Student interest in Dual Enrollment, a partnership between the Palmerton School District and Lehigh-Carbon Community College that allows students to take courses while still in high school, remains at an all-time high.

The school board heard a presentation on Dual Enrollment from Richard DeSocio, high school guidance counselor at Tuesday's school board meeting.High school Principal Kathy Egan said the district initially began its Dual Enrollment partnership with LCCC in the early-90s and that the course offerings and relationship with LCCC has "grown and benefited many students."DeSocio explained that students can transfer their credits. He then discussed five Dual Enrollment programs: Speech Communications, Introduction to Media Communication, Video Field Production, Spanish 3, and Honors Spanish IV.DeSocio said he believes the primary benefits of the program is that students can take college level classes at a fraction of the cost.The number of classes, students enrolled in the program, and average number of Bachelor Degrees have all increased steadily since the 2007-08 school year, he said."That's incredible; that's staggering," DeSocio said. "That absolutely speaks volumes about how academically strong students are and how dedicated the faculty members are."Senior Jillian Farkas said her participation in the Dual Enrollment program has been a "rewarding and challenging" experience."The classes opened my eyes to a whole new world outside the high school class setting," Farkas said. "I hope you continue to invest in the future of Palmerton Area School District students."Junior John Achtermann said he participated in the Introduction to Psychology Dual Enrollment program that was worth three college credits.Achtermann said a workshop in which a real sheep's brain was dissected as part of National Brain Awareness Month only served to further his interest in the field."It even heightened my interest in psychology even more," Achtermann said.After the presentation, board President Barry Scherer noted that money ($8,411) was cut in Dual Enrollment funding per Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed budget."Families will be responsible for the entire costs," Scherer said. "The district will continue to support it."Also on Tuesday, Superintendent Carol Boyce announced that the district has received the State Department of Education's approval of PlanCon K for the 2005 bond issue.Also as part of her report, Boyce recognized: the high school girls' track and field team, which won the Colonial League Championship; the high school concert band, which competed at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA; as well as the S.S. Palmer Elementary Envirothon team (third place) two junior high Envirothon teams (sixth and 10th, fourth and 11th) and high school Envirothon team (first place).In other business, the board:• Heard a report on the 2009-10 audit by business administrator Lisa Vignone.• Granted permission to post the Save Our Sports message on the district web site.• Approved the request of the high school Envirothon team for a field trip to Susquehanna University for the Pennsylvania Envirothon competition with Jeanne Knepper May 24-25, with expenses paid by the Carbon County Conservation District with the cost to the district of a substitute for two days at an approximate cost of $200.• Approved the ratification of the collective bargaining agreement between the district and the Palmerton Area Educational Support Professionals Association, the term of said agreement is from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2013.• Approved the CLIU#21 consortium self-funded health insurance renewal, effective July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012.• Approved the fixed price fuel service contract with Talley Petroleum Enterprises, Inc., for #2 fuel oil at the rate of $3.3892 per gallon, effective July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012.• Appointed Deborah Scheckler as board secretary, with the annual salary of $1,500, effective July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012.• Appointed Kimberly Ottinger as assistant board secretary, effective July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012.• Appointed Boyce as delegate and Director Carl Bieling as alternate delegate to the Carbon County Tax Collection Committee.• Tabled a motion to appoint a board treasurer, effective July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012.• Appointed Scheckler as open records officer, effective July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012.• Approved tenure of Meghan Krebs, S.S. Palmer, Grade 4 teacher, Ken Mettam, S.S. Palmer, Music teacher, and Andrew Remsing, high school Science teacher.• Approved the removal of Laura Prusak/Torres, Jennifer Dirzulaitis Stoves, Rachel Taras, Mari Gruber, and Carol Judd as teacher substitutes from the substitute list.• Rejected a motion to hire Blake Campbell, Julian Lutz, Brent Green, Barry Chunko, Brandon Smale and Alyssa Wentz as summer maintenance employees at the rate of $7.25 an hour for 7 hours per day.• Accepted gifts from the Palmer/Parkside PTO of a first grade field trip to the Crayola Factory in Easton; kindergarten field trip to see Cinderella at Bethlehem Ice House; second grade field trip to the Philadelphia Zoo; books for Palmer/Parkside students to participate in the Keystone to Reading Book Award Contest.• Approved the donation of two crocheted colony flags at S.S. Palmer and Parkside, which were handmade by Mrs. Helen Snyder.• Accepted the donation of books from the late Phyllis Kittelberger Miller's collection to the high school library from Steve Kittelberger.• Accepted the gift from Stacey Connell of deodorants for the S.S. Palmer fifth grade class for their Health Education class.• Granted permission to release the 2011 Tax Duplicates to the respective tax collectors for the fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2011.• Approved the attached tuition reimbursements.