Published June 03. 2026 11:03AM<\/p>\n
Whitehall-Coplay School Board approved a reorganization plan during the May 26 special board meeting. This plan is the district\u2019s attempt to close an estimated $6 million gap in its proposed $110.7 million 2026-27 budget.<\/p>\n
The spending plan also includes a 4.7% property tax increase, which is the maximum allowed under the state\u2019s Act 1 Index.<\/p>\n
The Whitehall-Coplay School District reorganization plan resolution mentions the decision to adjust staffing was decided based on enrollment changes, student needs, operations and, of course, financial consideration.<\/p>\n
Under the plan, seven professional positions will be eliminated, including staff in biology, math intervention, STEM, industrial arts and special education. One special education facilitator role will be converted into a teaching position.<\/p>\n
Eight building substitute positions will also be cut, bringing the total reduction to 29 positions across both professional and support staff.<\/p>\n
Other changes include the elimination of one maintenance worker position, 12 secretarial positions and six paraprofessional roles. The assistant business manager will be moved into a financial accountant position. The assistant athletic director stipend will also be removed, with those duties shifted to the athletic director.<\/p>\n
According to the plan, district administrators will notify affected employees and follow state law and labor agreements throughout the process. A report on the changes is expected to be presented to the board within 30 days.<\/p>\n
Several residents spoke before the vote, asking the board to reconsider the cuts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does no good to deliberate endlessly, point fingers or argue about how we got here,\u201d district first-grade teacher Kevin Swartz said. \u201cBefore you act, consider the consequences of your choices. Consider the teachers that this decision is going to affect.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease reconsider,\u201d pleaded Sarah DeLeo, a paraprofessional at Whitehall High School, as well as a district graduate and resident.<\/p>\n
The board ultimately approved the plan by a 5-4 vote.<\/p>\n
The next special school board meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. June 8, followed by committee meetings on finance\/personnel, education\/student activities and operations\/transportation.<\/p>\n
The next regular meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. June 22.<\/p>\n
None<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published June 03. 2026 11:03AM Whitehall-Coplay School Board approved a reorganization plan during the May 26 special board…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-209593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}