With a new superintendent at the helm, dropping COVID cases allowing for relaxation of mitigation measures and a surprise state championship from the high school’s varsity wrestling team, not even a power outage could dim the spirit of the Feb. 23 Saucon Valley School Board meeting.

At first glance, the meeting’s setting appeared ominous under emergency lighting in the campus’ Audion. High winds associated with a passing low-pressure system were the likely culprit for the interruption of service, as much of Hellertown Borough and Lower Saucon Township experienced a similar disruption that evening.

Regardless, the meeting kicked off with recognition of the PIAA AA team state duals champion Panther wrestling squad. The team capped off an impressive – and somewhat shocking – showing the weekend of Feb. 12-13, with a dramatic 29-22 win over Notre Dame-Green Pond, who’d defeated Saucon twice – including by a 50-5 trouncing – over the past month.

The entire team, sans Coach Chad Shirk, attended the meeting and was presented by Athletic Director Robert Frey.

In other news, Superintendent Jaime Vlasaty recognized the district’s three school nurses – Susan DeSmet, Eileen Dolphin and Maryellen Prager – for the job they’ve done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the pandemic in a “downward swing,” she said, it was a good opportunity to acknowledge them, as they’ve been Vlasaty’s “right-hand people” throughout its duration.

Otherwise – and in a somewhat rare occurrence in recent times – the meeting was fairly uneventful, with usual pieces of business conducted.

One of the topics that came up for discussion was the district’s lack of a track and field program at the middle school level. A district parent first raised the topic during the public comment portion of the meeting, noting that although the program was discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it hasn’t been reinstated like some others.

Frey addressed the question, noting that it wasn’t due to a lack of will from current coaches at the high school level, but is the result of several factors, including budgetary concerns. Ultimately, as the item did not appear on the evening’s agenda, no action was taken.