The Penn Kidder Elementary School in the Jim Thorpe Area School District was the recipient of two distinct honors.

The school's assistant principal, Randy Engle, was selected as Pennsylvania's 2015 Assistant Principal of the Year the Robert E. Lavely Award.Annually the Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals selects one assistant principal who has demonstrated meritorious service to their secondary level school and community to be this recipient.Engle will also invited to the National Assistant Principals' Conference in Washington, D.C., in April, where he is nominated for National Assistant Principal of the Year.The other award is by the U.S. Department of Education naming the school as a Model Site School for Positive Behavioral Interventions & Support.Last week, the Jim Thorpe Area School Board recognized Engle for his accomplishment and School Principal Dave McAndrew for the Model Site School designation.Superintendent of Schools Brian J. Gasper said, "This is a testament to some of the great things going on" in the district.Gasper said the Penn Kidder Campus was chosen as one of only two model schools in Eastern Pennsylvania.The Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports is established by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs. Emphasis is given to the impact of implementing PBIS on the social, emotional and academic outcomes for students with disabilities.The facilitator of the program in Penn Kidder is Donna Halpin.The only other Eastern Pennsylvania School given the honors is Sun Valley High School in the Penn-Delco School System, Aston, Delaware County.McAndrew said the award involves a monetary grant."Mr. McAndrew and his staff deserve this recognition," Gasper said.In other business during the recent school board meeting:• The school district will be hosting the Carbon County Legislative Meeting in Spring 2014. The dates will be determined.• The board accepted the resignation of Christal Williams as a paraprofessional effective Dec. 1, 2014. It was agreed to post the open position.• Feb. 13 was approved as a makeup day for students, but there will be early dismissal.• The board agreed to an assessment of $3 million for a 36-acre parcel purchased along Maury Road in Penn Forest Township by Penn Forest Entertainment.Attorney Gregory Mousseou, the board's solicitor, said when Penn Forest Entertainment purchased the property, the firm got an assessment of $2.79 million.The district's assessor, he said, got an appraisal of $3 million. By accepting the $3 million appraisal, the district will be receiving $7,861 more per year in taxes than at the $2.79 million assessment.The $3 million is lower than the $3.7 million that originally had been assessed on the property before it was sold.