The Salisbury Township School District Board of Directors held a curriculum and technology committee meeting Nov. 19 where they recognized AP Scholars, received student reports and heard presentations on demographic and state testing summaries.

At the start of the meeting, the board took time to recognize several Advanced Placement Scholars students who achieved grade-point averages of 3.25 or higher on college level courses in high school all while balancing extracurricular activities and/or work responsibilities. Students recognized as AP scholars with honors include Beatrice Carag, Emerson Juhasz, Meredith Kelley and Riley Nemitz.

Students earning AP scholars with distinction status include Phoebe Balleck, Rafael Carpo and Soledad Lausch.

Music teacher Angela Mosley was also honored by the board during the meeting. Student Activities Director Sarah Oswald presented her with a service award for “pouring her energy, love and music into our students since 2008” and for “setting a foundation of excellence for our music program.” Mosley has served the district at all grade levels as marching and concert band director and chorus director.

Mosley thanked the board for taking the time to honor her and remarked she loves helping students grow as musicians and collaborating with the twirling, cheerleading and athletic programs as well as parents.

Salisbury High School student Edward Ballek highlighted events happening at the high school including the start of the winter sports season, a National Honor Society blood drive, a successful performance of “Harvey” by the theater club and auditions for the upcoming spring musical “The Prom.”

Middle school representatives Eden Klocek and Lara Al-Bajjali reported seventh grade students enjoyed taking a field trip to Kutztown University to meet author Jordan Sonnenblick. Students are currently reading his book, “Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie” and were given insight into Sonnenblick’s writing process and able to pose questions for the author.

Eighth grade students recently took part in Blue Mountain Ski Resort’s Shreducation program where they learned the basic skills of skiing and snowboarding.

Eighth graders also took a tour of Lehigh Career & Technical Institute and had the opportunity to tour the campus, visit labs and ask questions.

A schoolwide Turkey Trot will be held before the Thanksgiving break. Students will either walk or run a one-mile course and be treated to hot chocolate or apple cider at the end of the course. The first 20 students who complete an IXL power-up activity assignment before the Turkey Trot will receive a doughnut as an extra reward.

Salisbury Elementary School students Lucy Pascal and Melissa Weidner reported that during the month of October students enjoyed a fire engine assembly, a fourth grade trip to South Mountain Preserve, a kindergarten trip to Valley Fruits and Veggies and a schoolwide character book parade.

On Nov. 11 a special breakfast was held to honor veterans. After breakfast veterans lined the walkway to welcome students to school.

Next up on the agenda was a detailed demographic summary of the 2024-2025 school year. The summary provides a detailed look at the district’s overall demographics broken down into categories such as ethnicity, economically disadvantaged, English Language learners, special education/gifted, student mobility and charter school attendance.

Overall findings show no significant increases or decreases in student population in all categories except charter school attendance. The district has seen a 10.4% increase in charter or cyber school attendance for a total of 178 charter school students – 130 students attend a brick and mortar charter school while 48 attend a cyber school.

Remarking that charter schools cost the district between $3.4 and $4 million, Director Laura McKelvey wondered if the district has any data with regard to why families are choosing to attend charter/cyber schools. Superintendent Lynn Fuini-Hetten responded that over the last three years they have asked families these questions and there are a variety of reasons including, mental health, peer group, personality conflicts, attendance, curriculum/programs and residency issues.

Assistant Superintendent Kelly Pauling and principals Zac Brem and Ken Parliman presented state testing summaries for both SES and Salisbury Middle School.

Summaries for SES test results in both English Language Arts/Literature and math showed overall improvements as scores in reading were 8.8% above the state average and math scores were 13.1% above the state average.

Scores were tracked over the last five years and show that students in most subgroups are improving so interventions that have been implemented are working.

In the middle school, ELA/L scores showed 52.2% of students’ achieved a score of proficient/advanced which is above the state average of 49.9%. Math scores however, showed 33% of students scored proficient/advanced which is below the statewide average of 41.7%.

Parliman noted that while there are challenges such as sixth and eighth grade students who are still scoring below the state average in math, administration and staff are working to make improvements which will yield better results.

Highlighting eighth grade students who took the Algebra I Keystone test 84% achieved proficient/advanced and of that number 53% scored advanced.

In the high school, Keystone tests are taken in Algebra I, Literature and Biology and they differ from the Pennsylvania System of School Assessments in that each test is composed of two modules and students can retake each test or selected modules until they achieve proficiency.

Keystones are also one component of the Pathways to Graduation.

Results of the Literature Keystone show that 75.2% of students scored proficient/advanced which is well above the 49.9% state average. Math scores showed some challenges ahead as only 35.6% of students scored proficient/advanced which is below the state average of 41.7%.

No scores were available for Science/Biology Keystones because this is the first year of testing since the standards were revamped and this year’s scores will be used to establish a new baseline.

Pauling presented her assistant superintendent’s report in which she gave a brief overview of some of the upcoming changes in the program of studies featuring new course offerings in English Language Arts and some restructuring in courses such as personal finance, digital arts/photography and career exploration.

She also highlighted a successful English Learner celebration and a Nov. 4 professional development day focusing on new academic standards for career to work and exploring topics such as writing legally defensible IEPs, Algebra tiles, AI and supporting literacy at the middle school level across content areas.

During the citizen’s comment portion of the meeting, student Madelynn Dilliard spoke at this meeting and last month’s regular school board meeting about an issue with a college level statistics class that was changed in mid-August due to a staffing change. The new teacher did not have the credentials to teach at the college level so dual enrollment status was dropped.

When Dilliard learned one student in the class was seemingly given an unfair opportunity to take the class through an independent study, Dilliard raised questions which she brought to SHS principal Dr. Heather Morningstar and her guidance counselor.

She is concerned because she felt the board has done nothing to investigate the situation and she felt it was unfair that one student, with the help of her mother, was able to bypass the independent study policy 3A.5 created by the board.

She also noted that according to the Equal Opportunity of Education Law all public schools “must provide equal opportunity and access to educational programs.” She went on to say, “if one student has the option it is law that all students should as well.”

Parent Jennifer Dilliard addressed the board in support of her daughter and noted the mother of the student who was allowed to circumvent the rules and given the opportunity to take the class for dual enrollment through an independent study, sits on the board. She questioned the ethical choices of this board member and the abuse of power. She remarked this was not a good look for the board and she suggested she may even run for the open seat on the board.

She wants to ensure every student gets an equal education and “prevent more corruption in this room.” She vowed to return month after month to resolve the issue.

Resident Denis Engle brought up two issues for the board to consider. The first issue being the amount of reserves for a healthy budget. He noted the state auditor general indicated a healthy reserve is 20% but while reviewing the district’s reserves it appears it is at 40%.

The second issue dealt with paying taxes in partial payments based on a personal budget. He was told by the tax collector payment must be made all at once or in three installments but he suggests that some flexibility would be good for residents and would improve cash flow for the district.

The Salisbury Township School board will hold a reorganization meeting 6 p.m. Dec. 3 followed by an operations and finance meeting and a regular school board meeting. All meetings are held in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road, Allentown.