The Salisbury Township School District Board of Directors held a regular school board meeting Feb. 19 where board members approved treasurer’s reports, resignations and new hires and discussed budget items related to salaries and benefits as well as possible staffing needs for the 2025-2026 budget.

Following the payment of bills Chief Financial Officer Dawn Nickischer submitted treasurer’s reports for January and revised treasurer’s reports from July 2024 through December 2024 after an error in the budget numbers was discovered by Director Laura McKelvey. Errors have been rectified and the board approved the revised reports with two dissenting votes from directors Sarah Nemitz and McKelvey. McKelvey cited she had not had ample time to review all revised reports as not all the reports were available until the day before the meeting.

Curriculum and technology committee chair Director Carol Klinger made a motion to approve the Salisbury High School Program of Studies for the 2025-2026 school year which was discussed at length during last month’s curriculum meeting. The motion was passed.

The board also granted approval for the following DeSales University student teachers and their mentors: Laura Rohrbach will work with Anne Ruiz, Kailyn Hansen with Mary Beth Bedics and Katie Gergits with Kristy Weid.

During the operations committee portion of the meeting, the board approved agreements with Raptor Technologies, Albarell Electric, Inc. for the Salisbury Middle School fire alarm replacement, Conrad Siegel to perform the GASB 75 actuarial evaluation and the transportation plan with Lehigh County Office of Children & Youth.

The next items on the agenda came from the finance committee. The board granted budget transfer authorization for the 2024-2025 fiscal year as necessary for audit compliance and a list of additions/changes to the 2025 school year per capita additional tax in the amount of $660.

As part of her budget update, Nickischer presented a chart depicting a 10- year assessment of tax base growth based on assessed property value. It showed that since 2014 the district has seen a $16 million reduction in assessment values while a neighboring district showed values steadily increasing. Board members expressed a need to network with other districts of similar size and limited growth to learn about how they are dealing with these issues as a district.

Nickischer also noted the governor’s budget was released Feb. 4 and the district saw a 1.22% increase in basic education funding for a total of $47,722. Special education funding received a 4.45% increase for a total of $51,888.

Nickischer provided a summary of the budget timeline with a focus on salary and benefits which is the largest budget item. She delved into each category of the district’s salaried positions and highlighted changes and proposed additional positions which contributed to an increase of $2.4 million over last year’s budget.

Superintendent Lynn Fuini-Hetten continued the discussion by summarizing projected staffing needs for the 2025-2026 school year which are included in the upcoming budget. New positions will be adjusted and prioritized as the budget is being built. She proposed hiring three regular education teachers, one autistic support teacher, one special education teacher and five instructional assistants to support the new special education classrooms. Nickisher estimates this will cost $942,678 and is part of the $2.4 million increase in the budget.

She noted some of the budget challenges the district continues to face such as the declining assessment values, a decrease in the value of a mill, the end of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding and a significantly high rate of 25.48% of tax exempt properties within the district.

During the personnel committee portion of the meeting, the board approved the resignations of cheerleading coach Kristin Stokes and band director Rachel Reinecke.

New hires approved by the board include Kevin DiZenzo, assistant varsity track coach, Julia Urich, music director and freshman class advisers Laura DosSantos and Brenda Cappellari.

An agreement with nonunion confidential support staff effective July 1 to June 30, 2029 was also approved.

In his student activities report, the first order of business for Director Joseph Gnall was to recognize Student Activities Director Sarah Oswald for her recent induction to the West Chester University Athletics Hall of Fame. Oswald, a 2010 graduate of WCU earned her spot in the Hall of Fame for her accomplishments as a standout soccer player.

Next on the agenda was a motion for the board to approve a cooperative sponsorship in middle school softball with Central Catholic and their partner middle schools for the spring 2025 season. The motion passed.

In board reports, Nemitz brought a motion to approve the 2025-2026 Lehigh Career and Technical Institute budget of $33,400,540. Salisbury’s portion of the budget amounts to $1,227,503. The motion passed.

Pennsylvania School Boards Association board member Rebecca Glenister reported an application for a teacherless AI driven cyber charter school has been rejected by the state of Pennsylvania. The Texas-based company has 30 days to appeal.

Lehigh Carbon Community College liaison Sam DeFrank reported the college is expected to pass a balanced budget despite seeing enrollment numbers decrease by 2.2% and credit hours reduced by 4.5%.

In her superintendent’s report, Fuini-Hetten acknowledged both Chris Smith, coordinator of technology and transportation and Tom Smith, computer technician, for being recognized at the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo & Conference for their work related to the district’s incident response plan and cyber plan.

Fuini-Hetten shared pictures of the students enjoying presentations in Jean Schey’s classroom for the 100th day of school and she noted the success of the fourth grade instrumental program which saw half of fourth grade students choosing to participate in the program.

The upcoming spring celebration of the arts includes the SMS spring concert April 7, the SHS spring concert May 6 and the K-12 art show at SHS May 7.

Salisbury students Aubriana Ramirez, Adrienne Kipp and Sarah Vaughn won awards at the annual “Hope & Healing” juried art competition by Rodale. Their artwork will be displayed in medical offices throughout the Lehigh Valley.

In closing Fuini-Hetten thanked school resource officers Jason Laky and Richard Nothstein for their service in honor of School Resource Officer Appreciation Day Feb. 15.

The Salisbury Township School Board will hold an operations and finance committee meeting 7 p.m. March 5. A curriculum and technology meeting followed by a regular school board meeting will be held 7 p.m. March 19. All meetings will be held in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road, Allentown.