Giving itself an extra week to prepare for what figures to be a year unlike any other, Palmerton Area School District bumped its start date for students back to Sept. 8 during a board meeting on Tuesday.

Superintendent Dr. Jodi Frankelli said the move allows the district, “additional time to finalize its building level plans, finish camera and other technology installations in the classrooms, allow teachers to become comfortable with the technology, and work on transportation needs associated with the start of the year.”

Palmerton sent out a survey to parents on Tuesday asking which educational option (hybrid, virtual, Bomber Cyber Academy, CCTI, or outside charter school) their children will be using this year, and what, if any, transportation needs those students have.

The district’s original school calendar called for a start date of Aug. 31. It also moves the anticipated last day of school to June 10, 2021.

“We’re in the midst of getting everything set up in the classrooms and installing additional wireless access points to make sure there are no dead spots around the buildings,” Dan Heaney, technology and curriculum director, said. “Our additional Chromebooks that we ordered could start coming at the end of this week or early next week. All of the equipment we’ve had to add this year was purchased with grant money and we’re excited to get it all installed and running.”

Heaney said staff is invited to a training day at the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit on Aug. 11, which would replace one of their three scheduled in-service days before the start of school.

The board approved technology coaches, each earning a $1,809 stipend, at all of its school buildings for the 2020-21 school year. These staff members will be helping train their colleagues and assist them with technological issues that may arise throughout the year.

The coaches include Josh Nenscel, Mike Brennan and Andrew Remsing at the high school, Brianna Carroll and Amy Morgan at the junior high, Bill Acierno and Tyler Svetik at S.S. Palmer, Michelle Davis at Parkside Education Center, and Bill Zeky and Kelly Beblavy at Towamensing.

“These are teachers that other staff typically go to with technology questions and they’ve always been very helpful to me,” Heaney said.

The coach positions, which are part of the teachers’ contract, are making their return this year after being eliminated several years ago by the district.

In the past, director Sherry Haas said, one of the biggest issues is the technology coaches were leaving their own classroom to go help others.

“We don’t want to take away from some to give to others,” she said.

Heaney said when a teacher has a technology issue during class, he and his staff make it a point to drop everything and get that taken care of immediately.

“The stipend is in place because the idea is for these coaches to be helping other staff on their own time,” Heaney said. “Even when they weren’t receiving the stipend for the duties, many of the coaches were taking on that role in an unofficial capacity.”

In other preparations for the school year, facilities director Joe Faenza said health and safety supplies continue to roll in to the district.

“We’re waiting on some staff face shields and some hand sanitizer dispensers, which will be going in all of the classrooms and common areas,” he said. “The cleaning in the buildings is going well right now and we feel good about everything. We should be in good shape.”