The Hollidaysburg Area School Board is set to vote today on a conditional athletic health and safety plan that will follow the fate of a state bill.

If passed by the state Senate, House Bill 2787 will grant school districts the right to determine limits on indoor or outdoor sports gatherings as part of a required athletic health and safety plan.

Hollidaysburg Superintendent Dr. Robert Gildea said the district has prepared two divergent updates to the athletic portion of its Health and Safety Plan. He said if board members pass the revised plan, one update will activate if HB 2787 passes before Friday — the beginning of PIAA season for football and soccer — the other update will activate if the bill doesn’t pass.

“If the legislation does pass,” Gildea said. “We propose that we allow up to 1,500 people total in the stadium, which is about 25% capacity.” He added that the plan, which also includes masking, will still allow for social distancing.

HB 2787 challenges the governor’s phased reopening which allows no more than 25 people for indoor activity and 250 people for outdoor activity, with a facility allowed no more than 50 percent of total occupancy.

Gildea said any time there is an update to a part of the health and safety plan, the state Department of Education wants school board approval.

“Since we have no idea what will happen with this legislation, and may not have another board meeting until October,” he said, “we thought it was in our best interest for the board to approve this now.”

State Rep. Mike Reese, R-Westmoreland/Somerset, the bill’s prime sponsor, said last evening on his Facebook page that the Senate will consider the bill for final passage today.

In other business, board members will vote on a temporary suspension of indoor facility rentals for non-district groups.

If approved, the meeting agenda states that the district’s temporary suspension will be effective until “the COVID-19 pandemic is declared over.”

The agenda says that “all outdoor facility rental requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis if accompanied by a health and safety plan that ensures the group will follow current state mandates regarding social gatherings.”

Mirror Staff Writer Dom Cuzzolina is at 946-7428.