The close relationship between the Salisbury Township School District, Salisbury Township and the Salisbury Township Police Department dates back to the 1995 when the township witnessed its first triple murder carried out by two brothers who attended Salisbury High School.

Chief Allen W. Stiles addressed members of the operations committee during the April 9 meeting and recalled that pivotal time in the district.

“We provided a police officer at the high school and officers standing by at the other schools to make sure that everybody was safe while the Freeman brothers were on the run. It was our first foray into school security and safety.”

Stiles noted that since initial connection, the police department has grown in its efforts to protect the students at Salisbury, including the addition of a resource officer in place at the high school.

The recent incidents in schools across the United States have shown that not all schools are prepared for violent crime.

“Florida’s Parkland School District was not prepared in any way for what happened. They had one person in the role of a school resource officer that was not really a school resource officer. They had five buildings and 3,000 students being protected by one person. Impossible,” Stiles said.

The officers in the Salisbury Township Police Department undergo continual preparedness training to be able to mitigate a violent situation with an immediate response.

“The kids in the school district are like our kids; we are going to protect them as such,” Stiles said.

Sgt. Kevin Soberick is responsible for the program dealing with active shooters.

When speaking about the increasing incidents of school shootings, Soberick said, “The burden is placed on the police to act like SWAT officers and a lot of officers are trained to take care of critical incidents successfully, focusing on the SWAT mentality.”

Soberick and School Resource Officer Richard Nothstein have taken part in the Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events training.

The training is based on the Avoid, Deny, Defend or ADD strategy and outlines initiatives for the survival of an active shooter event.

“CRASE training is all-encompassing in everyday society and a valuable tool in everyone’s tool bag,” Soberick said.

According to Soberick, along with continual training, the police department has carried out active shooter training since 2007. Drills were performed at each of Salisbury’s campuses this year. Soberick said during the drills, everyone was able to get out of the classrooms.

“People who survive active shooter incidents are the people who can get out and Salisbury is way ahead of the curve.”

Nothstein presented a proposal for a Salisbury Resource Program at Salisbury Middle School as well as Western Salisbury Elementary School.

The program outlined by Nothstein would provide a safer environment through stronger relationships, reduced crime through education, stationing a police car on campus as a visible deterrent and having a quicker response time for incidents. The restoration of the D.A.R.E program as well as the creation of a club during the ninth period that would have students take part in their school’s safety was also proposed.

Director Susan Lea asked about the length of response time from SHS to Salisbury Middle School.

“A couple of weeks ago we had an incident at the middle school and it took me four minutes to get from one school to the other,” Nothstein said.

Director George Gatanis thanked the police department for “protecting our community and our children.”

Following the presentation by the police department, Business Administrator Robert Bruchak outlined the budget timeline which began April 9 with a look at five year projections, possible reductions and a closer examination of budgets and staffing at each of the buildings in the district.

May 7 will be the public presentation of the proposed final budget, with the adoption of the proposed final budget to be held May 9.

Members of the board will adopt the final budget for 2018-2019 school year June 13.

The proposed budget includes expense increases for salaries, health insurance at a rate of 4 percent, the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System, transportation, charter schools and out of district tuition.

Without a tax increase, the districts’ budget will reflect a deficit of $1,125,693.

Based on assumed projections, over the next five years the expanse between the expenses and revenues for the district will grow to a deficit of $3,625,587 without a tax increase.

Using only the ACT I millage increase, the deficit for 2018-2019 is reduced to $554,691.

The district’s current fund balance is $2,353,818; however, with a continual increase in expenses, the fund balance may become an alternative to bridging the gap between revenue and expenses.

Should the district choose to use money from the fund balance, by the 2022-2023 school year based on budget assumptions, the balance will be depleted and reflect a deficit of $477, 707.

Based on the combination of the ACT I Index and allowable exceptions, the budget for the 2018-2019 school year reflects a deficit of $16,185.

Concerning charter school expenses, Bruchak said, “It cost the district close to a little over $2,000,000 to provide transportation to between 47 and 50 buildings.”

Transportation by public school districts to charter schools is mandated by the state. The state is set to reimburse Salisbury $507,951 for transportation expenses for Salisbury. Bruchak noted taxpayers “pick up the rest of the tab.”

Decreases in expenses to the proposed 2018-2019 proposed budget include a debt service reduction of $50,000, $7,842 combined for the superintendent and assistant superintendent’s budgets, $5,267 for the business office, $59,000 for food service budget transfers and $70,000 for equipment.

A tax increase will be determined during the presentation of the proposed final budget. The maximum increase mentioned in the meeting would be 4.66 percent, or $177 for the average homeowner.

The district is going to continue to examine measures to shave expenses in an effort to lessen the burden on taxpayers.

In other district news, William Brackett, director of maintenance, buildings and grounds said he is going to take another swing at the varsity girls softball dugouts.

The materials for the construction of the dugout will include the possibility of the erection of a pole barn rather than the concrete blocks included in the initial proposal.

The timeline to begin and complete the project has also changed.

According to Brackett, the tight timeline of a completion of the project by the beginning of the new school year and the materials for the project may have prevented the opportunity for additional bids from other contractors resulting in a single proposal of $300,000 to build the dugout.