The Salisbury Township School District board of directors held a regular school board meeting Jan. 21, which called for the approval of a concrete and paving bid and the retirement of two employees.

During the public comment portion of the meeting Salisbury Middle School cafeteria worker Adrienne Fitzgerald expressed concern about her inability to offer food to eighth grade students that would be thrown out due to violating governmental nutritional guidelines.

She noted eighth grade students in the last lunch period are asking for food because they are hungry and she questioned the legality of throwing food in the garbage rather than filling a hungry belly.

The board agreed to take the matter under advisement.

After paying the bills and approving the November 2025 and December 2025 treasurer’s reports the board went on to approve the Salisbury High School Program of Studies for 2026-2027, a special education settlement agreement and release, an agreement with Pediatric Therapeutic Services until June 30, 2028 and an overnight extracurricular trip for Model United Nations April 16-19.

A special education agreement in lieu of a free appropriate public education, or FABE, for 80% of tuition at The Quaker School was approved as a roll-call vote with Director Laura McKelvey voting no and Director Thomas Spinner abstaining.

Before the vote was taken McKelvey made it clear her vote was not because she does not believe the placement is appropriate but due to the “rushed and hurried manner” in which it was presented to the board.

During the operations portion of the meeting Spinner brought several items to the board for approval.

The board approved BerkOne to complete 2026 Act 80 comparison services, award a concrete base bid with Baseline Contracting in the amount of $1,088,200, award a paving bid to Gaver Industries, Inc. dba Barker & Barker Paving in the amount of $220,174, a Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unity consortium E-rate contract and a second amendment to the Sports Medicine Services Agreement retroactive to Jan. 4.

Director Ian Riccaboni motioned for the board to approve budget transfers, insurance renewal for 2026 from Willis Towers Watson and the district’s audit report for the fiscal year ending in 2025. The motion passed.

The board approved the retirement resignations of custodian Betty Engle and school nurse Christine Tripp.

Also approved was the resignation of Alexander Hess as assistant varsity football coach and the hiring of Nicholas Trask as the SHS junior varsity football coach.

Substitute additions approved by the board include Logan Kade, substitute teacher, Adam Boyd and Angel Rosado, substitute custodians and guest teachers Justus Foerkolb, Alexander Danielson, Colin Hansen, Robert Hoyer, Erica Koutch and Alison Wilson.

Policy committee chairperson Director Rebecca Glenister brought several policy items to the board for final reading and adoption. All were approved.

In his student activities report Director Joseph Gnall shared a letter from Barry Dobil commending the SHS boys basketball team for their participation over the last several years at a Christmas party for local children in foster care. He praised Coach Weaver and his coaching staff for teaching life lessons both on and off the court.

During board reports McKelvey made a motion to approve the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit general operating budget for 2026-2027 in the amount of $28,404. The motion passed.

The board also approved the Lehigh Carbon Community College operating, debt service and capital expenditures budget for 2026-2027 in the amount of $6,186,337.

Salisbury Township School District’s portion of this budget is $187,989.

The board also approved the adoption of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association principles for governance and leadership.

In her superintendent’s report, Fuini-Hetten announced the district now has Translations in Messages so families can hear messages in the language they have indicated as their home language when they register with the school administrative assistant. She wanted to assure families that “the intent is to provide information in a language you can understand” and the language chosen is not reported to any other entity.

The school district administration is working cooperatively to apply for two grants: the PCCD School Safety Grant and the Public School Facilities Improvement Grant to help defray costs for future projects.

Upcoming meetings of the Salisbury Township School Board include an operations and finance committee meeting scheduled 7 p.m. Feb. 11 and a curriculum and technology committee meeting followed by a regular school board meeting scheduled 7 p.m. Feb. 18.

All meetings will be held in the administration building, 1140 Salisbury Road, Allentown.