On April 14 the Salisbury Township School District Board of Directors held its monthly meeting via Zoom.

To start the meeting, Janeida Johnson, a Salisbury High School student, provided an update on school happenings, including the continuing spring sports season and news the school will host an outdoor farewell celebration in May in place of the traditional senior prom.

Salisbury Middle School students Amani and Hanini Suleiman reported on progress for the student council and mentioned a readers’ corner is being developed in the SMS library.

The final student representative report came from Jaxon Johns and Caroline Rach, students at Salisbury Elementary School. They mentioned Girls on the Run, a popular fitness program for females, began April 7. Field day activities will be held soon.

The staff is working on events for each classroom which are safe and fun, even if they differ slightly from the field day events of years past.

Next, Richard A. Dillman, community member and founder of Jenn’s House, Inc. announced a scholarship which will be awarded to Salisbury seniors each year. Dillman’s daughter was a twirler for Salisbury. She died 30 years ago after an accident en route to a twirling competition.

The nonprofit Jenn’s House, Inc. was born of this tragedy and housed the families of children undergoing medical care to allow them proximity to the hospitals during trying times.

The charity was based on the Ronald McDonald house in Hershey. Recently, Dillman’s wife, Pat, died and he decided the time to close Jenn’s House, Inc. had come.

To continue in the tradition of giving back to the community and supporting Salisbury students, the scholarships announced will be awarded to two students each year at a value of $1,000 each. One will go to a graduating twirler and the other will go to a student moving on to a college, tech or trade school upon graduation.

“A huge thank you to your family for starting Jenn’s House. Your family has meant a lot to Salisbury and thank you again for all you have provided to this community,” Board member Mary Ziegler said.

Various personnel changes were up for approval during this meeting. The resignations of Tara Gunning, a part-time one-to-one instructional assistant at SES, Drake Pristash, a building substitute at SMS and Austin Lewis, a part-time health and physical education teacher at SMS were brought before the board. All were approved.

The board also approved the employment of several new staff members at SES: Jacob Foehrkolb, of Allentown, as a part-time instructional assistant, Stacey Strickland, of Allentown, as a building substitute and Steven Mast, of Allentown, as a part-time evening custodian.

Building transfers for Betty Engle, of Allentown, from a full-time custodian assistant at SHS to a full-time custodian at SMS and James Kehm, of Center Valley, from a part-time custodian at SES to a part-time custodian at SHS were approved, as were the following volunteer coach applicants: David Kramp, of Allentown, for assistant middle school soccer coach, Colin Weiss, Taylor Linn and Jack Repyneck, all of Allentown, as assistant baseball coaches.

During the leadership team report, Superintendent Lynn Fuini-Hetten recognized several administration members who are “serving beyond our walls” with various state government initiatives.

Recognized during this meeting were William Brackett, director of facilities, for his work with the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials and their safety committee, Tracey Jacobi, for her position on the Pennsylvania Council for Exceptional Children conference committee and Kelly Pauling, director of teaching and learning for her work with the Pennsylvania Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development on their emerging leaders program.