Lehighton school district OKs inter-municipal transfer of Christman Field to Franklin Twp.

By Jarrad Hedes

jmhedes@tnonline.com

Lehighton Area School District’s board of directors approved an inter-municipal transfer of Christman Field to Franklin Township on Monday night, pending a subdivision plan acceptable to the district.

The township currently leases the fields from the district for $1 per year and, in turn, allows Franklin Township Athletic Association to use them.

Per the agreement approved by the school board, the township would get the fields at no cost with a clause that they revert to district ownership should the municipality cease to want them in the future.

Nearly a dozen FTAA players and coaches told the board Monday they supported the property transfer.

Several coaches and parents noted it would be difficult for the organization to purchase the property outright.

Director David Bradley suggested several options for the district, including gifting it to the association with the same reverter clause it offered the township.

“The other option is you get 55 people to throw in a grand or two and FTAA can buy it for pennies on the dollar,” Bradley said. “This should not be going through the township. I just don’t think FTAA was given all of the information. They were emotionally pawned into coming here all worked up against myself.”

Bradley abstained from the transfer vote along with Gail Maholick. Board members Wayne Wentz, Andrew Yenser, Larry Stern, Stephen Holland and Rita Spinelli voted in favor of the motion. Joy Beers and Richard Beltz opposed it.

“FTAA has had a great working relationship with Franklin Township,” Derek Solt, an FTAA coach, said during the meeting. “We’ve always worked together to solve any problems.”

Lehighton solicitor William Schwab said a school district couldn’t simply give land away to a nonprofit organization.

“Even if you do a private sale for a dollar, the law requires you to petition the court and show that you can’t get a higher offer,” Schwab said. “It sounds like a really good idea as long as you can guarantee someone doesn’t come in and bid against them.”

FTAA’s players said Monday night that isn’t a chance they want the district to take.

“If the school takes away these fields, the impact on the kids would be tremendous,” said Calvin Maholick, who has played for the organization since 2007. “I don’t feel there is a price equivalent to the impact the sale of these fields would have on us.”

As a former player, coach and board member with FTAA, Kevin O’Donnell has seen a lot in his 17 years with the organization.

Monday night, he referenced an email, later read by Jim Albert Jr., sent by Bradley in 2016 in which the current school board member urged FTAA volunteers to “buy the land and school away from the taxpayers for a few pennies on the dollar.”

“The email was far-fetched and belittled many in my opinion,” O’Donnell said. “He also reached out last week wanting to meet with one or two members of our association. We did not feel the need to meet with him as he is just one of nine board members.”

Before the vote, district resident Barbara Bowes told the board she supported preserving the fields for the kids, but didn’t think “giving them away to the township serves the best interests of the district.”

“FTAA owning the fields outright opens up so many more options for the children and community,” she said. “I’m sure the entire LASD community would come together to make that happen.”

An emotional Wayne Wentz, involved with FTAA for over 35 years, told Bradley Monday night, “don’t you dare put a price tag on our kids.”

The land transfer, Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said, also includes the soccer field and track behind the elementary school.

Because Schwab is also the legal counsel for Franklin Township, he said standby counsel from a neighboring district would be brought in to handle the transfer.