Jeffry Deutsch, business administrator from the Carbon Career & Technical Institute, addressed the Weatherly Area School Board to present the CCTI budget for the 2026-27 school year.

Deutsch emphasized that there is no overall increase in the budget, aside from the general increase due to Weatherly Area having more students attend CCTI.

At present, 32 students from Weatherly attend classes either a half-day or a full day at CCTI.

To date, Jim Thorpe Area, Lehighton Area and Panther Valley school districts have passed the CCTI budget. Weatherly and Palmerton Area expect to vote on the budget at their meetings next month.

Ed Ebling from Jones and Company presented the Weatherly board with the school board financial reports.

Weatherly Treasurer and Chairman of the Personnel and Policy Committee William Knepper spoke for a moment about a new bill going through the state Legislature, Bill 1014, also known as the “Bell-to-Bell” bill. Its purpose is to prohibit students from using their cellphones use during the school day.

“I know that we have policies in place for the high school, elementary and middle; they do a good job with that as well,” Knepper stated. “I also want people to know that there are exemptions for students with special medical conditions for individualized education plans so parents know if there’s a need for the child or children to have a cellphone available, that there’s a way for that to be done.”

Dr. Robert Croop, Weatherly superintendent, advised that there appeared to be a lot of loopholes in the new legislation.

“It’s a cellphone policy without the teeth,” Croop said. “They’re selling it as much more of a strict policy, but you can see it’s not if you look through the whole thing. That’s my opinion.”