Athletic coaches and the school board in Palmerton Area School District are actively working to come to an agreement over a memorandum of understanding that would determine if an athletic coach receives all, part or none of their pay during the 2020-21 school year.

The district has asked coaches to sign an agreement that ties their annual stipend to whether or not a season for a particular sport takes place in the wake of COVID-19.

Under the proposed agreement, if a season is completely canceled, the coaches for that sport would not be paid. If the cancellation happens during the season, the stipend for coaches would be prorated based on how much of the season had taken place.

Roughly 30 coaches attended a meeting Thursday night with some members of Palmerton’s administration, according to one coach on the call who did not wish to be identified.

“I personally feel it was very positive and that Dr. (Alan) Lonoconus (interim Palmerton superintendent) has a much better understanding of the concerns of the coaches with this MOU and he plans to share that with the board of directors,” the coach said. “Of the coaches in attendance, the only firm position taken came from those who said they would absolutely not sign the agreement.”

One of the major points of contention, coaches said, is that pay could be withheld if the board decides to not have teams participate in a season, not just if the decision is made for it by the PIAA.

School Board President Kathy Fallow said Friday she couldn’t comment on personnel issues regarding the coaches. Earlier in the day she posted on Facebook regarding Palmerton’s resocialization plan for summer voluntary athletic workouts. Fallow stressed that there has been no proposal, motion or vote regarding the sports fall season.

“The plan (tabled by the board on Tuesday) was not about fall sports, but rather about a conditioning program to allow our athletes to return to the field to get in shape for the upcoming seasons and to begin to socialize with friends that they haven’t seen in person for quite some time,” she said in the post. “Board members and administrators have been working with Mr. (Kyle) Porembo (Palmerton athletic director) and we’re making good progress.”

Earlier this week, the board said the MOU for the coaches could possibly be voted on at a meeting, to be held virtually, on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. Coaches and district officials, however, said they were both hopeful it could come to a resolution before that.

Lonoconus, on Friday morning, said he hoped to schedule an executive session with board members before Tuesday to discuss the personnel matter.

Information on how to attend Tuesday’s meeting via Zoom will be on the district’s website.

Each year, the board approves all of the coaches for each sport. As it stands now, once that approval takes place, the stipend is guaranteed to the coach whether or not any of the athletic contests are played. In 2020, most spring sports had barely gotten off the ground when schools were shut down and the PIAA ultimately canceled the season. The majority of fall coaches were approved in January, with stipends ranging from $6,227 for the head varsity football coach to $1,231.50 each for co-golf coaches.

The proposed agreement has elicited the response of other Palmerton coaches on social media.

Junior Ortiz, a middle school football coach, took to Facebook on Friday morning to describe the year-round effort coaches put into their programs, not just during the season.

“I don’t coach for the money,” Ortiz said, “however, when the salary I’m paid is divided by the hours I invest in coaching, it comes out to literal cents per hour.”

“Anyone who knows me, knows I am passionate about being a mentor/advocate for our student athletes. I have already started preparing for my season. I’ve been watching game film, I’ve been designing workouts, I’ve sat in on virtual meetings, I’ve attended a coaching conference, I’ve been brainstorming ways I may have to change things because of COVID, and I’ve been checking up on student athletes.”

According to the coach on Thursday’s call, many of them were surprised to learn they had been cut out of the collective bargaining agreement negotiated several years back, while other extracurricular advisors were left in, leaving them without union representation on the MOU matter.

Although it did not end up happening until later, a fact-finding report dated Feb. 12, 2014, shows the district was looking to eliminate all coaching duties and pay from the collective bargaining agreement at that point.

“The school district feels that coaches, who are not acting in a professional capacity in accordance with Act 195 when they are coaching, have no place in a professional contract,” the district’s position is stated as being in the 2014 fact-finding report stated. “The school district would retain the extracurricular advisor positions (in the CBA) because they are an extension of the classroom educational process.”

As a group, a coach on Thursday’s call said, they hope to improve communication with the school board and “repair an obvious gap in knowledge with what actually happens in the offseason between student athletes and coaches, and what is perceived to happen during that time.”

“We just want to do what our peers in the general area are doing,” the coach said. “We want to know we’re approved, know we have a stipend and know we can work with our kids.”