Lehighton school board working on new location for tennis team

Lehighton Area School District is taking the next steps to establish a new home for its high school tennis team.

During the April school board meeting, directors voted 8-1 to fund a feasibility study, costing $3,200, from Carbon Engineering outlining the options of constructing tennis courts on school district property. Board member David Bradley was the lone dissenting voter.

The team has been practicing at Palmerton Area High School, free of charge, and playing matches on the road during the 2018 season after Maple Tree Inn Tennis Club, where it previously played home matches, was put up for sale.

According to district staff, it received three proposals to do the feasibility study with Carbon Engineering, of Summit Hill, being the lowest.

A vote to have Barry Isett conduct the feasibility study at a cost of $4,250 deadlocked 4-4 in February before Lehighton added its ninth board member. At that meeting, Bradley said he would like to see the district “shop out the feasibility study” and consider working with the borough, which is considering putting in tennis courts near Baer Memorial Pool.

An uncertain timeline of the borough’s project, however, concerned district officials.

“Our first priority is our school district and our students,” Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said in February. “We felt moving forward at this time will allow us to get more information. You are asking us to wait for something that could never happen.”

At April’s building and grounds committee meeting, director Stephen Holland said he would like to see a cost estimate for both four and five courts on district property. The committee is hopeful the feasibility study can be completed this summer.

Court refinishing

The board, in April, also approved the annual gym floor refinishing for the high school and middle School. Stack & Stack Flooring was tabbed to do the work at a cost of $9,663.

Cleaver said the company, out of Ambridge, refinishes the gym floors at many of Penn State and Pittsburgh’s campuses.

He said quotes were requested from several companies and the district received three.

“There was a local company that I believe did the Jim Thorpe ballroom, but they had no experience doing gym floors, which is why we recommended going in this direction,” Cleaver said.