Tax Increase Unlikely for SVSD Property Owners

On Tuesday, the Saucon Valley School Board voted to approve a proposed 2013-2014 district budget without a tax increase. If adopted, it will be the fifth year in a row without an increase for property owners in the school district.

A proposed 2013-2014 Saucon Valley School District budget without a tax increase was approved by school board directors at their Tuesday night meeting. Money from the district's multimillion-dollar undesignated fund balance was used to balance the roughly $40.7 million budget, which superintendent Dr. Sandra Fellin pointed out is the district's fifth consecutive budget without a millage rate increase. As is often the case, the budget represents a financial compromise between competing interests. For example, although the proposed budget includes $8,108 to fund a full-time behavioral therapist in schools, it only funds the replacement of one school bus, whereas normally the district would seek to replace two buses, according to its …

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Watch Saucon Valley School Board Meetings Online

Meetings of the Saucon Valley School Board can now be viewed online, in real-time or as recordings.

Score one for technology—and transparency. In a testament to changing times, video recordings of Saucon Valley School Board meetings are now available online, for viewing both in real-time or as recordings. The links to the recordings are posted on the School Board Agenda page of the Saucon Valley School District website: www.svpanthers.org. Saucon Valley School Board meetings are typically held on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the high school Audion room. The most recent meeting video posted on YouTube is from the Tuesday, April 23, 2013 meeting, which was well-attended due to school bus driver outsourcing concerns. Videos of the Feb. 26, March 12, March 26 and April 9 meetings are also posted online. The next …

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Hellertown Students Receive Academic Honors at NCC

Academic honors were conferred upon the following Hellertown students at Northampton Community College (NCC) during an Awards Convocation Ceremony on April 25, 2013.

William R. Rowe III - ACBSP Student Leadership Award Andrew Stauffer - Who's Who Among Students -Information provided by Northampton Community College

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SVMS Spring Band/Chorus Concert Set for Thursday

The annual Saucon Valley Middle School Spring Band and Chorus concert featuring student performances will be held Thursday, May 9 at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium. Admission is free.

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Saucon Grad to Receive Ph.D., Study at Woods Hole

Matthew H. Long, a 2000 SVHS graduate, will receive his Ph.D. in environmental science from the University of Virginia. He has been awarded a postdoctoral scholarship with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

Note: The following information was contributed. Matthew H. Long, a 2000 graduate of Saucon Valley High School and son of Rodney and Mary Ellen Long of Hellertown, will be receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in Environmental Science in May. After graduating from Albright College summa cum laude in 2004 with a double major in Environmental Chemistry and BioChemistry, Long went on to complete his Master's degree in Environmental Science at the University of Virginia, working on biogeochemical cycling in carbonate tropical systems. His doctoral research involved tropical seagrasses, coral reefs and Arctic sea-ice sheets, where he developed groundbreaking scientific instruments to measure the productivity, biogeochemical …

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SVSD Drops 4 Spots in Statewide Ranking

Although still a top-rated school district, Saucon Valley fell four places this year—from 64 to 68—in a statewide ranking of Pennsylvania school districts.

Editor's Note: This article has been updated to include additional information about the ranking system referenced, and how statewide rankings were compiled. Saucon Valley School District fell four places—from 64 in 2012 to 68 in 2013—in a recently released annual statewide ranking of Pennsylvania school districts. The updated, searchable list was published online in an April 5 article by the Pittsburgh Business Times about the top two school districts—Upper St. Clair and Mount Lebanon school districts—both of which are located in the Pittsburgh area. The rankings were compiled by the Pittsburgh Business Times for its 2013 Guide to Western Pennsylvania Schools, which is a statewide guide. According to the guide's website, "three years of …

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Paula

9:49 pm on Saturday, May 4, 2013

Everything lies with the man at the top (the super and her sorry excuse for a board). There is no doubt there are some teachers that should be replaced , however, there are also some teachers that need to be recognized for a job well done.   more ›

SVMS 3rd Quarter Honor Roll Students Named

The following students were named to the honor roll at Saucon Valley Middle School for the the third marking period of the 2012-2013 school year.

High Honors Grade 8 – Jonah Beers, Trevor Blackwood, Michael Boreman, Cole Bower, Kayleigh Boyle, Shannon Boyle, Gabrielle Brogle, Vincent Bufanio, Mackenzie Butera, Cole Carey, Michael Chaffier, Caleb Chen, Jason Cherry, Ashley Chi, Hayden Clifford, Helen Cordes, Emily Deily, Ashley Dougherty, Jessica Evans, Katia Faroun, Rachel Fenstermacher, Sean Freed, Aaron Gardiner, Kelsey Gatchel, Laura Gombocz, Zachary Harvey, Jordan Hawk, Erin Kelly, Victoria Kohn, Samuel Margolis, Hannah Maykut, Paige Medei, Tanner Morgan, Ashleigh Nagy, Joseph Naiburg, Wakana Nakajima, Jacob Nicholas, Jamie O’Brien, Alexandra Ordonez, Kiran Pandey, Kiera Peterson, Dominick Peteto, Nicholas Pettegrew, Savannah Radogna, Geoffrey Reed, Daniela Sanchez, Sarah Savant…

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