A contract was entered to demonstrate distractive driving and for vo tech students to earn college degrees in action taken by the Schuylkill Intermediate Unit 29 School Board at its monthly meeting held at the Maple Avenue Campus in Norwegian Township.

A contract was entered with Bill McQuilken, Trauma Prevention Coordinator for Lehigh Valley Health Network, to present driving simulators which demonstrate distractive driving to vocational students at the South and North Campus in November 2013 and April 2014.A partnership was entered with Lehigh Carbon Community College and Bloomsburg University to provide graduates from the Schuylkill Technology Center the opportunity to earn a streamlined Bachelor of Applied Science in Technical Leadership.A budget in the amount of $55,620.27 was approved for the Non-Public Title I Program. An agreement was entered to provide Title I services to non-public students throughout the year for Blue Mountain, Mahanoy Area, Minersville Areas, North Schuylkill, Pine Grove Area, Pottsville Areas, Saint Clair Area, and Panther Valley of Carbon County which includes the borough of Coaldale which is a member of the district.An agreement was entered with Catapult Learning, LLC, of Newark, N.J., in the amount of $55,620.07 for providing Title I services to the county non-public and private schools for the current school year.A package valued at $2,700, which includes a welding jacket, work gloves, bumpers and headlights was accepted from the Collision Rear Education Foundation, I-Car Curriculum and will be utilized in the Collision Repair and Refinishing Program at the Schuylkill Technology Center.Other businessThe board accepted the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Cohort 6 budget in the amount of $395,868 to facilitate an after school program in the school districts of Minersville Area, Pottsville Area, North Schuylkill and Williams Valley. The after school program serves students in he fifth through eighth grade and this is the final year of the Cohort 6 after school program.A number of resignations were reported to the board.Margaret Butler, accounting assistant; Knute Brayford, assistant principal at Maple Avenue Campus; Matthew Slonaker, special education teacher; Danielle Locke, full-time speech therapist; Patricia Coughlin, part-time teacher aide at Maple Avenue Campus; Kelsey Henry, part-time teacher aide at Pine Grove; Taryn Galavage, full-time speech therapist; Marian Luckenbill, part-time teacher aide in the Schuylkill Learning Academy; and Ilene Yearick, full-time speech therapist.The board approved mandated training for all substitutes that are employed by the Intermediate Unit and Schuylkill Technology Center.John Rizzo, Schuylkill Haven, was hired as an assistant principal at the Maple Avenue Campus at $60,000 per year. Marcy Fetterman Pine Grove, hired as a part-time teacher aide in Early Intervention Classroom in Pine Grove at $9.35 per hour; and Sharon Wenrich hired as the Special Olympics Swimming Coach under the collective bargaining agreement.A contract was entered with Colleen Anzio to teach four courses under the Continuing Professional Education Program. The courses are, A + Ideas for Every Student's Success (online); ABC's on Teaching Strategies for Pre K-3 (on line); Live, Laugh, and Learn through Educational Games and Achieving Excellence - 14 Things That Matter Most (on line). Dr. Barbara Kelly will teach Engaging Pre-Teen and Teen Boys to Read (online);Keith Yarger will be the instructor of nine courses. They are: Classroom Instruction that Works; Research Based Strategies For Increasing Student Achievement (online); Classroom Instruction That Works (online); Creating Inclusive Classrooms (online); Data Driven Instruction (online); Effective Classroom Management (online); Guided Reading, Making Reading Work (online); Inclusive Teaching: Teaching Students with Emotional and Behavioral Challenges (online); Multicultural and Socioeconomical Education (online); SAS: A Look at the Standards Aligned System (online); School Law and Public Education (online);Teaching Mathematics to Struggling Learners (online) and Teaching Reading to Struggling Learners (on line).They will be paid $2,250 for each course.