The Salisbury Township School Board held an operations and finance committee meeting Jan. 17 where three residents commented on the condition of the Salisbury High School baseball field.

Dennis Henninger, a senior at Salisbury High School and member of the baseball team, cited three main safety issues in reference to conditions on the baseball field namely the lack of a designated bullpen area for pitchers to warm up, poor conditions in the infield and unstable conditions in and around the dugout area especially the dugout steps.

Henninger explained the inherent risks to players, spectators and umpires for each safety concern and offered suggestions that may alleviate the problems.

Booster club president Daniel Soria outlined the efforts the booster club has taken up to this point to solve these issues. He said he has spoken with Bill Brackett, director of facilities and Monica Deeb, director of student activities, and the problems still exist with the 2024 baseball season set to begin in March.

Catherine Spisak, speaking as both the booster club secretary and as a parent reiterated the issues and implored the oard to prioritize them as “we cannot neglect them any longer.”

She also took time to acknowledge the initiative taken by Dennis Henninger who fixed the dugout steps himself as part of his Eagle Scout project.

In response to citizen’s comments, board President Christopher Freas remarked the board would be discussing facilities prioritization at this meeting and assured them they will get some answers soon.

Superintendent Lynn Fuini-Hetten, while cognizant of the time constraints associated with the start of the upcoming baseball season, resolved to sit down with both Deeb and Brackett to discuss next steps.

During the operations committee, D’Huy engineer Andrew Mather presented the board with the master facilities plan and explained how the priority matrix works.

The matrix assigns a priority number for each project, suggests time frames for completion and provides cost estimates while taking into account several factors including each project’s educational impact, curricular value and community impact.

A lengthy discussion among board members ensued concerning how to pay for both the critical needs items necessary to keep schools open and at the same time address the looming space issue in the elementary building.

Fuini-Hetten informed the board there is a possibility due to increasing numbers, two more elementary teachers may need to be added for the upcoming year. She acknowledged “the challenge is where will the money come from?”

The board requested more clarity on a budget framework so a meaningful discussion about space can occur in the near future.

The next topic of discussion for the committee was a transportation overview and possible cost savings for the district.

Chris Smith, coordinator of technology and transportation, gave an in-depth presentation outlining costs for the district to bus students including charter, nonpublic and special education students.

He presented four possible options for reducing transportation costs which included increasing walk zones in the vicinity of each school, merging routes, giving parents the option to opt out of transportation or continuing with the status quo which would net no monetary savings and result in an estimated 3.75% increase in costs for the 2024-2025 school year.

Smith provided clearly defined maps depicting current and projected walk zones, current bus routes with options for merging bus routes and weighed the pros and cons for each option.

Increasing walk zones and merging bus routes showed the potential to yield savings ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 although each option came with a caveat of savings over safety or extending time on buses carrying more students per bus.

Newly elected board member Joseph Gaither opined that the board should be looking at the opportunity for cost savings when it can and not be quick to dismiss options.

Joseph Gnall cautioned about looking at the issue in numbers and instead viewing the whole picture of children and their safety.

The administration recommended maintaining the status quo on the topic of transportation but agreed, at the board’s request, to look into merging bus routes at the middle school level. Smith will delve further into the matter and fine tune individual stops on middle school routes.

During the finance committee portion of the meeting Chief Financial Officer Dawn Nickischer reported the annual audit is complete and a draft of the audit should be available by February. She also stated due to expenditures coming in under budget and revenues over budget $5 million will be added to the fund balance.

Nickischer also provided the board with information on new proposals for insurance. Insurance costs overall were up 6.6% which is below the 10% average increase most companies and individuals are seeing.

In her year-to-date analysis she reported revenues increased slightly over last year, expenditures are approximately the same and the district is currently earning a substantial amount of interest on cash and investments. Cash and investments total approximately $38 million compared to $32 million at this time last year.

The meeting came to a close with Nickischer’s monthly finance workshop designed to broaden each board member’s understanding of the Pennsylvania Department of Education chart of accounts. This month’s workshop focused on operation of noninstructional services, facilities acquisition, construction and improvement services as well as expenditures and financing uses.

The next operations and finance meeting will be held 7 p.m. Feb. 7. All meetings are held in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road, Allentown.