Salisbury High School students Ian Carey and Hannah Kahn reported on the events planned for Homecoming at the Sept. 18 school board meeting.

The Powder Puff game is scheduled for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 3. A new event this year will include five to 10 male students from each grade who will dance or cheer at the game.

For spirit week leading to Homecoming, students will wear pajamas Oct. 7, wear their favorite sports team attire Oct. 8, dress like faculty Oct. 9 (faculty will dress like students), wear mix 'n match (but don't match) outfits Oct. 10 and blue and white Oct. 11. A pep rally tailgate party will be held Oct. 11. The Homecoming Dance will be held 7 p.m. Oct. 12 at the high school.

In other student news, a student government association led bonfire will be held Oct. 31. The debate team now has 50 members 27 new members and 23 returning members. The debate team is led by teacher Michael Barna.

Student representatives said this is the second year for No Place for Hate and class advisories have met to plan their activities.

A Best Buddies mentoring program has been instituted at the high school to help students from the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit assimilate into the SHS culture. SHS students are paired with a CLIU student to help them make friends and get involved.

Board President Russell Giordano congratulated the school and students for putting the Best Buddies mentoring program together. "You are doing a very good thing. Thank you for that," Giordano said.

In the Allentown Public Library report, the library has partnered with both Bethlehem and Easton libraries to provide even more availabilty to residents. Books can be borrowed from any of the libraries and delivered to the Allentown Public Library within 24 hours. Close to one million books are available to readers now. Digital magazines and e-books are also resources available from home to library card holders.

Business administrator Robert Bruchak reported tax collection is 4.3 percent less than last year at this time. He noted there has been an increase in installment payments and only 54 percent of the residents paid in full during the discount period. Last year, over 80 percent of the residents had paid in full during the discount period.

Bruchak also noted some bills currently being reviewed by legislators and watched by the Pennsylvania School Board Association. House Bill 76 proposes a property tax be replaced with a new sales tax and local income tax.

Senate Bill 1085 would require charter schools to comply with the open records policy and public meeting requirements.

In personnel news, the board accepted the resignation due to retirement of Lorraine A'Brunzo as a SHS teacher and National Honor Society advisor.

Glenna Snyder, of Allentown, was approved as a cafeteria helper at Harry S Truman Elementary School.

Gifted instruction teacher Kristy Wied was approved to split her time between all four schools for gifted support.

Margaret McGinty was approved to provide homebound instruction for a student.

Karen Rideout, of Breinigsville, was approved as a part-time learning support instructional assistant at Western Salisbury Elementary School.

Ann Marie Ross, of Palmerton was approved as a part-time one-to-one instructional assistant at WSE pending completion of requirements.

Katherine Rossetti and Kelly Butterbaugh will share responsibilities as co-advisors for the sophomore class for the 2013-2014 school term.

James Hersh was approved as the assistant swimming coach.

John Miller, custodian at Salisbury Middle School was approved for a FMLA leave.

Carla Pacitti, a SHS teacher, was approved for a general leave of absence Feb. 4 through April 29, 2014.

Sarah Wascura, of Schnecksville, was approved as a full-time chemistry teacher at SHS.

Richard Pearce was approved as a full-time business and mathematics teacher at SHS.

Nina Elias, of Bethlehem, was approved as a music director for the play.

Superintendent Michael Roth thanked staff, adminstrators and teachers for a smooth opening to the 2013-2014 school year. He also thanked the staff for preparing the facilities over the summer.

Regarding the transporation for students, Roth said there are 40 vehicles transporting 1,645 students to 45 different schools. This year, they eliminated a bus run which caused some concern for parents. The district has rerouted some of the buses and has changed some stops to eliminate many of the concerns. Roth thanked the principals, transportation director, Paragon and parents for their patience during this transition.

In response to a request from a board member on the number of visits to the district website, Roth said in the last year there has been much activity on the website. The middle school had 1,126,578 hits last year, HST had 490,142 hits, the main page had 266,756, SHS had 184,814, WSE had 144,231 and those seeking employment numbered 95,024.

On the Facebook page, there are 1,400 likes which Roth said is amazing in a district with 1,600 students.

Board members decided to prepare a resolution taking a position in support of the Allentown Public Library since a question will be placed on the Salisbury ballots in November for a decision in supporting the library.

Roth said the school performance profile will be released Sept. 30 which replaces the adequate yearly progress.

"When it comes to the grade our schools will be assigned by the state's School Performance Profile, we will use the information provided to see what the state says we are doing well and where we may need to improve some of our efforts," Roth said.

"But when looking at the grade, I would also like the community to remember the work our teachers, students and staff are doing with TL2014; the Leader in Me Program at HST and WSE, which is now spilling over into the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens at SMS; No Place for Hate at SHS which is creating a wonderful environment for all students; the TEDx events where our students develop and deliver phenomenal messages about their own learning; the number of students involved in clubs and activities like Debate and PJAS, where our students are so successful we sometime need to budget more funds to send them onto further competitions.

"And most importantly, the empathetic, caring and nurturing students and staff we have at Salisbury.

"Tonight we heard about our students and staff at SHS welcoming the CLIU's staff and students to the high school, and supporting them through a Best Buddies program and how our maintenance staff did whatever they needed to do to make the facility ready for the students. Or even more importantly, how our custodian Scott Marshall comes in early for his shift and plays guitar for the students in that classroom, and how the students and staff love the music. I would like the state to keep that in mind as they assign our schools their grades."