The meeting room was filled with students, teachers and parents for the Jan. 15 school board meeting– all there to thank the school board members for their efforts during Board of School Directors' Recognition Month.

Members of the Harry S Truman Elementary School Lighthouse team attended the meeting to thank the directors, including Ben Edelman, Noah Kichline, Margaret Carl, Bailee Neitz, Madlyn Williams, Rylee Yerkes, Chase Watto, Quinn Wittman and Valerie Wallace. Missing from the presentation was team member Fawlco Ramos. The team members presented Board President Russell Giordano with a booklet they made thanking the directors for supporting the Leader in Me program.

Western Salisbury Elementary School Teacher Kathy DeBona, along with parents Carla Jones and Matt DeFazio also thanked the board members for their service.

DeFazio, a Salisbury graduate, thanked the board for hiring such great teachers. "You are picking the right people." He said his children are engaged in their learning and he is pleased the district is balancing technology with traditional tools for his children's education.

"What you are doing is working and is very much appreciated," parent Carla Jones said. "Thank you." Jones said the district is blessed with excellent teachers and staff. "The school district is why we moved here."

Superintendent Michael Roth enlisted the help of the HST students to give each director a certificate for their service. The theme of this year's school board director month is "Celebrating our Everyday Heroes."

Roth provided some facts about Pennsylvania school boards. There are 4,500 school directors serving Pennsylvania. All school boards have nine members; all have four year terms. All are volunteers without pay. The school director volunteers on average 16 to 20 hours a month.

"On behalf of the Salisbury School District community, thank you for your service," Roth said to the Salisbury school directors.

High school student representatives Ian Carey, Samantha Heiserman and Hannah Kahn also thanked the board for their service and for allowing the students to be a part of the meeting each month.

In their report, the students said it is a very busy time at the high school. The debate team has had several matches which have been rescheduled because of the weather. There will be two matches Feb. 6. The team hopes to advance to the semifinals and finals.

The Model United Nations team will travel to Johns Hopkins University Feb. 6 for a conference. The conference is in the budget for $360 for transportation and $5,000 for the conference.

The scholastic scrimmage team will participate in a full-day tournament Feb. 8 against Phillipsburg. In addition, the team will film the second round of the PBS tournament Jan. 28.

The Skills USA competition will be held Jan. 29 at Agricultural Hall 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. where LCTI students will compete.

There will be a scheduling night at the high school Feb. 4.

Auditions have been held for the spring play which will be held March 7 to 9.

The high school Key Club members will volunteer at the middle school dance-a-thon Feb. 28 to March 1– a 12-hour event at SMS.

Secretary of the board, Robert Bruchak said the business office is preparing the W-2's to be sent out to employees soon as well as the 1099 forms. As required by law, the health care benefits will be listed on the W-2 forms.

Bruchak also noted the district had a clean audit.

A Model UN booster club was approved. This club is being created to raise money for the students to attend additional activities.

The Athletic Trainer Services Agreement between Orthopedic Specialists, Lehigh Valley Hospital, Inc. and the school district was approved for the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 school terms.

Rachel Reinecke was approved as the jazz band director for the 2013-2014 school term. Mario Amato was approved as a full-time learning support teacher at Western Salisbury Elementary School effective Jan. 21. Mark Kappes was approved as the winter and spring strength coach for the 2013-2014 school term.

Director of Maintenance/Buildings and Grounds Bill Brackett discussed the recent maintenance issues at the high school. There was a frozen sprinkler head problem in the electrical room at the high school. There was no major damage and no power outage. The sprinkler head was replaced. The electrical surge protector still needs to be checked and repaired; in order to do that the high school system has to be shut down as well as the heating system.

The following day, five units burst and the building lost heat in those areas. Brackett said the staff was wonderful and business ran as usual.

On Jan. 7, all schools were closed due to the extremely cold temperatures.

On Jan. 8, at approximately 3 a.m., the sprinkler system at the high school froze and burst by the old gym and there was a half foot of water in the vestibule area when the fire department arrived.

Brackett, his staff, Assistant Principal Bill Dovico, Principal Heather Morningstar and Roth met at the school with the fire department. An already scheduled 2-hour delay gave them time to get the school up and running.

SERVPRO has been onsite and the maintenance department will do indoor air quality testing to make sure there are no problems.

Brackett said the major issue is the old gym floor is damaged. The insurance adjuster has been out and it appears the floor needs to be replaced. Brackett is waiting to hear from the insurance company. He said the existing floor needs to be removed to get the concrete floor completely dry.

At the next operations meeting, Brackett will present options for the floor replacement, including a wood floor with a ventilation system underneath or a rubberized floor which is similar in cost to a wood floor. Brackett said the best case scenario is two months before the floor can be used again.

When asked for the cause of this latest issue, Brackett said the sprinkler system pipe froze and the pipe broke. "When the ice is released, water just starts to flow," Brackett said. "It was flowing for about 45 minutes to about an hour. We know how to move forward to prevent a similar situation from happening again to make sure pipes stay warm."

Board member Robert Fischer has agreed to chair the policy subcommittee. The board will discuss whether they want to modify Board Policy 006 to reflect the latest revisions of Roberts Rules of Order for meetings. The board will discuss this further at another meeting.

At the high school, Dovico said the Keystone exams have been pushed due to delays and cancellations. Due to the maintenance issues, the students have been changing classrooms around. Dovico acknowledged the custodial staff, administrative staff, teachers and students "who have been great." On one of the testing days, a car accident on Interstate 78 kept the students and teachers from getting to the school. "Other teachers stepped up to help proctor the tests," Dovico said.

Roth acknowledged the maintenance staff for their work during these maintenance issues. "Bill Brackett and his staff have been wonderful; they kept the line of communications open. With significant water issues, we were able to have school. Some schools had similar situations and were unable to operate."

"I would like to thank the public for their understanding [delays, closures]. I am always concerned about the safety of the students, teachers and staff when making these decisions," Roth said.

Roth gave an update on the strategic planning process and explained the committee is using the Edmodo program to communicate notes, strategies, ideas, etc. In meeting with some of the students, Roth read some statements from students explaining how they show leadership and how they are utilizing technology. Some of their statements included what the students want to accomplish before they graduate.

Roth announced the district has had four closings due to weather. Two of those days will be made up during spring break which was built into the calendar. Two days have been added to the end of the school year. The calendar will be updated.

Roth said at this point, the school closings will not change graduation. "If we go other days, we may have to have a conversation with Symphony Hall." Graduation is scheduled for June 4.

As of this meeting, June 10 is scheduled to be the last of school.