Denied by the district, senior tailgate moved to park

LIMERICK » Denied the opportunity to hold the traditional “senior tailgate” on school grounds on the morning of the first day of school this year, Spring-Ford High School seniors are taking the show on the road.

All Spring-Ford classes will begin this year online on Sept. 8 and, as a result, the district has denied the use of the high school parking lot for the traditional early-morning meet-up before classes start.

So the seniors, and their families, are planning on holding it in

stead in Limerick Community Park, and some members of the school board aren’t too happy about it.

School Board President Colleen Zasowski said she has “mixed feelings” about the event in the park.

“This kind of event, with these big numbers, could jeopardize the rest of the school year,” she said.

She urged the tailgate organizers to “please hold off and do the traditional tailgate when Spring-Ford seniors come back to school. Let’s continue the hard work of getting back to school. Let’s do it safely on the first day they are back in the buildings,” Zasowski said.

Board member Christine Melton said perhaps the tailgate could be “done differently.”

Superintendent David Goodin said many things will be different about this school year.

“We want to try to get high school events going, but things, like Homecoming, are going to look a lot different this year,” he said.

School board member David Shafer said the board has to “start talking about how we can do things, and stop talking about why we can’t do things.”

During the Aug. 31 school board meeting, parent Michael Lebiedzinski urged the board to allow the tailgate at the school, offering various examples of large gatherings being held safely.

However, the board took no action to reverse the administration’s decision.

Limerick Township Supervisors also took no action during Tuesday’s board regarding the event being held the community park, because there was no need.

Limerick Township Manager Dan Kerr told the supervisors the park was requested from 6:15 to 7:30 a.m., that there will be under 250 people, all of whom will be wearing masks, and that parent chaperones will be there as well.

Supervisor Michael McCloskey said “it’s a public park, they don’t need our permission,” adding that “it’s not in our job description to clean up SpringFord’s messes.”

He added that teens “need normalcy back in their lives. Anything we can do and assist, move forward with normalcy, we should try to help them as much as we can.”

Supervisors’ Chairman Thomas Neafcy said he “has no problem” with the request. Due to the coronavirus restrictions, “we’re losing all of our traditions, and kids need these traditions.”

“We want to try to get high school events going, but things, like Homecoming, are going to look a lot different this year.” — David Goodin, Spring-Ford schools superintendent