At the Sept. 18 Salisbury Township School District Board of Directors meeting, it was announced board member Susan Lea has resigned from the position on the board as well as the Pennsylvania School Boards Association liaison effective Aug. 29.

Board President Frank Frankenfield thanked Lea for her three years on the board.

The board has 30 days to fill her position. Letters of interest from community members are requested. Email letters of interest to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Randy Ziegenfuss at rziegnefuss@salisburysd.org or Frankenfield at ffrankenfield@salisburysd.org. As Frankenfield did not seek another term, there will be another position open on the board as well.

In other business, a special recognition was presented to retiring Salisbury baseball coach Mike Pochron. Salisbury Athletic Director Monica Deeb spoke of the many shared experiences she had with Pochron. He graduated from Salisbury in 1973 and has spent 40 years as a coach of the high school baseball team, 20 years as head coach and 20 years as assistant. He has won 267 games, three district titles and three league championships.

“I haven’t had to worry about anything with the baseball program for the past 20 years and it’s all because of Mike,” Deeb said. ”I am very grateful to have had him for all these years.”

Deeb mentioned folks will still see Pochron on the sidelines of the football games, working the chains (yard markers).

“ ... great place to go to school, great place to live, great place to work. Always got great cooperation from all of the administration … thank you, enjoyed it,” Pochron said.

Western Salisbury Elementary School and Harry S Truman Elementary School student representatives provided reports of past and current activities to the Salisbury Township School District Board of Directors. The students all had picture day and two separate back-to-school nights were held for parents of grades kindergarten through second and third through fifth.

A “buddy bench” was introduced on the Western Salisbury Elementary School grounds. This bench is to serve students who simply need someone to talk to. Last year, the students held a fundraiser to purchase the bench in memory of student Mercedes A. Franco. Mercedes died Oct. 23, 2018, at St. Luke’s Hospital, Palmerton campus. She was a WSE kindergarten student. The school is planning to do a bench dedication Sept. 26.

The HST staff is prompting fifth grade students, at the beginning of the school year, to sit on the bus with kindergarten students. It is a very nice initiative to begin for all the young students. Kindergarten students will be the Class of 2032.

Staff will be collaborating with the HST PTO to conduct another volunteer clearance night in the HST library. Family members of students who would like to complete the Salisbury Township School District clearance requirements can do so 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 7, before the first PTO meeting of the year.

Salisbury Middle School has kicked off fall sports and spirt week is set for the first week of October. The school will hold a pep rally Oct. 4 to coincide with the Homecoming football game at the high school. The Homecoming game will be played against Northern Lehigh at the Salisbury High School stadium 7 p.m.

The Salisbury Homecoming parade plays precursor to the big football game. The parade will begin at HST 5:30 p.m. Oct. 4 and will follow the same route as last year to the high school.

This year’s parade will follow the same route as last year, which will begin at Gaskill Avenue (HST) and proceed left onto Salisbury Road, left onto Tweed Avenue, left onto Montgomery Street and concluding at the high school.

School district clubs, activities, athletics and other community groups get together to celebrate and continue the tradition during this time. Some groups have floats, but most groups just walk in the procession with signs/banners for their group and may hand out candy or other treats to the spectators. There will be several classic cars, school administrators, ambulances/fire trucks and school district board members, according to Student Government Advisor and math teacher James Hahn.

In other news, SHS will host a vaping and e-cigarettes presentation Sept. 26. Superintendent Dr. Randy Ziegenfuss talked about the epidemic in today’s young society and said parents need to be made aware and take action against a potentially life-threatening addiction.

In personnel news, the board accepted the resignation of Teresa Cross as a full-time English as a Second Language teacher at HST effective retroactive to June 29 and the resignation of Alyssa Trunk as a part-time one-to-one instructional assistant at SMS effective retroactive to Aug. 13. The board approved Dara Ackerman, pending completion of requirements, as a part-time (49 percent) elementary teacher at HST effective Sept. 3, Allison Lipson, pending completion of requirements, as a part-time (49 percent) ESL teacher at HST effective Aug. 26 and Laurie Infantino, pending completion of requirements, as a full-time English teacher at SHS effective at a date to be determined.

The board approved the employment extension of Patrick Lundy as a full-time long-term substitute art teacher at WSE and HST effective Aug. 20 through the end of the second trimester of the 2019-2020 school year.

The board also approved Lindsay Case, pending completion of requirements, as a four hours a day part-time one-to-one instructional assistant at SMS effective Aug. 26, Tina Marinos, pending completion of requirements, as a four hours a day part-time one-to-one instructional assistant at HST effective Aug. 26, Lianna Weil, pending completion of requirements, as a four hours a day part-time one-to-one instructional assistant at HST effective Aug. 27,

Also approved was the assignment and building transfer of Donna Besz, from a part-time 4.5 hours a day Title I instructional assistant at SMS to a part-time 4.5 hours a day library instructional assistant at HST effective Aug. 26, the assignment transfer of Constance Keller, from a part-time four hours a day library instructional assistant at HST to a part-time four hours a day one-to-one instructional assistant at HST effective Aug. 26, the building transfer of Kristen Corcoran, from a part-time four hours a day one-to-one instructional assistant at SHS to a part-time four hours a day one-to-one instructional assistant at SMS effective Aug. 26, the building transfer of Donita Marze, from a part-time four hours a day one-to-one instructional assistant at SHS to a part-time four hours a day one-to-one instructional assistant at SMS effective Aug. 26, the assignment and building transfer of Barbra Cassar, from a part-time 4.5 hours a day intervention instructional assistant at HST to a part-time 4.5 hours a day one-to-one instructional assistant at SMS effective Aug. 26 and the building transfer of Lianna Weil, from a part-time four hours a day one-to-one instructional assistant at HST to a part-time four hours a day one-to-one instructional assistant at SHS effective Sept. 23.

Robert Costantini was approved as the assistant swimming coach for the 2019-2020 school year at the 2019-2020 contractual rate of pay for this position ($3,017), Jack Repyneck was approved, pending completion of requirements, as the assistant middle school football coach for the 2019-2020 school year at the 2019-2020 contractual rate of pay for this position ($3,224), Thomas Cunningham was approved, pending completion of requirements, as the assistant varsity baseball coach for the 2019-2020 school year at the 2019-2020 contractual rate of pay for this position ($3,430), Robert Costantini was approved as the middle school assistant swim club adviser for the 2019-2020 school year at the 2019-2020 contractual rate of pay for this position ($1,784) and Fernando Trinidad Jr. was approved, pending completion of requirements, as a volunteer middle school football coach for the 2019-2020 school term without pay and/or benefits.