Board votes 5-4 to go forward with 2020 fall season in Erie School District.

The Erie School District will have athletics and extra-curricular activities this fall after a close vote by the Erie School Board on Wednesday despite a recommendation against the activities by superintendent Brian Polito.

“We’ve had some internal discussions and we are of the opinion that we’re not certain how you can safely conduct competitions for contact sports at this point,” Polito said. “We would feel more comfortable following the guidance from the Governor (Tom Wolf), the Department of Education and the Department of Health to postpone. We understand the concerns brought up by the board and we have safety protocols in place, but these are high-risk activities that can expose students to COVID-19 and take it home to their families.”

Thomas Spagel motioned to approve fall sports, which was seconded by Angela McNair. After a lengthy discussion and input from each board member, a roll call vote was held and the motion passed 5-4. In addition to Spagel and McNair, Rosemary Sheridan, Lori Pickens and John Harkins voted yes and Tyler Titus, Gwen Cooley, Darlene Feeney and Sumner Nichols voted no.

The motion included developing a waiver for parents or guardians of minors to sign and students that are 18 years old to sign as well. The motion also gives Polito the power to stop fall sports if he deems it necessary.

Nichols and Feeney were the two most vocal opponents of fall sports.

“I am frustrated with the PIAA because they could have looked at delaying sports to the spring. My biggest concern is our football players, especially our linemen,” Feeney said. “We know one effect of sports could be myocarditis and you think about these big linemen going through all of this. I have to agree with Gov. Wolf that these activities have the potential to spread the virus and we have a responsibility to our whole community. We should be focused on education first, and I don’t want to see anything happen to potentially keep us from opening back up in November.”

“The idea of a release or waiver is a good one, but I think it’s not a 100% solution. There are going to be risks with this release and its effectiveness,” Nichols said. “The people most at risk with us having sports is not the players themselves. They are young kids in good shape that can weather this, but asymptomatic spread is extremely dangerous to the community. Even if you get everyone to sign off what about the other siblings? How about grandparents who live in the house? What about the aunt and uncle that stop by? What about neighbors who stop by? When there’s a risk of death there are limits to a release.”

Titus also voiced concerns over holding sports because of the potential to shut down schools and take away services from special needs students.

“We have a responsibility as a district to consider all students and if we go into contact sports it’s inevitable that our numbers go up,” Titus said. “The rest of the students in vulnerable situations could lose their services.”

Other concerns addressed during the discussion is if Erie were to delay to the spring, there wouldn’t be anyone to play because the rest of Erie County and most of District 10 have already voted to participate this fall and not move to the spring.

Testing was another subject of the discussion as it could take more than a week for a test result to come back for an athlete.

Despite all of the concerns, several members were vocal in supporting fall sports.

“I was recently at Rodger Young Park for a little gridders football game, and there were hundreds of spectators there,” Spagel said. “I talked to some parents and they were all in favor of it. They wanted to watch their children and grandchildren knowing the risk. They assumed the risk and were very much engaged in the idea of sports.”

“I know there are a lot of questions and concerns and I understand the risks. Parents are very well aware as well, and they are advocating and fighting for this,” McNair said. “I want the waiver to be clear that it states this is at their own risk that parents and athletes know its their choice and it’s not on us. It’s on the parents for their child to participate in sports knowing the risks of COVID. We don’t want to take away sports or chances at scholarships and if parents think it’s worth the risk then that should be clear.”

Erie School District solicitor Tim Wachter addressed the waiver idea and other legal concerns, but wanted to express most of the legal ramifications in executive sesion.

“The waiver would be considered with a sole purpose for COVID-19 and identifying risks with participation in sports,” Wachter said. “Parents or guardians would sign it and acknowledge those risks and waive any rights as far as filing a suit against the district if they contract COVID-19 while playing sports. I spoke with our insurance carrier and while school districts in general have a level of immunity, these are unprecedented times and a waiver is a reasonable step.”

Contact Tom Reisenweber at treisenweber@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNreisenweber.