Despite the Salisbury Township School District being closed Feb. 7 due to snow and ice, the school directors met for their regular meeting 7:30 p.m. in the administration building.

No students or administrators were in attendance.

An executive session was held prior to the meeting to discuss personnel issues. All directors were in attendance with the exception of Carol Klinger.

The board approved the preliminary 2018-2019 budget in the amount of $38,301,131 which would require a real estate tax levy of 19.8468 mills. The board authorized the administration to apply for all referendum exceptions for which the district may qualify.

Board President Frank Frankenfield wanted the public to know this is just a preliminary budget and administration will continue to look for ways to trim costs.

In other business, Letitia Forthman was appointed deputy tax collector.

In personnel news, the board accepted the resignation of Sarah Wascura as the Students Against Destructive Decisions advisor effective the end of the first semester of the 2017-2018 school year.

Kelly Pauling was appointed part-time interim supervisor of instruction practice, pending completion of requirements, in the administration building three days a week effective Jan. 24 through April.

Mackenzie Sikora was appointed assistant middle school swim club advisor effective March 26 pending completion of requirements.

Mark Kappes was appointed winter strength coach effective Jan. 1 for the 2017-2018 school year pending completion of requirements. Kappes was also appointed the spring strength coach effective March 5.

James Silberman was approved as a volunteer middle school softball coach.

Marissa Vitale was approved as a volunteer varsity softball coach.

Robert Sopko was approved as a volunteer varsity baseball coach pending completion of requirements.

Frankenfield offered a special thank you to all of the coaches in the district.

In her Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit report, Director Mary Ziegler said CLIU recently had a clean audit.

Director Samuel DeFrank, in his report on Lehigh Carbon Community College, said the resolution passed all school districts for the move and expansion of the Allentown campus.

Frankenfield reported on the recent Skills USA competition with Lehigh Career and Technical Institute students participating. Winners will be announced at a future meeting. The LCTI budget was approved in the amount of $26,602,200. Salisbury’s portion is $818,625.58.

Director Susan Lea reported on the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and Governor Tom Wolf’s proposed budget released recently. In the budget, Wolf has allocated an additional $100 million to regular education, an additional $20 million to special education and $263 million to the state pension fund.

The board approved a resolution opposing Senate Bill 2 and the Education Savings Account voucher program saying they “undermine Pennsylvania’s responsibility to ensure every student in every community has equal access to public education; and schools targeted under Senate Bill 2 are already in under-resourced districts; and state money for ESAs would be deducted, on a per-student basis, from a school district’s basic education subsidy; and not only would school districts’ state aid be sent to unaccountable private schools, but such money could also be diverted to higher education, tutoring services and other ‘qualified education expenses,’ not even ensuring students receive full-time educational instruction.”

The resolution also points out that unlike private schools, “public schools accept, educate and protect the rights of all children who come to their doors.”

Also noted in the resolution is the fact “public schools are held to strict accountability standards that measure student achievement and academic progress, unlike private schools which are not required to use the same standard assessments and reporting requirements.”

The entire resolution can be found on the district website www.salisburysd.org, under the school board information and listed as an attachment to the agenda for the Feb. 7 meeting.