The Salisbury Township School Board recognized teacher Rachel Legath and Salisbury High School Assistant Principal Brian Muschlitz at the March 14 meeting for their achievements in winning the Visionary Award presented by the Pennsylvania Association of Student Assistance Professionals for their monthly televised “What’s SAPpening” broadcast. The videos are broadcast on RCN channel 68 and concern Student Assistance Program topics that relate to the Salisbury community of residents, teachers and students.

The PASAP Award is given to leaders who take education a step above by using their creative passion.

Student representatives from the high school, middle school and elementary schools presented reports to board members.

High school students Rylee Donaldson and Taliah Martinez noted sports and activities in the district are going well adding several of the members of the Salisbury swim team will compete at the state level.

In wrestling, Jonah Nisenbaum placed well at districts and moved onto the state level.

The girls basketball team competed at the district level.

The Salisbury twirlers continue to place first and second in their competitions.

Donaldson reported the Student Government Advisory Dodgeball Tournament will take place 6:30 p.m. March 21 at Salisbury High School. Tickets will be available at the door.

Student class scheduling has begun for the 2018-2019 school year.

The debate team won both of their debates and have moved onto semi-finals.

Salisbury Middle School student Tristan Monohan reported the Blue Falcon Award was given to Matt Tobias for going “above and beyond and making SMS a great place to be.”

The box top collection at SMS, as reported by student Brooke Bleam, raised 3,500 box tops.

A Pennsylvania System of School Assessment Fun Day will be organized at SMS following PSSA testing.

The SMS sixth grade science class took a field trip to Blue Mountain and participated in various experiments as well as a fun day of snow tubing.

Monohan said the sixth grade science classes also designed balloon-powered cars created using all recyclable materials.

SMS ENACT Club members will be volunteering at the Lehigh County Humane Society, according to Bleam.

Monohan added a recent movie night raised $250 for the Lehigh County Humane Society.

Andrew Stappung and Rachel McKelvey represented Western Salisbury Elementary School at the school board meeting.

Stappung opened by reporting students collected pennies for children with cancer. The classroom with the highest number of pennies received a pasta party from Olive Garden.

First grade students earned a breakfast with their teacher, using their “Leader in Me Bucks” awarded for good behavior.

WSE’s book fair is ongoing and student report cards have been sent home according to McKelvey.

Harry S Truman Elementary School student Ri-lynn Genovese told board members HST had a children’s literacy program where new and used books were donated to families in need.

Family members were invited to join their second grade students during lunch March 5.

HST students participated with other districts competing against each other in the 24 Card Game that uses integers for an end result of the number 24.

Genovese said the musical review for kindergarten through second grade students will be held 9 a.m. March 22 at HST.

Also on March 22, students at HST will have school dental exams, while kindergarten physicals will take place April 5.

The annual HST parade featuring festive spring bonnets designed and worn by kindergarten students will take place 9:30 a.m. March 28. Family and friends are invited to attend the parade.

The final expenditure approved by the board was for SFE Nutritional Services in the amount of $42,097.77.

Secretary of the Board Robert Bruchak said he was “happy to report” the final payment for the loan for the school’s turf had been sent.

The district is currently working on renewing the food service management contract with SFE. Board and state approval is slated for April. The SFE contract is on an annual basis with an option to renew each year.

Director Carol Klinger, chair of the curriculum and technology committee, received unanimous approval for an employee tuition discount form between STSD and Cedar Crest College, as well as a program contract between the district and National Coalition Building Institute for a training workshop.

Operations committee chair Director George Gatanis provided an update on the girls softball dugouts. The expense for the project was much higher than expected and unfortunately, the project cannot move forward at this time.

Director of Facilities and Safety & Security William Brackett agreed and responded the single bid from Alfaro Contractors submitted was $300,000.

Gatanis said perhaps the contractor thought it was to be a domed stadium.

Director Mary Ziegler, chair of the personnel committee, asked for board approval to accept the resignation of part-time cafeteria worker Stephanie Gross.

Ziegler also asked to approve Emily DeOliveira as a part-time, one-to-one instructional assistant at SHS, Heather Cumelio as an educational liaison at HST, Tanya Kennedy as the Students Against Destructive Decisions advisor, Kassandra Beckage as a volunteer assistant varsity softball coach and Thomas Cunningham as a volunteer varsity basketball coach.

Director Audrey Frick, chair of the policy committee, received unanimous approval for changes to STSD board policies 2A.9 regarding meal policies, 2C.8 and 2C.9 concerning transportation and video and audio recording, 2E.5 regarding homeless students and those in foster care, 3A.1; graduation requirements, 4A.1 Unlawful harassment and non- discrimination practices and 6A.5; school visitors.

Board Vice President Samuel DeFrank noted Lehigh Carbon Community College is very excited for the move to the new downtown Allentown location. DeFrank was approved unanimously by the STSD board as trustee for LCCC for a term length of July 1 through June 30, 2024.

Board President Frank Frankenfield invited members of the board to attend the next Lehigh Career and Technical Institute event to be held at Careerlinks in Allentown March 28.

Superintendent Dr. Randy Ziegenfuss said he met with State Rep. Jeanne McNeill, D-134th, who is “very supportive” of the district.

The week of March 12 is “I Love Public Education” week and the campaign featuring many faculty members is on Salisbury’s blog post.

Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Lynn Fuini-Hetten said Salisbury has posted 25 episodes on their learner-centered passion project giving the district the opportunity to share ideas of teaching and learning with other education professionals.

STSD has been chosen by the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators to share their research as part of PASA’s learning symposium. Fuini-Hetten noted this was the first opportunity the district has had to participate in this manner.

The next school board meeting will be held 7:30 p.m. April 18 in the administration building.