Salisbury Township School District board members had their 15 minutes of fame Feb. 22 at the curriculum and technology committee meeting at Salisbury High School.

That is where board members Frank Frankenfield, Audrey Frick, George Gatanis, Carol Klinger, Susan Lea and Mary Ziegler filmed a spot for the high school television station for which programming can be seen on RCN - Channel 68.

Media and communications teacher Kelly Wetherhold and senior Casey Laudadio gave a presentation on the student-run program “Impact” and the work put forth by the students in the media center.

Viewers can tune into RCN Channel 68 and see a continuous loop of programming. This is the first year content has been uploaded to a television station and currently with the 11 full-time students working on the shows, there is about four hours of content.

There is no cost to the district for the RCN channel. Wetherhold said it is federally mandated for the public air space. RCN is reimbursed by the federal government.

Wetherhold said the goal is to have each of the four schools have their own hour of programming.

Laudadio, who is the station manager, explained in detail how the process works and said they can now livestream events to the station such as basketball games.

Wetherhold said currently students are being taught how to code, but in a recent book he read, in 10 to 15 years coding might be automated and not needed. “What we need are idea people,” Wetherhold said.

And that is exactly what Laudadio said happens during the Falcon period at the school. The group comes up with ideas to engage the viewers and create stories people will want to see.

“It takes between 30 and 40 hours per episode,” Wetherhold said.

SHS Principal Heather Morningstar said graduation will be live streamed this year. When asked about the plays, Wetherhold said they cannot be livestreamed at this time due to the royalty fees associated with the play.

Wetherhold also said he hopes to have SHS on Service Electric next year.

Board member Carol Klinger asked if the Salisbury Middle School students who work on “SMS Live” are able to move into the media center once in high school.

“Yes, many join as sophomores, juniors and seniors because it is a lot of work,” Wetherhold said. “It is unbelievable what the kids are capable of doing.”

In other business, Harry S Truman Elementary School Principal Zachery Brem and Western Salisbury Elementary School Principal Grace Hartman provided updates on the strategies being used to help those students struggling with the state testing.

Brem said HST is using “Race into Reading” where students restate the question, answer the question, cite the text evidence and explain and extend by making connections to what the author is trying to state. “Students are taking the strategy back into the classroom and sharing with the teachers,” Brem said.

Hartman said in third grade, students are using trifolds which helps the students predict, evaluate, question, visualize and use content clues. In fourth grade, students are using a bracket organizer for characterization. Fifth grade students are using a tool “No Red Link” for grammar assistance.

SMS Assistant Principal Rob Sawicki said the school is using Study Island benchmarks for differentiated practice and item analysis (warmups). The team is also monitoring the pace of the curriculum by utilizing bi-weekly checkups.

In the Teaching and Learning 2020 update, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Lynn Fuini-Hetten noted several recent opportunities for students and teachers to travel outside of the buildings to share what they have learned and discuss the tools used to facilitate that learning.

“We continue to look for opportunities to take what students have learned outside of the classroom and then bring back into the classroom what they have learned,” Fuini-Hetten said.

Fuini-Hetten said there will be an Apple Distinguished Program site visit at the high school March 9.

An evaluation of the refresh of the existing technology is ongoing, according to Fuini-Hettten.

The next curriculum and technology committee meeting will be held 7 p.m. March 27 at WSE.