Pleasant Valley School District is on the cusp of having a new superintendent.

The school board was poised to appoint Lee Lesisko, the current director of technology at the school district, as the new superintendent, but the employment contract wasn’t completed because the offer and his acceptance was just made last week.

School board President Donna Yozwiak said his contract will be finalized next week and a special meeting may be called for the purpose of his appointment. The next scheduled school board meeting is set for March 26.

In 2018 when Lesisko was appointed to his current position, then-Superintendent David Piperato said he has been with the school district a long time and “comes to the position with a strong background in educational technology and has a well-developed plan for infusing technology into the classroom. He understands that technology is a tool to help teachers engage students and enhance learning.”

Lesisko has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and computer information science, and a master’s degree in education from Wilkes University. He continued his education and received a doctorate in education from Widener University, where he has taught as an adjunct professor of education.

In 2015, he was listed as a co-author on a paper titled “The Rise of Pennsylvania K-12 Technology Leaders: Who Are They?” in the British Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences and in 2009 with Robert Wright from Widner University on a paper titled “An Analysis of a Rural Pennsylvania School District’s Transient Population and NCLB Scores.”

Also on the minds of many in the district is their upcoming policy on the coronavirus.

Acting Superintendent Charlene Brennan said she and Assistant Superintendent Josh Ziatyk attended a coronavirus work session last Thursday at Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 in Easton. School district representatives listened to a physician from St. Luke’s University Health Network, who specializes in infectious diseases; an attorney from the King, Spry, Herman, Freund and Faul law firm in Bethlehem, and representatives from the emergency management agencies in Monroe and Northampton counties.

Brennan said there are no cases of the coronavirus in the school district. Gov. Tom Wolf announced Friday that all schools in the state would be closed for two weeks.

She knows there are rumors, but said the school district will release accurate information. She encouraged everyone to adhere to the health and hygiene information on the school website.

Also related to the coronavirus situation, school board solicitor Mark Fitzgerald suggested that the school board pass a motion to allow the directors to attend future meetings either through virtual means or by telephone if they should become ill will the virus. He said the reason for this is because the governor said no community events would be allowed in a school building if it is closed due to declared state of emergency.

He advised the board to pass two options for their meetings. Option one is if the district was under a state of emergency, then the entire board would meet virtually with the public being able to call in with comments or questions. Option two is if the district isn’t under a state of emergency, but some members are sick with the virus, then they would be allowed to call in to the meeting either by phone or digitally, but at least five directors would still need to be present in the meeting room at the district office.

Both of these options only apply to this particular crisis. It won’t become part of the board’s common practice.

The board passed the motion to adopt both options.

“Let’s hope none of this is necessary,” he said.

Since the meeting, the school board has decided to meet entirely on a digital platform. Their next meeting on March 26 will be conducted through the online platform Zoom. Information about accessing the meeting will be on the school’s website.

Before concluding the meeting, school board Director Susan Kresge said she thought additional compensation should be given to Brennan, because she has been working beyond her required hours to handle the coronavirus situation.

All of the other directors agreed that she should be compensated retroactively. Formal action will be taken at the next meeting.

“Thank you very much. It is very much appreciated,” Brennan said. “Thank you for that recognition. That was a surprise to me.”

Kresge added, “She has been hit with I don’t know how many unforeseen, not common things since she has been with us. She has gone way above and beyond. She has been just a true asset to us.”

“You have done far more than just fill a chair,” said School Board Director Daniel Wunder.