The Salisbury Township school board held a meeting April 20 and an executive session was held before the meeting to discuss pending litigation, negotiations and personnel matters. Topics requiring board approval included changes to the school calendar, green lighting the search for solutions to solve facilities issues as well as accepting the resignations of several employees.

The board listened as students gave updates on the many upcoming events occurring in the district’s schools such as The Pennsylvania System of School Assessment and FastBridge Assessment, grade level field trips and a successful million minute reading challenge which culminated in the shearing of Salisbury Elementary School principal Zachary Brem’s voluminous beard.

During the curriculum and technology portion of the meeting board member Carol Klinger summarized the many programs available to students at each building in order to ensure academic success for all students. Programs have been put in place to assist students with the transition to middle school and high school while others targeted learning gaps and career awareness.

Additionally, she reported graduation for the Class of 2022 will be held June 5 at the stadium with a rain date of June 6.

A change to the district’s 2022-2023 calendar was also approved. Two additional days off (Dec. 23 and Jan. 2, 2023) will be added to winter break so the schedule is in line with Lehigh Career and Technical Institute and neighboring districts.

The board also approved the purchase of a Phonics Booster Bundle which is a curriculum resource for students in grades one through three which will be utilized during the summer reading program at Salisbury Elementary School.

Also approved was the placement of three student teachers from Muhlenberg College for the 2022-2023 school year. Scott Sabatine will work with Tanya Kennedy during the fall semester while Catherine Duncan and Gabriel Walsh-Shore will arrive in the spring and work with Anne Schneider and James Hahn respectively.

Personnel changes approved by the board include the resignations of full-time employees Robert Ludwig, health and physical education at SES and Salisbury High School, Jacqueline Miller, art teacher at SES, Susan Knight, second grade teacher at SES, Debra Saeger, special education teacher at SES, Barbara Jaindl, library media specialist at SES, Joshua Ecker, gifted/Project Wonder teacher at Salisbury Middle School, Kimberlee Pavkovic, administrative assistant at SHS and Michael Lewis, custodian at SES. Resignations for part-time positions include Drake Pristash, health and physical education at SMS and Stephanie Linn, 1:1 instructional assistant at SHS.

Resignations were also accepted for Daniel Reichenbach, head girls basketball coach and Megan Basile, girls JV basketball coach.

The board approved the employment of Cara Sepcoski, full-time speech and language therapist at SMS, pending completion of requirements and Colin Weiss volunteer assistant baseball coach.

Operations committee co-chair Christopher Freas summed up the discussions held at the work session meeting with regard to the challenges the district faces in generating revenue to fund a number of facilities issues within the schools most especially at the middle school where two boilers recently broke down. It has been determined the district will need to borrow upward of $15 million for the necessary improvements and has agreed to allow Bill Brackett, director of facilities, to pursue next steps with engineers. The board also discussed some energy saving initiatives as well as investigating the water penetration issue at SES.

The dugouts at the baseball field are being refurbished by the baseball boosters while the board is looking into obtaining estimates to make similar improvements to the softball dugouts. The township will also be assisting the district to repair a hole in the outfield.

During the superintendent’s report, Lynn Fuini-Hetten shined the spotlight on the district’s library media specialists Barbra Jaindl, Jane Brennan and Leah Saliby as April is designated as School Library Month. She also thanked Embassy Bank for a $10,000 donation to the Salisbury Education Foundation. Through their generosity, the district will bring back the fourth grade instrumental music summer and after school programs which had been previously eliminated due to budget cuts.

Another point of interest is the 2022 State of Education Report which includes topics related to budget expenditures, teaching and learning during the pandemic and state mandates. It is available online for anyone interested in the current state of education throughout Pennsylvania.

The board will meet for a work session meeting 7 p.m. May 4 at the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road, Allentown.