The Salisbury Township School Board convened Jan. 11 to hold its first operations committee meeting for 2023.

After reviewing policy changes related to when subsequent meetings will be held and minor changes to the order of business during those meetings, the board turned its attention to a lengthy presentation and discussion pertaining to facilities and space planning.

Superintendent Lynn Fuini-Hetten and Assistant Superintendent Kelly Pauling began the presentation with a review of the analysis of space planning which was outlined during the Dec. 7, 2022 meeting.

Fuini-Hetten reiterated the high school, middle school and administration buildings were all found to have adequate space for the population at hand but the buffer to absorb growth at the elementary school is limited. As Pauling pointed out, the growth the district is seeing is not so much the actual number of students enrolled in the district but rather the significant change in the needs of students that presents a space issue.

Students are reporting to school with more special education needs which precipitates an increased need in special services such as speech and language therapy and occupational/physical therapy which require adequate and appropriate spaces to serve students.

It was noted Salisbury Elementary School could accommodate five additional classrooms per grade level and one special education classroom but it will come at a cost - the potential elimination of programs such as Pre-K Counts, the on-site presence of Lehigh Valley Child Care as well as a space for teachers to work collaboratively, conduct data meetings or meet with parents.

Four options to alleviate the space issues were presented along with four decision-making factors which were outlined for each option. The decision-making factors detailed the impact each option would have on the district in the areas of health and safety, finance, academic programming and the inherent effect on the community at large.

The first option discussed was reopening Western Salisbury Elementary School by moving two grade levels to populate the vacant building. This will allow equitable class sizes as well as consistency of academic programs, special education and ESL services.

While the reopening provides more than ample space, it creates yet another transition for students K-12, amplifies coverage concerns and forces difficult decisions to be made in order to prioritize much needed intervention services. The financial impact to the district comes with a price tag of approximately $6 million to upgrade the HVAC units in order to address the air quality issues and provide the additional staff such as nurses, cafeteria workers, custodial and office staff needed in the building.

The second option would involve building an addition to Salisbury Elementary School which would come at a cost of approximately $12 million, take at least a year and a half to complete and would not include any renovations to the existing 48-year-old building. While water penetration issues persist at the site, there are advantages to building a 10-classroom addition. Students are in one location K-4 which maximizes elementary staff and an addition will provide more than enough space for small groups and related services. Conversely, this option requires the district to shoulder a significant amount of additional debt.

The third option involves installing four or six modular classrooms which include bathrooms, a covered walkway and a secure door connecting the rooms to Salisbury Elementary School. Each classroom is 900-square feet which is comparable to classrooms within the building.

The modulars run on a separate HVAC system while sharing plumbing with the existing structure. These classrooms come with a price tag of $1.4 and $2.1 million respectively and will allow K-4 students to remain at the same site which helps to maintain the integrity of the instructional program.

The last option brought to the board for consideration involved moving fourth grade students to the middle school and reconfiguring eighth grade students to the high school. This option, while less costly, proved to be the least viable because it would cause the most disruption to students and staff.

Additional part-time middle school staff would need to be made full-time employees and would need to travel between the middle school and high school. Extra counselors would be needed for eighth grade students in the high school and lunches would have to begin 10:20 a.m. to accommodate another grade level.

Eighth grade students who take part in middle school sports or activities will need to be bussed from the high school to the middle school to participate.

Additionally, all available space in the high school would be taken up by the extra grade level and the space issue would seemingly switch from being an elementary school issue to a high school issue which leaves the district with essentially the same problem.

In summary, Fuini-Hetten recommended tabling the conversation with regard to reopening Western Salisbury Elementary School, the eighth grade reconfiguration model and putting an addition on Salisbury Elementary School for at least a month while the board actively investigates the feasibility of utilizing modular classrooms at the Salisbury Elementary School site. She would like board members to tour modulars in use at other school districts and have the opportunity to ask questions and see firsthand how they might possibly work to solve the space issue.

Many board members welcomed the opportunity to see modulars being used in a school setting although some expressed concern over the vacant Western Salisbury Elementary School property and voiced the opinion their vote for modulars would be contingent upon having a plan in place for the Western site.

Board member Laura McKelvey further pressed Fuini-Hetten to come up with a definitive date to have a plan for the Western Elementary School site whether it involves utilizing the site, selling, leasing or demolishing it.

Joseph Kuzo supported this idea while Sam DeFrank tempered the discussion by saying these decisions take some time and there is a lot to consider. Administration needs time to prepare the budget, get answers on the modulars and then deal with the question of what to do with Western.

DeFrank went on to call for a show of faith administrators are working hard to get answers soon.

Fuini-Hetten countered statements made by McKelevey by saying she has been working on ideas for the Western site but she is not comfortable sharing them publicly at this point.