The Salisbury Township School District Board of Directors held a regular school board meeting Oct. 16. During the meeting, board members heard student reports, approved personnel changes, agreements for services and received updates on several boards as well as a superintendent’s report.

Salisbury High School student representatives Michael McWhorter and Claire Nicols started the meeting with the many events happening at the high school including the success of the field hockey team, the upcoming theater production “Our Town” Nov. 7-10 as well as the debate team’s first competition Oct. 29.

A full weekend of Homecoming festivities recently culminated with the crowning of the Homecoming King Josh Holler and Queen Maya Afif.

The next community event will be a Nov. 15 bonfire hosted by the SHS Key Club depending on the weather. Salisbury Township is currently under a burn ban due to the lack of rain. Community members can enjoy food trucks, a basket raffle, face painting, crafts and a bake sale if the event is held.

Lehigh Career & Technical Institute student representative Joshua Orach reported biannual Occupational Advisory Council meetings are taking place to enable council members to meet with representatives from industry in an effort to ensure curriculum and equipment are up to par. He also noted LCTI will have an open house 6-8 p.m. Nov. 14.

Middle school students Alyssa Martucci and Brinlee Neitz relayed the excitement throughout the middle school as they recently participated in spirit week and Homecoming events. Field trips are much appreciated by the students as they offer an opportunity to learn beyond the confines of a school building. In the coming weeks students in sixth grade will be hiking and bird watching at Bake Oven Knob, eighth grade students will tour Blue Mountain Ski Resort where they can ride a lift, snowboard or ski and eighth grade student council members visited DeSales University to participate in a leadership and ethics conference.

Salisbury Elementary School students have been very busy participating in activities since the last board meeting. Students celebrated Health and Wellness Week Sept. 30 through Oct. 4 and took part in a host of related activities including a St. Luke’s assembly about nutrition, eating colorful healthy snacks during lunch, wearing the colors of the rainbow, a schoolwide walkathon and classroom activities including yoga and obstacle courses. These activities segued to the PTO Color Run which successfully raised $15,000.

October is fire prevention month and students were visited by the fire departments. Students had an opportunity to see the fire trucks up close and attend an assembly focused on fire safety.

During the curriculum and technology portion of the meeting, the board approved DeSales University student teacher Shannon McDevitt who will work with teachers Kristy Wied and Mary Beth Bedics at SES in fourth and first grade until December.

Also approved for clinical work in speech and language were DeSales University students Ceara McGill who will work with Ashley Merkel and Antionnia Zeleniak who will work with Cara Sepcoski.

An agreement with Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 was approved to provide deaf and hard of hearing speech and language services for a Salisbury student.

Director Thomas Spinner brought several items to the board for consideration including agreements with Solient Health Client Services, Interim Healthcare Client Services, Valley Family Therapeutics and School Operation Services Group, Inc. All items were approved.

The board also approved the 2024 school per capita additional tax list in the amount of $435 during the finance committee portion of the meeting.

The personnel committee sought approval for the resignations of SHS part-time instructional assistant Susmitha Kothapalli and SES part-time instructional assistant Kristi Kichline. Both were approved.

The board also approved an amended salary step for full-time Library Media Specialist Angela Hagenbuch and the employment of Lee Posivak as a building substitute at SHS.

During the board reports, Lehigh Carbon Community College board member Sam DeFrank noted the board is taking steps to balance the budget in light of a decreasing enrollment trend evident during the fall semester. Conversely, he noted that according to a recent presentation, dual enrollment numbers are at a substantial level with 2,362 students enrolled in 270 courses from 16 school districts across Lehigh and Carbon counties. The dual enrollment program is helping to offset the overall decreasing secondary education enrollment numbers.

In her superintendent’s report, Lynn Fuini-Hetten reviewed projected enrollment numbers generated in April with actual enrollment numbers calculated as of Oct. 1. For the most part the numbers were fairly close except for a marked decrease in enrollment in kindergarten and a significant increase in enrollment numbers in grade 12.

The district recognized the dedicated work of both custodial staff and principals this month and noted Oct. 21 marks the start of National School Bus Safety Week.

Both Fuini-Hetten and Assistant Superintendent Kelly Pauling attended the Lehigh School Study Council held at Lehigh University. President and CEO of Economic Development Don Cunningham, presented a regional economic overview of the Lehigh Valley providing insights into the population of the Lehigh Valley as well as top careers in the Valley.

Fuini-Hetten also attended a roundtable discussion on student teacher support stipends. Money has been allocated for this purpose but not all student teachers will receive a stipend as there is a limited amount of funds.

On a positive note, Fuini-Hetten informed the board she is conducting a book study with several teachers in the district based on the book, “Teach Happier This School Year.” The focus for the book is finding and celebrating the positives as well as working on developing relationships with colleagues and students.

The Salisbury Township School board will hold an operations and finance committee meeting 7 p.m. Nov. 6. A curriculum and technology meeting followed by a regular school board meeting will take place 7 p.m. Nov. 13. All meetings will be held in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road, Allentown.