The Salisbury Township School District Board of Directors held a curriculum and technology committee meeting Sept. 17. During the meeting the board heard student reports, an update on the middle school learning lab and an assistant superintendent’s report centered on curriculum, technology and funding.

Salisbury High School senior Meredith Kelley reported the happenings at the high school starting with fall sports which are currently in full swing. Of special note is the success of the girls field hockey team and their undefeated status posting a record of 9-0.

Upcoming events at the high school include an open house Sept. 25, the homecoming game Oct. 10 and the homecoming dance Oct. 11.

Lehigh Career & Technical Institute representative Arianna Hamilton highlighted events students look forward to starting with the Lehigh Valley Therapy Dogs canine visit with Sandy and her handlers. Sandy visited classrooms, offices and hallways lifting spirits and she even brought her own trading cards to share. Therapy dog visits to LCTI will occur once a month throughout the year.

Hamilton noted two ways to treat yourself and support LCTI students.

On Oct. 2, Drizzle Ice Cream shop will host a fundraiser to support future educators in the LCTI teacher education program. Mention the teacher program when ordering and a portion of your purchase will go to the program.

The Bake Shoppe at LCTI is open to the public and features pastries and cakes made by culinary students. The shop is open 9-10 a.m. and 1-2 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays.

Mark your calendars for Nov. 20 for the LCTI open house where you will have an opportunity to tour the school, learn about program offerings and the application process.

Salisbury Middle School students Lillian Pojanowski and Lara Al-Bajjali reminded families the SMS magazine/cookie dough fundraiser is currently taking place. The funds raised during this sale pay for field trips, field day and other fun events at the middle school.

Middle school club sign ups have begun for students offering many ways to pursue interests and get involved in activities such as student government, yearbook, Interact club, archery, golf and volleyball.

Salisbury Elementary School students students Logan Kirkpatrick and Jionni Phillips outlined the fun activities held for incoming kindergarteners to help meet new friends, get acquainted with the school and ride the bus. On Aug. 26 all SES students returned to school and were excited to see the changes that were made over the summer to the school building, especially the new seating area in the library.

Middle school Principal Ken Parliman and his team of learning lab teachers gave an in-depth presentation of how the lab works to offer students unique, hands-on, project-based learning. Teachers Dave Beyer, Melody Beneito and Amy Huber outlined projects specific to their grade level and how they integrate 6-8th grade math standards into specific thematic units while connecting with other content areas such as social studies, science and art. Examples of thematic units include designing a zoo to focus on area and perimeter and mass production of spacesuits which incorporated measurement and scale, budgeting using decimals and percentages.

The presentation included feedback directly from students who see the learning lab as a unique way to learn real world skills in a creative environment.

Several board members offered high praise for the program and were encouraged by student input.

During her assistant superintendent report, Kelly Pauling gave an overview of the summer program participation and offered reasons for lower attendance numbers and how to avoid the problem next summer. The SHS DeSales Shakespeare Theater trip, however, was well attended. She also noted that with a large reduction in Title I funding an intervention program will not be feasible.

In other news, the Bureau of Special Education has approved SES for the use of response-to-intervention to identify students with learning disabilities in grades K-4. This eliminates the use of the discrepancy model by allowing students who may qualify for special education to get the resources they need sooner rather than waiting for a gap between their achievement and ability to appear.

This was an extensive collaborative effort between the central office, building leaders and teachers and SES has the distinction of being the first school in the eastern region of Pennsylvania to do this.

Pauling highlighted curriculum development being done in the areas of science, English language arts, special subjects at the elementary level and business as well as programs being piloted this year in math, social emotional learning and phonics.

Administration is also exploring the possibility of piloting a new assessment tool from the Pennsylvania Department of Education named Firefly. It will assess end-of-year skills in Science, Math, ELA for both Pennsylvania System of School Assessments and Keystone tests.

Pauling also announced the technology department will offer one hour workshops open to the community geared toward novice technology users and seniors. A list of titles and descriptions will be posted in the October Community Update. Registration will begin in October and workshops start in November.

In light of the $228,712 reduction in Title I funds, Pauling reviewed how the district will redistribute and allocate funds to serve students. Changes will need to be made in how the district funds technology services used in classrooms and professional development.

The next meeting of the curriculum and technology committee will be 7 p.m. Nov. 19. All meetings will be held in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road, Allentown.