On Feb. 19, the Salisbury Township School District held its regular monthly meeting at Salisbury Middle School in order to accommodate the public, who showed up en masse to have their voices heard in regard to a potential reconfiguration that would affect the district’s elementary and middle schools.

The meeting commenced with presentations from both elementary schools, the middle and the high school. Claudia Lewis and Gianna Olds reported from Western Salisbury Elementary School on their school-wide Valentine’s Day activities. The students created candy bags and cards which were donated to local senior citizens.

Harry S Truman Elementary School students Nadine Roberts and Graclyn Williams reported on the Leading Edge martial arts assembly held recently, with a focus on anti-bullying techniques, self-esteem and discipline.

On March 2, HST will observe Read Across America Day in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday.

A representative from Salisbury Middle School, Cameron Kubinsky, spoke about the semi-formal dance planned for Feb. 21. Proceeds from this event will go toward intersessions in the spring.

The middle school chorus and jazz band performed at the PPL Center Feb. 7 for Salisbury night with the Phantoms.

Olivia Hoeing gave the high school’s presentation. She took this opportunity to speak about the dodgeball tournament happening March 16 at the high school and run by the SGA. She also informed those in attendance that course selection for students for the 2020-2021 school year is well underway, which will be followed shortly afterward by scheduling.

Board members Mary Ziegler, chair and Carol Klinger, vice chair of the personnel committee reviewed several staffing changes, all of which were approved. Lynn Nester, kindergarten teacher at WSE, will be retiring, as will Patti Anderson, gifted and learning support teacher at WSE and Linda Viscuso, first grade teacher at WSE, at the end of the school year.

Tara Gunning, of Bethlehem, was approved to become a part-time instructional assistant at WSE and Kyle Gangwere, of Center Valley, will transfer his assignment from an instructional assistant to a part-time office instructional assistant, retroactive to January.

Robin Skidmore, of Breinigsville, will increase her hours from three to four hours a day in her office instructional assistant capacity at WSE.

Five volunteer coach positions were approved: Robert Fiedler, of Bethlehem, for wrestling, Marissa (Vitale) Costa, of Nazareth, for softball, Robert Sopko, of Allentown, for baseball and Stanley Fidrych and Lou Bottitta, both of Allentown, for boys tennis.

The meeting then switched focus to a forum for comments regarding the possible closure of WSE amid budget woes in the district. If adopted, this course of action will entail all district students in grades kindergarten through fourth attending HST and students in grades five through eight attending SMS, effective for the 2020-2021 school year. The board was able to present some preliminary information and they took several public statements from citizens in the audience.

Dr. Randy Ziegenfuss, superintendent, opened his remarks by mentioning that in his 14 years involved with the district, he has never seen so many in attendance for a board meeting. The room was packed and even accommodated standing spectators in the back. Ziegenfuss stressed the board has a strong desire for both sides to be heard and to examine all possible options for closing the gap in the budget.

In 2018, a capital improvements plan update found the district buildings are aging poorly, especially WSE, which was built in 1960, and SMS, which was built in 1950. This study concluded it would entail a $35 million price tag to perform necessary renovations to keep these buildings safe for continued learning.

Ziegenfuss said in Salisbury, the district faces a unique issue – the area is largely residential and much of the land already developed, leaving very little room to grow the tax base in a significant way. On top of that, there is a cap on yearly tax increases for homeowners. Zeigenfuss pointed out Lehigh Valley Health Network owns three large parcels of land that it operates on, but for which they pay zero in taxes due to their nonprofit status. The amount LVHN would have to contribute to school taxes for their properties would total $5.7 million a year – which Ziegenfuss said would certainly be enough to keep WSE open and operational. “It’s a rigged game – and you’re paying for it,” Zeigenfuss said.

He also mentioned other potential options for shrinking the budget deficit, such as the private sale of land owned by the district, located on Emmaus Avenue across from HST, to developers, or outsourcing certain labor pools so the school does not have to be responsible for benefits or retirements of these staff-members. He stressed that right now everything is an exploratory effort.

When the public approached the microphone, many had prepared statements imploring the district to reduce waste in other ways and to keep WSE’s doors open for students.

District resident Jessica Stopper, who is also an educator, raised concerns of overcrowding, rushing and asked the board how students would benefit from a change of this nature?

Christine Ebert, of the district’s west side, asked for a show of hands, “How many are like me, and moved here for Western Salisbury Elementary?” to which a large number of attendees responded yes.

Other audience members asked for more studies and research-based approaches to fixing a budget deficit of this nature and asked that administrators be aware of how longer bus rides can affect childrens’ ability to learn.

While the board did not engage with public remarks at this meeting, a public forum is scheduled March 4, also at SMS, during the monthly operations committee meeting.

At this time, a more in-depth accounting of public opinion will take place, and will be followed by a mandatory 90-day information gathering period before any decision can be made.