A comprehensive series of mindfulness sessions for staff and students is on the horizon in the Northern Lehigh School District.

The school board on Monday agreed to enter into a contract with Shanthi Project for the 2022 calendar year at a cost of $35,000, to be funded through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency Grant.

The contract calls for mindfulness training for all teachers and staff in the district; to facilitate 20 calm+kind+focuses in-class mindfulness programs for elementary school students; supporting services to further integrate mindfulness techniques; and outcome measures.

Shanthi Project is a 501(c)(3) education nonprofit providing evidence-based mindfulness services to more than 4,000 children and adults annually across the Greater Lehigh Valley and New Jersey, according to their website, www.shanthiproject.org.

Committed for more than a decade to education and advocacy, they are an established agency in the trauma-informed education movement, and the local authority on building resilience in an increasingly complex 21st-century world.

They offer the benefits of mindfulness, which increase mind-body self-awareness, reduce stress and improve focus. Their work promotes positive emotions that help others learn important skills to establish, or re-establish, healthier and more productive relationships at home, school, work, and within their communities.

In other financial matters, the board:

• Accepted the resignation of Gwyneth A. Jones as the tax collector of the Borough of Slatington, effective Jan. 1.