Schools

School Board Approves Full-Time Teaching Jobs

The Saucon Valley School Board voted to maintain a full-time consumer science teaching position in its 2013-2014 budget, and to make a part-time gifted teacher a full-time gifted and kindergarten teacher.

The Saucon Valley School Board voted this week to maintain a full-time consumer science (home economics) teaching position in its 2013-2014 budget, and to make a part-time gifted teacher a full-time gifted and kindergarten teacher.

Superintendent Dr. Sandra Fellin, who was absent from the meeting, had previously recommended making the part-time gifted job a full-time gifted/kindergarten position, citing increasing kindergarten enrollment.

The board's vote to keep the consumer science position full-time was 5-4, with members Bryan Eichfeld, Susan Baxter, Edward Inghrim and president Michael Karabin voting against the motion.

Eichfeld, who earlier this year voted in favor of the full-time consumer science position, said he wanted "to pull that (decision) back."

Board member Sandra Miller, however, called the attempt to do so "capricious" and said the change would cause upheaval for 84 high school students whose schedules would be impacted.

"This is complicated to do a master schedule," she said. "I think it’s appropriate that we stick by the decision we made."

When asked, assistant superintendent Carl Atkinson said his understanding was that the district's full-time consumer science teacher, Kristen Shickora, would likely resign if the position were made part-time.

"We've been led to believe that she would go," he said.

Board members discussed why Fellin had initially recommended that the consumer science position be made part-time, and couldn't reach agreement about whether the motivation for the recommendation was strictly fiscal or involved other considerations.

Karabin said his understanding was that the recommendation was "all academics," but Miller contended it "was a budgetary recommendation—not a curriculum recommendation—and that is a big difference."

"The problem is that Dr. Fellin’s not here to clarify (her recommendation)," Miller said.

A discussion about the merits of offering students a wide variety of electives is "a philosophical discussion that will take a long period of time," she added.


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