The Salisbury Township School District held a curriculum meeting Oct. 25.

Assistant Superintendent Kelly Pauling presented course recommendations for the 2022-2023 school year.

The first recommendation is to change the current course of algebra/geometry 3; the revised course will be geometry.

“We weren’t getting out of it what the students needed,” Pauling said. She said this course will align with algebra I and algebra II course changes made in the last two years.

“The course is designed to develop the basic ideas and structures presented in geometry,” Pauling said. The concepts taught include advanced properties of triangles and triangle congruence, properties of circles from the standpoint of coordinate geometry. Students will also develop problem-solving skills by using length, perimeter, area, circumference, surface area and volume to solve real-world problems. Dynamic Geometry Software will be used in exploration of key Euclidean and coordinate geometry concepts.

Pauling said if an updated textbook is needed, the cost is estimated to be $6,000 without a digital edition and $12,000 with a print and digital edition. The digital edition gives teachers additional resources. This update should last approximately five to six years.

Pauling was asked about offering full year algebra to middle school students. The district currently offers a half year to seventh grade students and a half year to eighth grade students.

Pauling said they can revisit offering algebra at an earlier age and continue discussions.

A recommendation would be given to the board in January 2022.

Two other recommendations under consideration are a project based learning course for ninth grade students and a ninth grade academy.

Pauling said a ninth grade academy would help with the transition from middle school to high school. They are discussing this as a seminar or bringing ninth grade students in two weeks early. Pauling said they hope to come to the board in January 2022 with a more firm plan. She said there is some funding in place for a program like this.

The Project Wonder program provided at the middle school was praised by board members and Superintendent Lynn Fuini-Hetten.

The district demographic summary was provided to board members.

The first slide was on ethnicity which is similar to last year. The white population of students is just over 60 percent; the Latino/Hispanic population is just over 20 percent, the second highest population. This information is reported to the state.

Economically disadvantaged students are 34 percent of the student population. In 2020, the data showed 36 percent.

The highest number of students in this category are at Salisbury Elementary School – they qualify for free and reduced lunches. Fuini-Hetten encouraged all eligible families to fill out the paperwork to qualify for free and reduced lunches.

That funding supports the district and sometimes federal funding for the district is driven by the free and reduced lunch numbers. She said this year all lunches are free for all students due to the waivers.

The English language learning population is around 5 percent. A variety of languages are spoken as the primary language including Spanish, Arabic and students from Bangladesh who speak Bengali.

Of the student population, 18 percent are in learning support, a slight increase by 10 students who require emotional support.

Gifted students are around 4.4 percent of the student population.

Fuini-Hetten was asked why the gifted support student numbers are declining. She said they are having internal discussions about this as they screen in second grade for gifted support services. The screening program was implemented about five years.

The gifted support numbers were concerning to several board members who questioned how those numbers compare to other districts and if this percentage is considered by admissions offices.

Student mobility is the number of students who come in to the district and leave the district during the year. Salisbury has a rate of 20 percent of student mobility.

Board member Rebecca Glenister noted this affects the PSSA results.

Charter school numbers were also reported. Last year, Salisbury jumped from 23 to 35 students in cyber schools. In brick and mortar charter schools, Salisbury went from 72 to 104 students.

This year, the district currently has 108 students in brick and mortar schools and 36 in cyber schools. There are about 35 students in the VAST program, which is the district’s own cyber school.

It was noted this is a huge financial impact on the district.

Currently there are 32 students who are home-schooled; there are six private tutored students.

Answering a question from the board, Fuini-Hetten said there is a board policy which allows Salisbury students in cyber and brick and mortar schools to participate in extracurricular and athletic activities as long as the student meets provisions and the school does not provide the same activities.

Census data was provided to the board members showing the demographics of the Salisbury residents.

Currently enrollment in the district is 1,510 versus last year 1,608 students.

A teaching and learning update was provided.

Both assistant principals are in place – Brian Muschlitz at the elementary school and Ryan Yurchick at the high school.

Pauling said the transition has gone very well.

Emily Paramonte is the newest kindergarten teacher for a fifth kindergarten class. Four to five students were taken from each class to create this new class of 19 students. Parents, guardians and students were able to meet Paramonte before the class started.

STEM is now at the elementary level being delivered by Kaitlyn Kolasensky.

The administration at the elementary school is considering new opportunities for leadership positions for students in the technical support area.

At the elementary level, there is now a time for educators to meet to discuss topics related to curriculum and implementation.

Pauling said teachers are participating in professional learning on the science of reading –Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading.

Pauling said they are currently looking at the English Language Arts program. She said the current program is dated and not in line with the district’s current standards. The Wit and Wisdom program is being piloted by certain teachers in kindergarten, second grade, fourth grade and fifth grade. Pauling said the goal is to come to the board with a recommendation in January 2022.

Pauling also provided an update on Zearn/Ereka which builds strong foundational skills, provides an avenue for small group instruction and personalized learning. Digital lessons expanded to sixth and seventh grade and special education is transitioning to the curriculum this year.

The elementary school is tentatively planning a family engagement night 6-7 p.m. Dec. 8 for fun math games and providing resources for parents and guardians to use in a fun way.

Pauling said they are addressing the learning loss from COVID-19 by presenting potential programs at the different schools. These ideas include peer tutoring after school tutoring, field trips, summer programs, after school programs and family programs.

Coordinator of Technology for the district Chris Smith described what an equipment refresh involves.

He said they staged and prepared 2,140 devices for buyback pickup. That involved removing the firmware password, removing each device from device management systems and organizing and staging for pickup.

They then set up 2,205 devices for distribution which included unboxing, tagging, inventory, building, testing and deploying a variety of software and filtering packages. They also imaged and assigned 1:1 devices, planning, setup and organizing device distribution Sept. 1.

Smith said about three weeks ago the district experienced a significant Internet issue due to an IOS 15 release. The iPads were running app updates at the same time maxing out the Internet bandwidth automatically. “It brought the network to a standstill,” Smith said. He said they have created mitigation to address these issues and make sure this doesn’t happen again. He credited the team working together to solve the issue.

Lastly, Pauling said every six years school districts are required to complete comprehensive planning. This work started last spring but there is more to do. This involves mission/vision/values, academic standards and assessment, professional development, special education, student services, induction and gifted.

The district is looking for stakeholders in the community who are willing to participate. For information, email compplan@salisburysd.org. Meetings are planned for Nov. 10 and Dec. 2. The goal is for a post draft plan to be completed in mid-February, have a 30-day comment period and a final plan submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Education by March 30, 2022.

The next meeting will be held 7 p.m. Dec. 6 after the operations meeting.