The first day of school Monday brought with it two significant academic milestones for Lehighton Area School District as new autistic support classrooms opened at the elementary center and the AP Capstone program launched its first course at the high school.

Superintendent Jason Moser highlighted both initiatives during his report to the school board Monday night, calling them among the four biggest academic priorities of the new school year.

At the elementary center, two new autistic support classrooms are now open and fully staffed following the board’s approval Monday of three new support positions. Erin Lauda was hired as a behavior technician at an annual salary of $36,000, prorated for the 2026-27 school year. Michael Yeakel and Stacey Hoffman were each hired as paraprofessionals at an annual salary of $21,923, also prorated.

Moser told the board the hires complete the staffing picture for the classrooms and that the cost was already built into the district’s approved budget.

“The behavior technician position and one of the paraprofessional positions are accounted for completely in the budget that was put forward and passed,” Moser said. “The second paraprofessional position is actually not a new position — it will be a reallocation of a retirement that will be dedicated to getting those autistic support classrooms staffed appropriately.”

He added that the district had a bridge plan ready for the time between now and when the newly approved staff members are able to begin.

The classrooms represent a meaningful expansion of the district’s special education programming at the elementary level; one that Moser said required significant planning over the summer.

At the high school, Monday was day one of AP Seminar, the first of two courses in the College Board’s AP Capstone program. The program is designed to give students advanced research, collaboration, and communication skills and offers a pathway to an AP Capstone certificate or diploma.

“AP Seminar is the first year of that program, and that course is up and running today,” Moser said. “The second part will be rolled out next year, which is AP Research. Combined, that allows students to get an AP Capstone certificate if they complete those two, and an AP Capstone diploma should they complete those two and also score a three or higher on a variety of other AP exams.”

Getting the program to opening day took more than a year of preparation.

“We sent teachers and administrators to a district that already had the program in place, to talk to those individuals, to observe it, and to hear about the wrinkles as they got ironed out in their program,” Moser said.

The same preparation process will now begin for AP Research, the program’s second course, with an eye toward a launch next school year.

The two programs join a reading curriculum pilot at the elementary center and a multi-tiered system of support rollout at both the elementary and middle school levels as the district’s top academic initiatives for 2026-27. Moser said the MTSS work, focused on systematically identifying and supporting students who need additional help, stems from ongoing collaboration with the Carbon-Lehigh Intermediate Unit.

“It will be a long process, but we are making sure that we have a complete, systematic approach by the end of this school year that is thorough, scientifically backed, and highly effective,” he said.