With the opening of Saucon Valley schools less than two weeks away, much of the Aug. 11 virtual school board meeting was somewhat tenuous, with board members, teachers and parents alike expressing anxiety and apprehension about several aspects of the rapidly-approaching school year.

Superintendent Dr. Craig Butler opened the meeting with a message of excitement and optimism, however. “We are very excited… to get our school year underway. Things are really coming together,” he said, as he thanked the administration, faculty and staff for their diligent work under unprecedented circumstances.

The first major topics of discussion were Exclusion From and Return to School requirements. Board member Sandra Miller asked if there would be some assistance from the Pa. Department of Health in lieu of contact tracers working in the area. Butler said, “the information I have received is that they will be working closely with us if we find ourselves in that position (of having a COVID-positive test). We are awaiting, anxiously, additional information that will make our process even more robust, detailed and complete.”

Miller audibly sighed in response, saying the lack of a more specific plan of support is “another reason why perhaps opening this soon is not the way to go.” She was the only ‘nay’ vote on the motion to approve the policy.

Fall sports were also on the agenda, as the board discussed a motion to approve the PIAA Return to Competition Plan and the Saucon Valley Re-socialization Plan. Board member Bryan Eichfeld asked if the PIAA plan would supplant the SV plan and expressed general concern about playing sports in the fall. “I may be unpopular with this, but the (East Penn Conference) is postponing any sports until October,” he said, adding, “I kind of like that idea.” He wondered aloud if charging ahead in the Colonial League was the right thing to do, citing the NCAA’s Big Ten Conference postponing their football season with “billions of dollars” on the line. “I’m really uneasy,” Eichfeld said.

Butler explained that the board already approved the Re-socialization Plan twice, and with the PIAA delaying the season’s start by two weeks until Aug. 24, they need to approve it again to last until then. Miller then asked to split the two topics for voting purposes, saying it might be wise to just stick to the Re-socialization Plan and to stay away from the PIAA plan for now. Athletic Director Robert Frey asserted that the PIAA plan wasn’t meant to supplant the Saucon plan. It is more of a guideline for a “game situation,” he said, while the Re-socialization Plan applies to practices and workouts.

There was also some discussion about treating athletics protocols differently from school itself, with board President Dr. Shamim Pakzad expressing his concerns. Board Vice President Susan Baxter agreed. “This great discrepancy we have between our academic plan; and our sports plan, they need to be the same,” she said. “We’re going through hoops to make sure that we are abiding by the CDC rules (in schools) and with sports we’re just kind of looking the other way.”

She continued, “we have to take a look at these sports that are contact sports.... we also have to recognize that the same students who are going onto the (athletic) fields are going to bring (illness) back into the classroom and we have to be careful of that.” Ultimately, the original motion was withdrawn and the board proceeded with a new motion to simply extend the Re-socialization Plan until Aug. 25, which was the date of the next board meeting. The motion passed unanimously.

Later, Miller made a motion to delay the start of school by two weeks, saying “I believe the Department of Education is going to come out with better information, contract tracing, and our numbers actually will fall to a better number within the matrices that are being recommended by the Department of Health.” The delay would allow everyone more time to better prepare and to react to any new or revised guidance that comes from the state over the next several weeks, she said.

Board member Edward Andres suggested making a motion for only a one-week delay, with the idea that it might be better received, with Miller then revising her motion as he suggested. Baxter expressed reservations about the resolution being added during the meeting with no advance notice, and board member Cedric Dettmar made the point that things might not necessarily get better before then anyway. Eichfeld added that as the opening date was already announced, changing it so late in the summer could prove to be a hardship to some families.

Public comments were somewhat split with parents and teachers coming out on both sides of Miller’s proposal, although significantly more seemed to be in favor of a delayed start. Butler addressed some of the concerns, saying, “I want to reiterate… we are ready to go. Some changes were made since last week, but they were not wholesale changes.” He said he has faith in faculty, which includes many long-time teachers, saying they will adjust and do a great job. He continued, “I have complete confidence that we will have a teacher present in these classrooms and are fully capable of starting on the 24th.” Ultimately, Miller, Andres and Tracy Magnotta were the only ‘aye’ votes to delay as the motion failed 6-3.

In other news, elementary school Principal Cynthia Motter resigned effective July 31. It was not immediately clear who would be filling her position for the upcoming school year.