Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the College Partnerships Dual Enrollment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
District advances dual-enrollment agreements with Kutztown, Penn State Lehigh, and LCCC; transportation and supports flagged
Summary
The district moved forward dual-enrollment and early-college partnerships with Kutztown University, Penn State Lehigh, and Lehigh Carbon Community College, while board members pressed staff to ensure transportation, tutoring and family engagement safeguards before students enroll.
The Allentown School District advanced multiple dual-enrollment and early-college partnership agreements intended to expand college-credit opportunities for high-school students.
Committee members reviewed agreements with Kutztown University, Penn State Lehigh and Lehigh Carbon Community College (LCCC). District staff described cohort models, routing and scheduling plans, and said transportation conversations were underway to make start times and pick-ups work for students. The Kutztown agreement will bring students to campus for multiple days per week; the district said it is coordinating travel times and meal supports and will offer meal vouchers if needed.
Board concerns and administrative response: Board members emphasized the importance of setting students up to succeed in college environments by ensuring reliable transportation, advising, tutoring and family engagement. Board director Lisa Conover and others said that early-college programs must include pre-enrollment counseling and dedicated staff to follow student attendance and performance because university coursework uses different attendance and academic policies than K–12.
Lehigh Carbon Community College and LCCC budget discussion: During a parallel discussion of the LCCC budget request, LCCC representatives told the board that some early-college and dual-enrollment students were not captured in the FTE counts the college used for subsidy calculations; they reported that Allentown’s cash contribution for the year is approximately $1.6 million and the college’s total budget is about $47.8 million. LCCC said it continues to expand supports and cited successful student GPAs for early-college cohorts.
Actions taken: Committee votes forwarded the agreements with Kutztown, Penn State Lehigh, and the LCCC-related items to the regular board meeting for final action. Administration said staff will return with implementation steps, including transportation plans, family outreach and progress reporting.
