The Salisbury Township School Board met June 14 for a regular school board meeting. The board also held an executive session before the meeting to discuss confidential student matters, personnel emergency preparedness and contract negotiations.

Carol Klinger, chair of the curriculum and technology committee brought a long list of items for the board’s approval starting with the 2023 Salisbury High School graduation list. Also approved were contract agreements for Pre-K counts at Salisbury Elementary School, Seton Hall University Project Acceleration, Moravian University Dual Enrollment and the Pennsylvania State University Dual Credit Affiliation agreement.

A special education settlement agreement and release was also approved as well as the placement of Moravian University student teacher JonCarlos Sousa who will work with SHS mathematics instructor Angela Xander during the fall semester.

Also approved were agreements for Renaissance Products and Services (formally known as FastBridge), Next Generation Science Exemplar System which will provide professional development workshops to support teachers in the transition to the new science standards and Navigate 360 which will be used at the middle school level for the positive behavior intervention support program.

During the operations committee portion of the meeting, board committee chair Thomas Spinner asked the board to approve an agreement with SVN Imperial Realty to begin the process of selling the vacant land at 1030-1210 E. Emmaus Ave. He introduced Tom Skeans who explained the process and presented a marketing timeline for the completion of the sale.

The board also granted approval to authorize the administration to pay bills during the July school board recess, turn over delinquent per capita taxes to Berkheimer and certify the district’s 2023-2024 per capita list.

Contract agreements with KidsPeace and consultant Mary E. Farris also were approved.

Questions arose before the approval of the cafeteria point of sale system contract with i3 Education. Credit card transaction fees for deposits made to student accounts proved to be a sticking point. Fees range from $1.75 for a deposit of up to $25 to 4.5% of the total deposit if over $49. ACH payments incur a $1.95 fee per transaction while cash and personal checks can be used with no fees attached. It should be noted this system of charging fees for transactions existed with the district’s current system although the fees with the new system have changed.

The new point of sale agreement with i3 Education comes with a start up fee of $16,755 and an annual fee of $4,215. The board approved the contract by a 6-2 vote with Freas and Nemitz dissenting.

The approval to complete the master facilities plan with D’Huy Engineering at an estimated cost of $18,000 passed unanimously with no questions from the board.

The board also approved district Chief Financial Officer/Board Secretary Dawn Nickischer as the primary voting delegate to the tax collection committee and in closing, the board approved the health and safety plan for the 2023-2024 school year.

Next on the agenda was the approval of the 2023-2024 final budget. Board President and Finance Committee Chair Christopher Freas made a motion to approve the $43.7 million budget requiring a real estate tax levy of 22.7 mills which reflects an 4.1% tax increase.

This year’s budget also included a $250,000 budgetary reserve which was added to the budget as a line item to be used for capital projects.The budget was approved 8-0 with the absence of director Joseph Kuzo.

Director Carol Klinger, personnel committee chair, had a long list of personnel changes due to resignations, retirements, reassignments and new hires.

The board formally adopted the resolutions recognizing the retirements of Michelle DeOliveira, Joanne Marzola, Margaret McGinty and Susan Mixa and accepted the retirement of Earl Heminitz, full-time custodian at Salisbury Middle School effective Sept. 1.

The following resignations have been tendered: Allison Gerhart, family and consumer science teacher, Noah McMullen, part-time physical education and health, George Pavlou, part-time physical education, Stacey Strickland, building substitute, Christopher Trenge, part-time instructional assistant and Wendy St. John, part-time instructional assistant.

New hires include Elizabeth Kantzaridis, full-time emotional support teacher and Sandra D’Alessandro, part-time instructional assistant.

Two reassignments of duties were approved as Tracy Merrill and Shayla Adams both full-time special education teachers will transfer from Salisbury Elementary School to full-time special education teachers at SHS.

The following individuals have been hired to provide Title I tutoring during the summer: Jaclyn Williams, Cynthia Long and Kirsten Mohry.

Extended school year hires include teacher Beth Neitz and instructional assistants Karen Vitalos and Sandra D’Alessandro.

Serving as daily substitutes are John Vangelli and Preston Kucsan.

Building substitutes approved for the 2023-2024 school year are Erin Bross, SHS, Michael Pennella, SHS, Kaitlyn Kulp, SES and Morgan Young, SES.

Christopher Smith was approved as coordinator of technology and transportation effective July 1.

The salaries for coordinator of human resources, assistant superintendent and superintendent were approved as were the salaries for central office nonunion confidential support staff/administrative assistant salaries.

Contracts for independent contractors/consultants were also approved. These include Donna Hopstetter, speech and language, Diane Johnson, Susie Sepulveda and Janine Wargo school psychology services.

The board also approved a service agreement with Elite Educational and Therapeutic Support Services for school psychology and bilingual speech and language services.

An agreement with Pediatric Therapeutic Services was also approved.

Co-marching band director Roger Pomposello Jr. was approved for the 2023-2024 school term as well as an extensive list of all extracurricular activities positions throughout the district.

Several volunteer coaching positions were approved including Joseph Gnall, SMS football coach, Chris Kretzman and Jack Repyneck, SHS assistant varsity football coaches, Anne Ruiz and Katie Seagreaves, SHS assistant varsity field hockey coaches, Stan Fidrych, SHS assistant tennis coach, Susan Bielucke and Christina Young, SHS, assistant twirling coaches.

The board approved agreements with Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit for Overdrive, a resource for online books and Discovery Streaming Services totaling $4,117.

Approval was granted to renew the Lehigh Carbon Community College dual enrollment program for the upcoming school year.

The board also approved a letter written by board members and the administration containing recommended suggestions to be submitted to the Pennsylvania School Boards Association’s legislative platform.

In her superintendent’s report Lynn Fuini-Hetten announced in October the board will have the opportunity to tour the facilities at Lehigh Career & Technical Institute so they can get a firsthand look at all the programs offered.

She also commended the high school staff, administration and custodial staff for all the hard work and planning that made a successful graduation ceremony possible.

Fuini-Hetten reminded the public additional kindergarten registration screening will take place Aug. 9. Visit www.salisburysd.org/kindergarten to register online.

A fifth grade SOAR camp was held recently to help ease the transition to middle school. Fifth grade teachers, transitional learning support staff and the leadership team developed many engaging activities for students to participate in to get students excited about middle school.

Fuini-Hetten also gave an update on federal grants which include Title I, II, III and IV. Each funding category showed a reduction in federal funding from the previous year.

Lastly, there are still a variety of positions open within the district including part-time custodial and instructional assistants as well as part-time teaching positions in physical education, art and ESL.

The next regular board meeting is scheduled July 19 if needed.

The operations committee and finance committee meetings are scheduled to take place Aug. 2. All meetings are held 7 p.m. in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road.