Salisbury Township school board held a curriculum and technology meeting March 20.

Students briefly highlighted the many events taking place in each school throughout the district and a teaching and learning update was presented by Assistant Superintendent Kelly Pauling.

Rafael Carpo and Cameron Kubinsky reported on the recent success of the Salisbury swim team. Swimmers Olivia Amorim and Phoebe Ballek each earned gold medals and punched their tickets to compete at the state level.

Amorim and Ballek teamed up with Sally Wiggins and Allison Beckage in the 400 yard freestyle for a second-place finish.

Congratulations are in order for Laurans Trinh who earned a position in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association All-State Wind Ensemble. He will participate in a concert April 20 in Erie.

After many rehearsals over the past few months the Salisbury theater club successfully performed the musical “The Spitfire Grill” March 14-16.

Recently, German American Partnership Program students arrived and will spend two weeks with Salisbury host students shadowing them during classes, activities and sporting events as they explore all aspects of American culture. A trip to New York City was scheduled March 22.

In other high school news, the debate team will compete against Pennridge after a tie in the last round of semi finals to determine which team moves ahead to the finals against Northwestern.

Spirit week will be held during the week of March 25. Themed days are planned as well as a pep rally.

Next up was Lehigh Career and Technical Institute student Joshua Orach who reported, unfortunately LCTI camp for 2024 has been canceled due to scheduling issues which resulted from snow makeup days.

Seniors have completed their National Occupational Competency Testing Institute performance tests and will be taking the written portion of the NOCTI tests in April.

On March 26 DEKA and Skills USA held a joint fundraiser at Skateaway in Whitehall.

Salisbury Middle School students Payton Kao and Chelsey Roberts informed the board eighth grade students will participate in an authentic opportunity when they visit the courthouse to hear two court cases May 29-31.

Students will learn from a judge and district attorney about the steps involved in court cases and the different roles people play within the court system.

Eighth graders have also had the opportunity to write to their French and Italian pen pals and share with them topics such as traditions, school events and hobbies.

Middle school students have been hard at work raising money to support research and raise awareness of Niemann Pick Type C in honor of Adam Recke who will turn 25 this year. In addition to holding dodge ball tournaments and selling “I Believe” T-shirts, the student council will make and send cards for Adam to celebrate his upcoming birthday.

Fifth grade students have been busy as they continue to write their biography reports and tour LCTI. In May students will visit the Philadelphia Zoo as they begin their animal research.

Students are also looking forward to the Salisbury Middle School spring concert scheduled 7 p.m. April 18 at the school.

Salisbury Elementary School students Grace Gibbs and Blake Kristie highlighted all the fun events students have had the opportunity to participate in over the past month including Read Across America activities, a Leap Day visit from leapfrogs, the Easter bonnet parade and the PTO sponsored Super Mario coin wars, which will raise money for a new basketball hoop at the school.

Pauling provided the board with a teaching and learning update.

Pauling noted registration is currently open for an April 23 webinar for parents entitled “Supporting Students with Individualized Education Plans through Community Resources.”

SES has been recognized by a PaPBIS facilitator for fidelity of the Positive Behavior Interventions and Support implementation of Tier 1 and Tier 2 with a score of 70% or above on the Tiered Fidelity Indicator.

In advance of the newly revised Pennsylvania science standards, which will go into effect during the 2025-2026 school year, the district has concentrated efforts at the middle school level since the tests will be administered in those grade levels.

Teachers are currently piloting the OpenSciEd science curriculum with positive results and administration will be recommending adoption of the program for grades 6 through 8. They will also take a look at the curriculum in grades 3 through 5.

During the March 8 professional development day, high school teachers who participated in a yearlong book study geared toward teaching with equity and led by SHS Principal Heather Morningstar shared with faculty what they learned about subjects like culturally responsive practices and working with diverse learners.

At the elementary level East Stroudsburg University special education professor Dr. Gina Scala led a session aimed at helping regular education teachers partner with special education teachers in an effort to help diverse learners succeed in regular education.

Also in the elementary school, a Title I celebration was recently held with 18 families in attendance. Teachers gave a presentation for parents about the summer reading program and how they can support their children as readers. Games, prizes and pizza were also part of the fun and Salisbury Township Police Chief Don Sabo reported for duty as a surprise guest bingo caller.

After school tutoring programs have started on Tuesdays and Thursdays at SMS and SES. Currently 29 students are participating at SMS and enrollment is still open.

At SES 36 students are currently enrolled. A shuttle bus is available to transport students from SMS to SES and SES to SMS.

The next meeting of the curriculum and technology committee will be held 7 p.m. April 17. All meetings are held in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road, Allentown