The Salisbury Township School Board held a work session meeting March 2 to discuss topics including constructing or renovating existing buildings, approving a new K-5 language arts program and the possibility of adding special education classrooms.

The operations committee turned to Bill Brackett, director of facilities, for an update on the cost of constructing new buildings and/or renovating existing buildings. Brackett met with D’Huy Engineering to develop two possible options.

Option 1 entails replacing Salisbury Elementary School for the sum total of $53.3 million.

Option 2 would involve replacing Salisbury Middle School and renovating Salisbury Elementary School with a price tag of $50.2 million.

Considering the rising cost of construction and building materials coupled with the cost of demolition, board members agreed neither option appeared feasible with a borrowing capacity of only $48.5 million and a current budget deficit of $1.8 million. As Interim Chief Financial Officer Christine Stafford pointed out in her budget update, there appears to be no foreseen growth in the property assessment base; it will be difficult to pay down the $1.8 million deficit. Collectively, board members seemed to agree the focus moving forward would be to renovate existing buildings and answer the essential questions of what the district can afford and what is the plan to repay incurred debts.

In other news, the district’s Health and Safety Plan was discussed now that case counts in our area have dropped precipitously. The board discussed effecting changes to masking on transportation and in nursing suites/athletic training rooms by the next board meeting.

Chris Smith, coordinator of technology, presented a proposal for a software archiving system to back up Google Workspace. The new system, Backupify, will replace the current system which has some

inherent drawbacks and it will eliminate the need to use a second system which has already been budgeted for. The cost of the new program will not exceed the amount previously budgeted.

During the curriculum and technology portion of the meeting, Assistant Superintendent Kelly Pauling outlined the process for selecting a new language arts program for the district’s K-5 students. She explained the current Storytown program which was adopted in 2009 is no longer aligned with the PA Core Standards which were adopted in 2010 and subsequently revised in 2014. The new program, Wit and Wisdom, was piloted by teachers in multiple grade levels. Pending board approval, full implementation of the program is targeted for the 2022-2023 school year.

Midyear assessments at Salisbury Middle School were conducted using FastBridge which measures achievement in the areas of math, language arts and social/emotional learning and behavior. Utilizing the data generated by this assessment tool, administrators are able to pinpoint areas of need and begin to strategize ways to meet students’ needs.

Dr. Tracey Jacobi, director of special education, presented a proposal to the board to add an additional Autistic support classroom at SES as well as a transitional learning support classroom at SMS. She noted it is becoming increasingly difficult to place students in intermediate unit classrooms because they are full and in many cases it is more expensive to outplace students.

Based on the cost analysis she provided, adding these specialized classrooms could save the district a substantial amount of money and bring students who have been outplaced back to their neighborhood schools. She outlined savings of $175,992 if the district supported an additional Autistic support classroom and $180,935 for a transitional learning support classroom in the middle school.

The board raised concerns related to staffing, additional costs for curriculum materials and questioned whether there is adequate space to support these classrooms within existing buildings. Jacobi assured the board these concerns were considered and there is room within the buildings.

Based on student needs, Jacobi said some curricular materials may be needed and as far as hiring new staff in light of the current shortages it would be wise to begin the search as soon as possible with an eye to soon-to-be college graduates who will be entering the job market.

The next school board meeting will be held 7:30 p.m. March 16 in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road, Allentown.