Attorney John E. Freund III, with King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul, LLC, attended the Salisbury Township School District operations committee meeting Nov. 7 to provide a presentation on the Sunshine Act.

Board members Samuel DeFrank and Joseph Gnall were not in attendance.

The Sunshine Act general rule states official action (votes) and deliberations performed by a quorum of the members of an agency must take place at a public meeting.

Agency includes governing bodies and committees who render advice or take official action on matters of agency business.

A quorum is defined as a number needed to transact business, usually one more than half total number of members.

Board members have a legal obligation to keep confidential student information, personnel information (except salaries) and labor negotiations.

The district is required to provide notice of place, date and time of meeting in a newspaper of general circulation where the meeting is held. Notice is also required to be posted at the building of the principal.

The public is provided a reasonable opportunity to comment on matters of concern, official action or deliberation. Limiting comments does not violate the Sunshine Act.

Board members reviewed examples of recent cases of Sunshine Act violations and asked questions of Freund following the presentation.

In other business, Director of Facilities, Safety and Security William Brackett provided a presentation on proposed summer 2017 projects.

Items on the list include fencing behind Harry S Truman Elementary School and the administration building; asphalting and seal coating along the back of the administration building, HST back driveway and the HST back playgrounds; seal coating the Salisbury Middle School driveway, the high school student lot and back driveway and the bus parking lot at HST; flooring at HST including replacing carpeting with vinyl tile and, in certain areas, placing carpet tile and redesigning the front office of SMS including new furniture.

Brackett is also seeking approval to end the relationship with Stanley Securities and start a contract with Simplex, citing customer service issues and other problems. His proposal would include a monitoring contract as well as the replacement of exterior access controls and additional door access points.

The total cost of proposed projects is $559,500.

Business Administrator Robert Bruchak provided a presentation on the fund balance which has a balance of $6,401,006. Total unassigned fund balance is $2,455,000.

Bruchak asked the board members to assign a portion of the fund balance to complete the recent clean audit which must be submitted by Dec. 27.

The board also discussed Lehigh Career and Technical Institute’s intent to re-fund bond issues and borrow $2 million to re-do the welding area, update computer technology and take on additional capital projects. LCTI hopes to get approval soon to take advantage of the low interest rates. Salisbury board members will vote individually at the Nov. 16 board meeting.

Board members Audrey Frick and Susan Lea presented 11 policies for review including weapons, student assistance program, hazing, unlawful harassment, students and law enforcement agencies, food allergies/food substitutions, student records, student recruitment, surveys and collection of information for marketing, student expression/distribution of materials and student fundraising.

The next operations committee meeting will be held 7 p.m. Dec. 7 at the administration building.