There was a large attendance for Oct. 9 Salisbury Township School District board meeting. Many parents were gathered to listen to the student reports.

At Harry S Truman Elementary School, the students will hold a Veterans Day celebration 1 p.m. Nov. 8. Veterans are welcomed to the school, where they will be honored and treated to a small snack and coffee.

At Western Salisbury Elementary School, UGI gave a presentation to the young elementary students, where they learned about safety and protocols. At the end of the month, the students will travel to Harrisburg to visit the state capitol. They are excited to learn about the state’s history and see the architecture.

A heroin opioid prevention education program will be presented Oct. 17 at Salisbury High School. The program is designed to teach students the dangers of heroin and opiate addiction. The high school students also announced October is dedicated to domestic violence awareness at the high school.

In sports recognitions, senior Shane Artis will be going to the state playoffs in cross-country.

There were two special recognitions after the students presented. The first was to recognize two Paragon bus drivers who have completed 10 years of service for Salisbury School District. Albert (Al) Kimmey and Griselda Cordero were at the meeting and both received certificates from the district. It was mentioned each driver after the 10-year mark had averaged 100,000 miles driven for the district.

“It’s been a pleasure working with Paragon Transit … they really care about the safety of our kids,” Salisbury Director of Transportation Mark Donnelli, said.

Next in special recognitions, School Resource Officers Rich Nothstein and Jason Laky presented the statistics from last year’s incidents in the district. From the beginning of the presentation, it was announced the change in truancy laws factored into the decrease in incidents over previous years. The laws were amended to give students more of an opportunity to get in class before arrests or citations are made.

Varying arrests ranged from drug offenses to theft – criminal mischief, sexting, truancy, weapon offense, disorderly conduct and harassment.

Numerous residency checks were completed during the school year. Nothstein said the number of checks has remained steady and he feels they are surely missing some.

Nothstein finished with a presentation on the different training programs the officers undertook in the past year. These ranged from active shooter trainings to compliance trainings. This is officer Nothstein’s 10th year with the school and will be Laky’s first full year. He started in March of last year.

The police also noted their involvement in open houses, sporting events, K9 demonstrations, Homecoming Parade, dances, driving simulators, S.I.D.N.E. (a go-cart that simulates distracted driving), prom, Falcon period and graduation,

In other business, all items on the curriculum agenda were approved. The license agreement between Salisbury and Ringbeller for the use of their software equipment was approved for the next two years, and an overnight trip was approved for the high school marching band to go to Philadelphia. They will be participating in Temple University’s Marching Band Day in late November.

Board member George Gatanis gave a rundown of the topics covered during the operations meeting. This included free athletic tickets for seniors, students and veterans, though he quickly questioned the age permitted for seniors. Superintendent Dr. Randy Ziegenfuss announced the age will be 60 and over, though he jokingly mentioned, “the district won’t be checking IDs.”

All items on the personnel agenda were approved. This included the hiring of Allison Leayman, of Bethlehem, who will be a new accountant at the administration building. Additionally, Steven Linn, of Allentown, was hired as the Salisbury Middle School softball coach.

In committee reports, Frank Frankenfield, in his last days as the president of the board at Lehigh Carbon Technical Institute, announced director and teacher contracts are being finalized. In his resignation, he is focused on helping the vice president transition into the lead with all the added responsibilities.