On Feb. 21, the Salisbury Township School District Board of Directors held a curriculum and technology committee meeting to hear student reports, receive a teaching and learning update and review a draft of the special education plan.

The district calendar for the 2024-2025 was also presented.

Monica Deeb, director of student activities, began the meeting with a special presentation for longtime Salisbury teacher and soccer coach Mark Allinson. Among his accomplishments during the 50 seasons he has coached boys and girls soccer, he has led three teams to district championships, two Colonial League championships and was Colonial League Coach of the Year three times. He received the Lehigh Valley Officials Sportsmanship Award in 1993 and 2003 and was most recently inducted into the Lehigh Valley Soccer Hall of Fame.

Deeb remarked losing Allinson as a coach is a tremendous loss. “He has given everything he could to our district and then some. We are supremely grateful and lucky to have had Mark for all these years.”

Upon receiving his award Allinson humbly remarked how it was he who has been lucky to have been coaching and teaching in Salisbury for so long. He went on to say he is “thankful for that and wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Salisbury High School students Michael McWhorter and Meredith Kelley updated the board on the many happenings at the high school. Winter sports are coming to a close making way for spring sports to begin.

The Unified Bocce Team completed its first season with a second place championship title and Salisbury wrestlers recently competed in district wrestling tournaments. The swim team has also finished the regular season and will be preparing for district meets which will be held March 1-2.

In other high school news, Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science members were to participate in a regional competition Feb. 24 at Northampton Area Community College.

Members of SHS Theater will perform “The Spitfire Grill” March 14-17 and the Sewing for Charity Club has recently completed a bear and scrunchie sale fundraiser to benefit Salisbury families in need.

Salisbury Middle School students Lara Al-Bajjali and Maryum Mahmud highlighted the many events held at the middle school including field trips for sixth and eighth grade students to Blue Mountain Resort to participate in the Science of Sliding Program and the Shreducation Program where students learn science principles and then apply them as they learn to ski or snowboard.

Adding to the fun of middle school, students have been participating in Spirit Days each month by dressing to fit a particular theme. The next theme day is “Anything But a Backpack Day” where students think of a creative way to bring their books and supplies to school in anything but a backpack.

A successful doughnuts and candy gram fundraiser was recently held to raise money for Sights for Hope and a semiformal for seventh and eighth grade students was held with proceeds benefiting the school to fund student activities.

Salisbury Elementary School students Asher McNeill and Sky Santiago report as of Jan. 22 PTO clubs have begun. Students wanted to thank the PTO and the teachers for planning and running the after school clubs for all to enjoy.

February brought the opportunity to roller skate at the PTO Skateaway Night and celebrate Valentine’s Day, Kindness Day and 100th day of school.

Read Across America Week is scheduled Feb. 26 through March 1 and the students at SES are looking forward to a week of reading, fun activities and themed days.

Dr. Tracey Jacobi, director of special education and Michael Vacaro, supervisor of special education, presented the 2024-2027 draft of the special education plan by highlighting the many support programs and services offered within the district and placements outside the district in an effort to meet student needs.

Information gathered through a parent forum and from teachers identified areas of strength in the special education programs as well as areas of improvement.

The plan will be available for public review in the coming week and after 28 days it will be brought to the board for approval so it can be submitted to the state by May 1.

Assistant Superintendent Kelly Pauling presented the board with an updated and color coded 2024-2025 district calendar and outlined some of the proposed changes. Taking into consideration the diversity of the staff and student population, the calendar would reflect a holiday for both students and staff on both Martin Luther King Day and Juneteenth. In previous years MLK Day was an in-service day for teachers and a day off for students. The district has proposed moving the in-service day to February as an add-on to the Presidents Day holiday.

After a back-and-forth discussion weighing the pros and cons of moving the in-service day to extend the Presidents Day holiday or disrupt another week of instruction the board decided to move forward with the changes and assess how it went at the end of the school year.

SES Principal Zach Brem started the teaching and learning update with the latest efforts encouraging parents to utilize the online kindergarten registration process. Two flyers were created in both English and Spanish with registration and screening dates as well as the many activities and orientation opportunities available for families to make the transition to kindergarten a smooth and enjoyable process.

Brem also informed the board kindergarten students have made a great deal of learning growth and the new approach to data meetings coupled with additional support from PaTTAN and the Intermediate Unit seem to be beneficial in targeting and meeting student needs.

SMS Principal Ken Parliman focused his presentation on the recent evaluation of the Project Wonder program which has been utilized in the middle school over the last six years. The program targets sixth to eighth grade students and while it has received positive feedback from parents and students and is run by teachers who are deeply passionate and invested in the program, it has faced some challenges related to staffing, dwindling enrollment after grade six, math achievement and growth as well as difficulty aligning with the new Pennsylvania science standards. Parliman has been meeting regularly with staff to plan next steps and find ways to overcome the obstacles inherent with implementing the program in a public school setting.

Directors Laura McKelvey and Sarah Nemitz, who each had children participate in the program, touted its merits and expressed the hope the best parts of the program can be utilized throughout the school.

Pauling informed the board the district has been given a Targeted Support and Improvement designation by the state. SES needs to improve the test scores of economically disadvantaged students and English language learners. SHS needs improvement in special education scores.

Although there will be no additional funding or support, the district needs to formulate an action plan and submit it to the state. A plan is already in place at both schools so moving forward the administration will re-examine the data and revise the plans accordingly.

Some upcoming intervention programs to help students achieve success in math and reading include the launch of the after school math tutoring program at the elementary and middle school level and an SES parent engagement pizza party to encourage parents to learn about and enroll in the Title I Summer program.

The next meeting of the curriculum and technology committee will take place 7 p.m. March 20. All meetings will be held in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road.