The Salisbury Township School District board held a regular meeting Feb. 21 where the immediate task at hand was to accept the resignation of board President Christopher Freas.

In his resignation letter, Freas said he needed to step away from the board to focus on family. “I appreciate my time working on the board and will continue to root for the district’s success,” Freas told The Press.

Freas’ resignation was effective Feb. 19 and board members reflected on his calming presence, ability to both listen and rein in discussions in an effort to move the district forward. They honored his commitment and focus and thanked him for his willingness to help both new and long serving school board members.

Superintendent Lynn Fuini-Hetten recognized the time commitment needed to be a board member and appreciated Freas’ diligent support and passion for the district. She praised his way of raising concerns and expressing his thoughts in a respectful way.

After approving Freas’ resignation the board’s next step was to decide who among them will serve as board president. After the votes were counted, the board voted director Joseph Gnall to serve as president and selected director Sarah Nemitz to fill the role of vice president.

During the curriculum and technology portion of the meeting, the board voted to approve changes to the 2024-2025 program of studies as well as the school calendar. The calendar changes include a holiday for both students and teachers on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth. The teacher in-service day typically scheduled for MLK Day will be moved to the Tuesday following Presidents Day thus extending the holiday for students.

The board also approved a motion brought by operations committee chairman Director Thomas Spinner to award the Salisbury Elementary School water infiltration project to Mohawk Contracting & Development, Inc. in the amount of $689,850.

During the finance report, board members received a review of the 2022-2023 final audit report from Chris Betley with Buckno, Lisicky & Company and an in-depth line-by-line report from Chief Financial Officer Dawn Nickischer explaining a $5.3 million increase in growth in the fund balance for the 2022-2023 year. The increase was due to an unexpected increase in revenue including real estate taxes, interim assessment charges, business privilege tax and an error by a prior auditor.

Expenditures were also increased, primarily in the area of salary and benefits due to unfilled positions and replacements for retirees with a lower starting salary. Again, all of these changes were from the 2022-2023 year, before Nickischer being chief financial officer.

Director Laura McKelvey raised a question harking back to a query made by Spinner last year wondering how “we ended up with $5.3 million in surplus and we raised everybody’s taxes 4%?” She expressed a sense of uneasiness about making taxation decisions without having all the pertinent budget information at hand.

A discussion about the timeline for how the auditing process should unfold moving forward revealed that ideally auditing should be completed by the end of November so in December forecasting budget needs for the next year can begin. The budget then must be board approved by June 30.

Several board members acknowledged Nickischer’s efforts in transparency and praised the hard work gone into uncovering and rectifying past problems that have come to light since assuming the role of chief financial officer. Nickischer remarked that with the new software she has to work with and the forecasting tools available to her she will be able to provide a clearer budgetary picture for the board so more informed decisions can be made. The board went on to approve the final audit.

In other financial matters, a question was raised as to whether to prepay legal fees to Cohen & Feeley, Inc. in the amount of $382,000 in order to take advantage of a 10% reduction in fees over four years. Nickischer provided a table taking into account current and projected interest rates over the next four years and determined a 10% savings of $2,357 would be realized if the district were to prepay.

After a brief discussion, the board agreed to the prepayment of legal fees.

In personnel news, the board approved the retirement of Salisbury Middle School teacher Beth Prokesch effective the last day of the 2023-2024 school year and the resignations of Annie Purtell, assistant SMS swim club adviser effective Jan. 24 and Paul Zigenfus, head girls basketball coach effective Feb. 15.

New hires include Chad Miller, Salisbury High School music director for the Salisbury play, Rebecca Christman, SMS/SHS gifted/special education teacher and Rebecca Woodward, Salisbury Elementary School special education teacher.

Approved tutors for the after school program include Cynthia Long, Angela Shaffer, Carissa Kluska, Rebecca Woodward, Kathleen McNally, Jennifer Kowalski, Kaitlyn Bird, Christopher Adams, Steven Tremblay, Meredith Castagna, Beth Neitz, Melissa Cerco, Kara Bellis, Lynn Jacoby and Jaclyn Williams.

Guest teachers Charlotte Britto and Michael Toland have been approved as additions to the substitute list.

Also approved was the 2023-2024 volleyball coach SEA draft memorandum of understanding between Salisbury Township School District and Salisbury Education Association.

During the board reports portion of the meeting, McKelvey informed the board the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit has completed the auditing process and are currently working on the 2024-2027 comprehensive program. She also highlighted a program affording students the opportunity to use the latest technology such as 3D printers to make adaptive toys for students with disabilities.

Sam DeFrank reported due to a decline in enrollment at Lehigh Carbon Community College the college has experienced a $700,000 budget deficit and in an effort to close the gap several open positions have not been filled. Realizing higher interest on investments is also serving to make up the deficit.

DeFrank also touched on some of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed changes to secondary education.

The board approved the 2024-25 Lehigh Career and Technical Institute budget in the amount of $31,964,195. Salisbury’s portion of the budget is $1,257,930 which reflects an increase of $51,000.

Director Rebecca Glennister gave a report on the Pennsylvania School Boards Association Legislative Policy Council which has been monitoring Shapiro’s proposals for school funding, House Bill 1422 which relates to capping charter school funding at $8,000 and graduation rates for cyber charter schools.

The board then approved the PSBA Principles for Governance and Leadership which is voted on each year.

In her superintendent’s report Fuini-Hetten reported the administration is applying for several safety and security grants to be used to increase the physical safety of buildings as well as provide mental health support in the form of a paid school psychologist internship grant.

School board members attended a retreat to improve knowledge and skills as a board and focus on setting goals.

She also acknowledged the work of school bus drivers as February is “Love the Bus” month and Feb. 15 was School Resource Officer Appreciation Day.

Upcoming meetings for the Salisbury Township school board include an operations/finance committee meeting 7 p.m. March 13 and a curriculum and technology meeting followed by a regular school board meeting 7 p.m. March 20. All meetings are held in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road, Allentown.