nazareth Area School Board
Announcements
A moment of silence for Christine Garapoli, a long-term staff member who passed away today following a battle with brain cancer.
The November 15th open house at CIT was very well attended.
This board meeting was the last one for members Crook, Bradley, and Villaini.
The November 27th School Board meeting has been cancelled.
Community Concerns
Several parents spoke out against Kenneth Butz Elementary school being used as a polling place. On November 7th, State Trooper Kelly was shot on Route 33 and all the area schools were put on lockdown with reports about an active shooter. During this, voters were allowed into Butz Elementary, but parents were not. Some parents assumed the shooter was at the school. They would have liked clarification that the incident happened on Route 33. Dr. Riker pointed out that, at the time, no one knew where the shooter was and he had to close the schools without knowing all the details.
The district has put a parent group designed petition up on the website. It already has 1,528 signatures and the parents have contacted State Senator Lisa Boscola and State Representative Marcia Hahn about moving the polling place to a different building. This issue will be put on the next Board of Election’s meeting.
See the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/relocate-voting-from-kenneth-n-butz-elementary-school-nazareth-area-school-district?recruiter=800124535&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive
Dr. Riker confirmed he could close the school should it used again during an election. The Board members thanked the parents for continuing their lobbying efforts.
Agenda Items
Items V, VII, IX, XI, & XIII passed.
Mr. Butz added resolution XI F for putting a baseball at the Intermediate School. The board approved the $1,080,000 for the cost. (Note—this item was not on the original agenda)
Links to the meeting agenda can be found here: https://www.nazarethasd.k12.pa.us/Page/1024
Many thanks to William Bartlett for covering this meeting. Citizens have a right to know what their government is doing.
Upper Nazareth Township Meetings 