The Lenape Regional High School District board members unanimously agreed former NBA player Chris Herren’s multiple assemblies for the school and the recent community speaking engagement have been valuable for the community.
According to board member William Bisignano, students and faculty gave their full attention to Herren.
“You could hear a pin drop when he spoke. He maintained everyone’s attention,” Bisignano said.
The board has recently taken heat for paying Herren for his speaking engagement with the district, Superintendent of Schools Carol Birnbohm said, however the money was raised and no money was used from the budget.
“When Chris [Heilig] saw him, he told us we had to make sure every student saw him, and we did,” Birnbohm said.
Birnbohm recalled a reaction a student had to Herren, noting the student couldn’t identify her peer’s issue, which lead to bullying from other students.
“It opened up many lines of communication and types of discussion, even bullying,” Bisignano said.
For Birnbohm, it was important for every student in the school to listen to what Herren has to say about what he’s been through. He has already spoken with Cherokee and Lenape High School students.
According to the LRHSD website, Herren will conclude his tour of the LRHSD with student-only presentations at Shawnee High School on Monday, Dec. 2 and Seneca High School on Thursday, Dec. 5.
In other news:
• Lenape and Seneca will pilot an innovative Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program beginning in the 2014–2015 school year, made possible through a $31,200 grant from Lockheed Martin Corporation, a district release said.
The Pathway to Engineering program, from Project Lead the Way, will be piloted with ninth-grade students at Lenape and Seneca beginning in fall 2014, the release said. The highly competitive program is designed to attract and retain students interested in pursuing a STEM-related post secondary education and, ultimately, a career, the release said.
“This partnership opportunity provided by Lockheed Martin will enable us to add this
rigorous STEM program to our current course offerings,” Heather Xenakis, Director of Curriculum and Instruction at LRHSD, said in the release. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for highly motivated students interested in engineering to understand, in application, the content learned in science and math courses.”
According to the release, the course is interdisciplinary in its approach and includes science, technology, engineering and math, and will be offered independent of any specific department. The district is hoping to continue the sequence of courses available through the program, by adding a new course each year for the next four years, based on continued funding by outside sources.
No indication was given on when, or if, Cherokee or Shawnee would be involved in the program.
• The next LRHSD board of education meeting is scheduled for Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m.
