Salisbury Township School District Superintendent Dr. Randy Ziegenfuss and Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Lynn Fuini-Hetten planned an opening convocation Aug. 22 at Salisbury High School for every employee of the school district.

All employees were treated to a breakfast of homemade blueberry and chocolate chip muffins and build your own parfait with yogurt and strawberries, blueberries, graham cracker and granola toppings.

Tables were placed in the gym for informational purposes staffed by professionals answering questions about retirement plans, health insurance, environmental issues and computer security issues.

Attendees had the opportunity to try BB-8™ – the app-enabled Droid™ robot which students can program to do various tasks and drive the Simulated Impaired Driving Experience (SIDNE®) vehicle which simulates drunk driving.

Everyone then gathered in the auditorium for a welcome from Ziegenfuss and Fuini-Hetten as the district gears up for the 2018-2019 school year.

School board members George Gatanis, Carol Klinger and Mary Ziegler attended the convocation.

Ziegler also welcomed everyone to the school year. She offered a special thanks to the employees who worked in the district throughout the summer and to those who prepared the buildings for the return of students, teachers and staff.

She noted some changes for the school year including new safety and security policies which will be discussed with employees by the building principals. Ziegler also noted the school board members approved a second school resource officer who will be based at Salisbury Middle School.

“We have been working with the township and the police department to have this happen as soon as possible,” Ziegler said.

Ziegler also said it is the second year with the new food service provider and there will be some changes noted this year as a result of surveys completed. There will be an app at the high school for online ordering as well as other promotions.

Lastly, Ziegler noted it was a contract year.

“I’m very proud to say we negotiated and settled a contract that we are very pleased with. We are happy you choose to be here with us at Salisbury and for making us the best place to work,” Ziegler said.

“Regardless of what you do, teachers, instructional aides, nursing, food service, custodial, administrative, clerical – we each impact our kids each and every day – influence them, motivate them, inspire them and listen to them. We do that each and every day. So thank you. Today you lead the school, tomorrow our students are going to lead us in this world,” Ziegler said.

Building principals introduced the new staff at the various schools and Salisbury Education Association Vice President Matt Tobias and Salisbury Education Support Personnel Association President Scott Marshall each provided motivational and inspiring comments. Tobias showed a humorous compilation of memes which teachers, students and parents may be experiencing. Marshall received a laugh when he described the maintenance staff as custodial maintenance engineers in the district.

Ziegenfuss and Fuini-Hetten provided a presentation on “Scaling the Transformational Mountain,” challenging attendees to think about “What’s your innovation?” – this being the theme for the 2018-2019 school year. Ziegenfuss said the focus for the day was to ask questions, including, “Why is it important for us to be thinking about doing some things differently in public education?”

Fuini-Hetten said climbing a mountain requires preparation and training; it is a lifestyle. Experts said people scale mountains for the intense challenge and Fuini-Hetten likened climbing a mountain to transforming classrooms.

Ziegenfuss mentioned the four digit number 2031 – the year the current kindergarten students will graduate.

Ziegenfuss said we aren’t usually very good at predicting what the world will be like in 2031 but encouraged attendees to think back that many years and how much the world has changed.

“Is what we are doing currently in our public education system preparing those kindergarteners for the knowledge, skills and competencies they are going to need ... and what kinds of skills will they need over the next 13 years?” Ziegenfuss said.

Ziegenfuss said there are three technologies which are forming our world: wearables, augmented realities and virtual realities.

Wearables are accessories such as smart watches, glasses, rings and bracelets which can control electronics, provide health checks and data and more.

Augmented reality was also demonstrated in a TED Talk with Meron Gribetz utilizing the Meta 2 technology using an augmented reality headset that “makes it possible for users to see, grab and move holograms just like physical objects. Examples were given for artists, engineers, story tellers, brain surgeons and designers to use this technology

Virtual reality was demonstrated in a TED Talk by Michael Bodekaer who wants to use it to make quality education more accessible. In this talk, he demonstrates an idea that could revolutionize the way science in schools is taught. Using a pair of virtual glasses and a smart phone, the ideas are endless for people to use virtual reality to conduct experiments, see actual DNA and develop numerous other possibilities.

Ziegenfuss said the possibilities are endless and gave an example of how students would be able to go into the sea to observe the marine life.

Fuini-Hetten said this new technology requires the skills of complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, people management, coordinating with others, emotional intelligence, judgment and decision-making, service orientation, negotiation and cognitive flexibility. Students will need to know how to code those technologies.

See an additional photo on Page A19.