On Dec. 2, the Salisbury Township School Board held two consecutive public meetings via Zoom. The first was a reorganization meeting focused on electing and instating board members for various board and administrative positions.

The board unanimously re-elected George Gatanis as president of the school board and Samuel DeFrank as vice president.

The Honorable Judge Edward Reibman attended to swear in Lynn Fuini-Hetten as Salisbury Township School District’s new superintendent, of which he said, “You’ve got your work cut out for you. But I can’t imagine there is anything more important for the future of our community and our country than the future of our children.”

After taking the oath, Fuini-Hetten paused to make her own remarks, saying, “I very much appreciate this opportunity and I’m looking forward to my next challenge.”

This event also marked the last board meeting for departing Superintendent Dr. Randy Zeigenfuss, who will enter retirement at the end of December. Board Vice President Samuel DeFrank remarked regarding his departure, “I’ve learned so much from (Dr. Zeigenfuss). He’s the type of person that if you give him enough time, he’ll make you a better person.”

Monica Deeb, director of student activities was present at the meeting to give a status update on the winter season for sports, which will be reduced.

As of now, practices are allowed to continue with limited contact between athletes, a stronger focus on strength and conditioning training and with mitigation efforts such as masking and social distancing required.

Some competitions are planned preholiday but after that, none are planned until Jan. 12, 2021. The Colonial League will reconvene before or during the holiday break to review data and put forth any changes deemed necessary.

The bulk of discussion during the regular board meeting, which followed the reorganization procedures, centered on planning for a return to in-person learning for students in the district.

At the meeting held Oct. 14, the board voted to have the district remain in the fully virtual instructional model until further notice. State dashboard indicators imply sharp increases in case counts and percent positivity rates from that time and the state of Pennsylvania recommends learning virtually until the county has been in the “moderate” or “low” category of community spread for at least two weeks.

Lehigh County has been experiencing “substantial” spread since early November, with no sign of a downward trend.

Several board members called for a return to in-person learning, even as soon as before Christmas, possibly defying state recommendations, in order to provide a sense of normalcy for students at home. Others, however, deferred to the advice of community health partners and the state encouraging the remote learning model with the current rate of spread as high as it is.

The board agreed to hold a special meeting Jan. 6, 2021 via Zoom that would serve as a critical juncture to review the most current case data, state guidance and recommendations from health professionals.

The board tentatively set a target return to school date of Jan. 19, 2021 for students in kindergarten and first grades with the hopes of gradually increasing grade levels in the buildings from there.