Northern Lehigh School District has reported a positive beginning to the 2024-25 school year.

Dr. Tania Stoker, assistant superintendent, and Dr. Matthew J. Link, superintendent, gave a presentation to the school board on Monday about the start of the school year.

Stoker said that on the week of Aug. 12, they welcomed their new teachers to the district.

On the week of Aug. 19, all teachers returned to campus, and the week of Aug. 26 marked the first day of school for students.

Stoker then reported on the district’s third day enrollment numbers.

“Remember, this is a snapshot in time,” she said. “We continue to have students coming into the district and enrolling, and we continue to have students moving out of the district.”

Stoker said that at Peters Elementary School, kindergarten was at 121 pupils; first grade, 128; and second grade, 137. The total building enrollment was 386 students.

“These are Northern Lehigh students sitting in Northern Lehigh classrooms, so it does not include outplacements, it does not include IU students, it does not include students in Bulldog (Academy) and things of that nature,” she said.

At Slatington Elementary, enrollment was 108 third grade students; fourth grade, 115; fifth grade, 119; and sixth grade, 138. The total building enrollment was 480 students.

Northern Lehigh Middle School had 120 seventh grade students and 116 eighth graders, for a total building enrollment of 236 students.

Northern Lehigh High School had 112 ninth grade students; 101 in 10th grade; 107 in 11th grade; and 113 in 12th grade. The total building enrollment was 433 students.

“That takes the district snapshot at that time to 1,535 students,” Stoker said. “Last year around this time we were at 1,517, so we are up a few students from last year.”

Stoker also highlighted that the district has 43 students who are either taking a full schedule or a class or two classes through Bulldog Academy, the district’s online program.

She said they also have 120 students who are at Lehigh Career & Technical Institute this year, including 12 students in Academic Center (where students can go full time), one student in the Career Academy Program, three in the Diversified Career Occupations program, three in Emerging Health and two in the Animal Sciences program, which is newer.

Director Gary Fedorcha thanked the school board for “allowing us to go back into allowing our students to look for some of their education and bringing back the full-day program at LCTI. I’m so glad we have 12 students going this year.”

Lunch & Learn

Dr. Lori Bali, high school principal, spoke about the Lunch & Learn Program at the high school.

“I see it from an administrator lens, and I see kids talking and sharing and resting and giving (off) some energy,” Bali said. “Even like the first week when they don’t have a lot of work to do, you still saw kids just showing they’re actually taking the time, using it wisely.

“We’ve just been so proud of them, because they’ve been given lot of responsibility, and we really try to do that kind of gradual release. The teachers sensed that they were ready.”

Bali reiterated how proud of them they are.

“So we are so proud of them; they are cleaning up after themselves, the things that they tend to forget about, they continue to do, they wipe their tables, they clean up, and they’ve just really shown that they want this and that they value the time,” she said. “And that is our hope, is that it becomes such a critical time in their day and I think as the workload increases as the year goes on, I think they’re going to even see the power in it even more.

Bali added, “We’re just thankful for your support and the trust that you’ve put in us. It is a big undertaking for a secondary school to put in an intervention period such as this, and that’s what it’s becoming.”

Bali noted they’ve already identified a couple of kids who are falling a little bit below.

“We’re really proud of what we have going. We hope to even become a model someday for other schools, so we’d like to pay it forward and give back,” she said. “So we think we’re going to get there for sure.”

Board President Mathias Green noted that Northern Lehigh is the only district in the Lehigh Valley to start a Lunch & Learn program.

“I want to say thank you to the administration, to the staff, to the teachers for all working together to make that happen for the students,” Green said. “I think it’s another thing where we can hang our hats on in Northern Lehigh.”

Green thanked everyone who participated in that.

“I’m hearing nothing but good things from it so far,” he said. “I think it will blossom and get better as we go along.”