An interscholastic athletic policy is being considered by Tamaqua Area School District.

Superintendent Ray Kinder discussed the policy with the school board during its committee meeting on Tuesday.Kinder told the board the policy is an existing one that recognizes interscholastic athletics and provides guidance for their inclusion into the district.He said policy states the superintendent can give permission for games on Sunday, but that the district's practice has been to ask the board for approval.Kinder said there were three options: Keep the policy as is and administration makes the decision; change it to let the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association rule take effect; or change the policy to reflect the current practice, which is the board making the decision.In the past five years, the district has only encountered such a situation about a handful of times, he said.Kinder said he believes that if practices are allowed on Sundays, it will become a more regular occurrence, though games would still be more rare.After board President Larry Wittig expressed reservations, Kinder said it's always been the district's aim to not participate in athletic contests on a Sunday.He said the next step is to prepare a policy to read that essentially follows the PIAA rule, which the committee would then vote on at next month's meeting.The involvement in athletic contests that occur on Sundays has been a point of contention at recent board meetings.Last month, the board, on a 6-3 vote, approved the junior high wrestling team's involvement at the annual District XI Coaches Association tournament Feb. 18-19.Because one of the days the tournament falls on is a Sunday, approval was needed for the team's participation at the tournament.At that meeting, Wittig asked, "Are we going to automatically approve every Sunday activity?"Wittig reiterated at that time that he believes the team's involvement at the tournament would compromise the policy.