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UNION TWP. &mdash; The Northwest Area School Board re-elected Leigh Bonczewski as president and Clement Benson as vice-president during the annual re-organization meeting Wednesday and approved a handful of agenda items during the regular board meeting afterward, primarily appointing two substitutes and paying bills. The bigger news may have come between the two meetings.
				With the reorganization meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the regular meeting for 7 p.m., the board wedged the work session between the two. Superintendent Joseph Long gave his meeting report and school administrators gave theirs.
				All of them praised faculty and staff for the work done in preparing to begin synchronous live lessons for students Thursday. The district has been working towards having enough of the right hardware and software to make the switch, allowing students and teachers to react in person online.
				Long also announced the district, like others, has submitted a state-required &ldquo;attestation&rdquo; form, created by the state department of education &ldquo;to ensure school communities are implementing mandated health, safety, and mitigation strategies when offering in-person instruction in a county with substantial levels of community transmission for two consecutive weeks,&rdquo; according to a state media release announcing more than 99% of public school entities filed the forms by the Nov. 30 deadline. Luzerne County and all but one county in the state are considered at &ldquo;substantial&rdquo; risk for COVID-19.
				Long also announced that the district has been classified as &ldquo;tier 1B&rdquo; in the prioritization of distribution of COVID-19 vaccines when they are available. He said the state told him this would mean faculty and staff could voluntarily get the vaccine by mid to late January, but added he suspects it will more likely be February.
				And he briefly discussed new state legislation that sets some rules regarding payment to transportation contractors and seeks a federal waiver that would allow the state to skip administering the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests and the Keystone State Exams. The state did get a waiver last year and did not administer the tests. Students who take one of the three subjects that require Keystone Exams in high school this year and pass the course would be deemed &ldquo;proficient&rdquo; in the subject without taking the state exam.
				The auditorium renovation is 95% done, with carpeting expected to be done before Christmas break, Long said, and Luzerne County Community College donated some furniture to Northwest Area, including filing cabinets, student desks and large round tables for the library.

Northwest Area re-elects Bonczewski as president