On March 30, the regular school board meeting rescheduled due to COVID-19 concerns took place via the virtual video-meeting platform Zoom. Citizens interested in attending registered in advance and received a link to the conference.

The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silence for those affected by the current coronavirus pandemic.

The first undertaking of the board was to vote on the approval of the charter renewal for Arts Academy Charter Middle School. All board members voted to approve with the exception of board chair George Gatanis. He prefaced his vote by his comment the decision to vote no was not a reflection on this specific charter school, but rather to “convey my frustration with this process” and mentioned the unfair burden placed upon school districts and taxpayers. The decision to renew the charter subsequently received approval.

Two additional agreements, one for selective mutism training through the intermediate unit and one for a settlement agreement release concerning a special education situation received approval.

Several proposed personnel changes were before the board for approval. Linda Helfrich, fifth grade teacher at Harry S Truman Elementary School and full-time instructional assistant at Western Salisbury Elementary School, Roseann Roman, will be retiring at the close of the 2019-2020 school year. Two faculty resignations were voted on: effective March 31, the resignation of Vicky Boehning, part-time instructional assistant at Salisbury Middle School and retroactive to March 12, the departure of Abigail Kunkle, full-time art teacher at HST and WSE.

New hires include Tracy Buttillo, of Allentown, as a part-time ESL teacher at HST and Aaron Yetter, former art teacher in the district, coming back on board to replace Kunkle as full-time elementary art teacher.

Julie Mokris, of Allentown, will transfer her head cook position at SMS to head cook at HST and Mark Hendricks, of Easton, will transfer as head cook at HST to SMS.

Two paid coaching positions were brought before the board: Michelle Reichenbach, of Allentown, as the assistant track coach for the 2019-2020 season and Jason Laky, of Germansville, as the junior varsity baseball coach for the 2019-2020 school year.

There were seven volunteer coach positions reviewed. Melissa Knecht, of Allentown, as a volunteer assistant middle softball coach and Taylor Linn, of Allentown, as a volunteer assistant baseball coach. For softball, Paul Ziegenfus, of Allentown, and Stephanie Kotrosits, of Bethlehem, were considered. James Moore, of Bethlehem, would be brought on as volunteer assistant track and field coach for the 2019-2020 school year and Brad Vangeli, of Allentown, would join the volunteer roster as an assistant varsity baseball coach.

Board member Sarah A. Nemitz posed a question about how changing circumstances for the spring athletic season in regard to COVID-19 would affect coach-staffing decisions. Superintendent Dr. Randy Zeigenfuss said the emergency order from the state would affect how the process unfolds.

All staffing decisions received unanimous approval. Nemitz also reported on the Lehigh Career and Technical Institute, bringing forward information they voted to donate medical supplies on hand to local agencies in need.

Associate Superintendent Lynn Fuini-Hetten presented the leadership team report, which focused primarily on recent discussions with Fielding Nair International, the design firm charged with finding educational space solutions for district facilities. Fuini-Hetten mentioned they are nearing the end of the discovery phase and have presented four possible options for how to proceed; bearing in mind that any option selected can be customized and tailored to meet specific district needs. The four options were as follows:

1. Renovate the existing SMS, WSE and HST buildings to create better learning space.

2. Close WSE, expand and renovate HST and renovate to update SMS.

3. Close WSE, HST and the administration building and create a new integrated space for learning and staff offices.

4. Close WSE, HST, the administration building and SMS and build one K-8 facility on the western side of the township.

The district’s borrowing capacity, vision for students and other community concerns will need to be considered before moving forward. A fully detailed report will be created and passed along to the board and then in turn, the public for review before any additional advancements are made.

“We hope the community knows this is not the end of a process, but the beginning - there is a plan in place to make this district sustainable,” School Board Vice President Samuel DeFrank said.

To cap off this portion of the meeting, Ziegenfuss recognized the parents, staff and administration who are allowing the Continuity of Learning plan released March 27 to be implemented across the district and to keep kids in “learning mode” as well as possible.

The end of the meeting opened the floor to community members for comment, and allowed board members, for the first time, to give insight into their opinions on the possible closure of WSE.

None of the board members committed to an official stance on the measure, with most of them citing they are “on the fence” over what the appropriate action to take will be in this situation. Multiple board members such as Joseph Gnall and Audrey Frick spoke about the time frame in which the closure and reconfiguration would take place and admitted concern over the process being rushed. Director Carol Klinger spoke about understanding both sides of the situation and brought up the positive angle of the level of consistency and equity for students and staff that would be afforded if the reconfiguration were to take place.

After the board voiced their opinions, citizens were allowed to speak after submitting their name and address information via the chat box on the Zoom meeting.

Laura McKelvey, of Allentown, commented the studies used by the administration to support the closure were too old and focused on high school rather than elementary level building closures. She also questioned what the district was doing to boost teacher morale during this time of uncertainty in the district that results not only from the reconfiguration but also from the current pandemic crisis. Chris Freas also spoke, wondering when the board would address and respond to questions brought by stakeholders during the last several open comment periods.

Upcoming meetings for the school board will be addressed individually; however, the operations committee meeting scheduled April 22 and the curriculum and technology committee meeting scheduled April 27 will likely be held remotely, with details on how to join forthcoming.