Palmerton Area School District could save a significant amount of money next year through the refunding of a bond issue.

Henry Sallusti, managing director of RBC Capital Markets of Scranton, met with the school board's Curriculum, Athletics, Personnel and Policy Committee on Tuesday.Sallusti told the committee the district has a 2005 bond out in the amount of $6 million that is scheduled to be paid off in 2016. He said the current interest rate is 2.8 to 3.5 percent on that bond.The district could lock into the rates by next month, and close it in August, Sallusti said. The committee seemed to favor that approach.The current interest rate is at 2.11 percent, which could result in a $135,000 savings to the district in the 2010-11 school year, Sallusti said.Sallusti previously met with the board in March, at which time he said the district also has a 2006 bond in the amount of $5.4 million that is scheduled to be paid off in 2026, as well as a 2007 bond in the amount of $1,545,000 scheduled to be paid off in 2018.At that time, Sallusti told the board the district could save about $300,000 if it were to refund its three outstanding bond issues.Superintendent Carol Boyce suggested in January that the board may want to refinance the series of bonds to help afford future big ticket items, such as the high school roof, weightroom roof, high school stage, high school gymnasium floor, junior high school gymnasium bleachers, and the paving of parking lots and tennis courts.Also on Tuesday, the committee observed a job shadowing experience conducted by several Towamensing Elementary students.Instructor Deb Hard told the committee the students did research on Carbon County Judge Steve Serfass, as well as Boyce.As part of their project, Hard said the students developed a list of 20 questions and took pictures.The four students who were on hand to display their job shadowing assignment were Devin Hauser, Matthew Binder, Ben Serfass, and Ezekiel Himmelwright.