The spring high school sports season in Pennsylvania has been canceled and uncertainty over what may happen in 2020-21 prompted Palmerton Area School District to hold off hiring its winter and spring athletic coaches during a board meeting Tuesday night.

Palmerton’s athletic department had recommended the hires and they were placed on the meeting agenda. Had they been approved, the coaches would have rounded out the staffs for boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball, wrestling, baseball, softball, track and field, and tennis for the 2020-21 school year.

“We don’t know what the future holds,” Director Audrey Larvey said. “We don’t know whether there will be seasons. I think it is a bit premature to approve these. It has nothing to do with the personnel recommended for the jobs, it has to do with the uncertainty of the times.”

Following Larvey’s comments, the board unanimously voted to table the hires.

When a school district approves a coach for a specific season, it is obligated to pay the coach the stipend owed to them, even if the season doesn’t take place. The stipend for head coaches in Palmerton is $6,227 for both basketball teams and wrestling, $4,095 for baseball, softball and track, and $2,462 for tennis.

The only coach not caught up in Tuesday’s tabling was new boys’ soccer coach Antonio Orlando, who the board did give the green light.

All of the fall coaches, with the exception of Orlando, had been hired prior to COVID-19 shutting down schools and the remainder of the 2019-20 athletic seasons.

“For equity’s sake, I don’t have a problem with hiring the soccer coach because we had already approved the other fall coaches,” Larvey said. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t hire the winter and spring coaches at some point, but I think we should get a better understanding of what will happen next school year first.”

Palmerton resident Mary Jo King questioned how the delay could impact summer programs for those winter and spring sports, should they take place.

“As of now, the summer leagues haven’t been canceled and there are activities that take place out of season,” she said. “Pretty much all of the districts have been hiring coaches a year advance and I’m a little taken aback by putting this off.”

Interim Superintendent Dr. Alan Lonoconus said the stipend for coaches is for that specific athletic season and does not increase or decrease depending on when they are hired during the calendar year.

“The summer leagues and things like that are considered above and beyond,” Lonoconus said. “So coaches could actually organize that without having been approved, it’s just considered outside the realm of the district.”

The coaches could be reconsidered next month should the COVID-19 climate improve, board President Kathy Fallow said.

“We’re meeting in May and a lot can change in a month,” she said. “I don’t see a big deal in delaying this a month or two.”