Starting Feb. 3, students in grades six through eight will begin with the PSSA writing field test. That will last a few days and then there are a few weeks off before the bulk of the testing starts in mid-March and runs pretty much through the end of April.

Between the testing and the make-up days, PSSA's can really wreak havoc on teaching schedules and routines, so make sure your students are well rested and prepared for the day. Let's also not forget the possibility of snow days in there. We saw what they did to the Keystone exam schedule at the high school. What a mess.

Snow days were also the reason for some adjustments to the school calendar. Originally scheduled for Jan. 17, the end of the second marking period for Salisbury High School and Salisbury Middle School has moved to Jan. 24. Make-up days for the first two snow days are April 16 and 17. Snow days three and four will be made up June 9 and 10.

There is an early dismissal scheduled for all Salisbury Township schools Jan. 31. Salisbury High School and Salisbury Middle School dismiss 12:15 p.m., while Western Salisbury Elementary and Harry S Truman Elementary dismiss 1 p.m.

There is an Operations Committee meeting 7 p.m. Feb. 3 in the administration building.

Also going on at WSE, parents and guardians of third grade students may come to school and eat lunch with their children Feb. 4. Third grade lunch begins 12:05 p.m., so I suggest getting there a little before noon. As I said before the fourth grade parent lunch, if I am at the table signing parents in; french fries are my favorite.

These past few weeks have certainly been interesting for STSD schools. The snow days caused the Keystone exams at the high school to be rescheduled and then rescheduled again. There were burst pipes at several schools, which caused flooding, floor damage and loss of heat. I hand it to the administration and maintenance personnel who worked diligently to move entire classrooms to a different location so we didn't need to use any more snow days.

I also give a big round of applause to the teachers who kept everything as normal as possible for the students under such circumstances, especially those who had to share a classroom. Kudos to them all!

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the quote this week will be one of his. "The time is always right to do what is right." -Martin Luther King Jr.