SALEM — The board of education approved a membership agreement to join the Northeast Eight Conference in 2027 in its June 15 meeting.

The board of education voted unanimously to approve an agreement to join the conference with membership participation set to begin in the 2027-2028 school year. Treasurer Mike Douglas said the district had been accepted into the Northeast Eight for all sports except football, and that the conference includes many districts that Salem already schedules against.

“Being in a conference isn’t just about winning championships. It also gives our student athletes a chance to win individual awards, as well as our coaches and for our athletes to be recognized for conference academic awards,” Douglas said. “This is a wonderful alignment and includes a lot of the teams that we have been in conferences with in the past that are up north — Poland, South Range, Girard, Niles, Lake View, Struthers. These are all teams we’ve played, a lot of the teams we already schedule in non-conference stuff, so it’s going to be a good transition over the next year.”

Douglas said that the district will be reviewing options for the football program as its contract with the Eastern Buckeye Conference (EBC) winds down.

“Right now, the plan is to continue to look at options for football going forward. Hopefully we can bring something back to [the board]…Right now, we are contracted with the EBC for two additional years. We sent a letter to them notifying them that we’ll be exiting after this year for all the schools,” Douglas said. “We’ll stay in the EBC for the second year of the contract for football. So, we’ll still be at the EBC for two more years.”

During his report, Douglas told the board that the Robert Bycroft School had notified every school district in Columbiana County that they would be expected to cover 50% of the cost for students attending the school. Douglas said that currently the district has no cost associated with students attending the school and that this change would represent an additional expense of approximately $200,000 per year for the district and that school districts and their attorneys were reviewing the situation.

“They recently approached all the county school districts and gave us a month notice that we will now be responsible for 50% of the bill going forward. So, for some reason, they didn’t think that was a huge issue, it is. For us it’s going to be about $200,000 in expenditures going forward per year, so that changes my forecast over the five years by about a million dollars,” Douglas said. “We do have some issues with some of it which all the superintendents in the county and treasurers are working with Robert Bycroft to try to come up with a little better solution, but as of now this is the stance they’re taking.”

The board also approved several personnel and administrative matters.

Personnel matters approved included: the resignation of Bus Driver Edward Arsena retroactive to May 14; nurses to assist with the Junior and Senior High School physicals; a new contract for Assistant Technology Director Joseph Gerberry for the period of Aug. 1, 2026-July 31, 2029; the retirement of Reilly Elementary Principal Cindy Viscounte; athletic supplementals for the 2026-2027 school year; non-athletic supplementals for Esports Coach Joseph Gerberry, and Junior High Academic Challenge Coach Kenton Pendery; the hire of Jodi Kelly to tutor a homebound student; the resignation Speech Pathologist Tori Paolucci effective at the end of the current contract year, and the return to work of Tomi Jackson retroactive to May 4.

Administrative matters approved included: a contract with Nutrition Group for food services management services for the 2026-2027 school year; the request of a final amended certificate of estimated resources for fiscal year 2026 from the county auditor as revenues are finalized; the transfer of $100,000 from the General Fund to the Permanent Improvement Fund to prepare for future turf and track replacements; temporary appropriations for fiscal year 2027; an administrative position change for Shelley Wilson from Literacy Specialist to Reilly Elementary Principal; a service agreement between Youngstown State University Tops Program and the Salem City School District for the 2026-2027 school year; in lieu of transportation payments of $636.75 for the 2026-2027 school year; and a contract with Wills Mobility and Vision Services, LLC for the 2026-2027 school year.

The meeting concluded with an executive session for the discussion of personnel matters with no action to follow.

The board of education will meet next at 7 p.m. on July 20.