Palmerton winter sports are back on after emergency school board meeting

On Wednesday night while others began celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday, the athletes and coaches at Palmerton High School were likely the ones celebrating for a very different reason.

After a five-hour debate during an emergency meeting, the Palmerton Area School Board voted to reinstate extracurricular activities, including the winter program.

The vote to reinstate sports such as girls and boys basketball passed 6-3.

This was a change from last week when the board voted 8-1 to go to an all-virtual learning plan effective Dec. 1 after the Thanksgiving break and suspended winter sports while the all-virtual plan was in effect.

That situation was also reversed Wednesday. By a 5-4 vote it was decided hybrid learning would resume on Jan. 4 after the Christmas holiday break.

The reversal came after a rally on Saturday in the borough’s municipal park during which more than 100 residents protested the decision to go to all-virtual learning and suspend winter sports.

Boys basketball player Kody Kratzer was one of those protesting, saying he was hoping to play his senior year to reach a lifelong goal.

“If weshutdownwintersports, I’ll be stuck at 911 points,” Kratzer said. “I mean, I’ve dreamed of this since I was a little kid, to just score 1,000 points.”

“The kids need to be in school,” said Stephanie White, a mother of three whohelped organize the rally and march through downtown. “School and sports allow some kids to escape from their home life, which isn’t so good. Kids rely on schools to feed them. There’s no reason our kids can’t be in school.”

Palmerton boys basketball coach Ken Termini agreed with Kratzer and White.

Immediately after the board’s decision Wednesday, he sent out a release saying: “I want to express my gratitude to the school board members who had the personal and professional courage to revisit the issue of winter athletics and voted to allow our student-athletes to compete. Over the last week Palmerton’s students witnessed a real-life civics lesson. They saw their town’s leaders listen to the citizens and taxpayers they represent. They witnessed how peaceful, passionate and persistent dialogue can evoke change.”

Termini, who is beginning his fifth season with the Blue Bombers program, said his players will use the opportunity given to them by the school board as a chance to make the community proud.

“For 105 seasons, Bomber basketball has played with the purpose of making Palmerton proud,” Termini said. “This year we will play with the added purpose of showing our thanks to everyone who devoted their time, energy and effort in getting this season back. There are not enough words to express the gratitude our student-athletes feel. I am confident they will show their thanks by playing their hearts out for you.”

Palmerton is scheduled to begin its Colonial League boys basketball schedule on Dec. 15 at Catasauqua.