At last night’s Blairsville-Saltsburg School Board meeting, the issue of co-ed soccer came up for discussion.
In the past, members of the Blairsville Girls’ soccer team presented the board with a petition to keep girls soccer players on their own team. The primary concern was playing time, as some felt that if the girls were mixed in with the boys team on a co-ed roster, the girls would not get a chance to play. Last night, the board voted 6-3 to authorize the athletic department to make Saltsburg’s soccer program co-ed for the next school year. That upset Connie Constantino, who felt that board members, community members, and the student-athletes who organized efforts to keep the teams separate were deceived.
Superintendent Jeffrey Soles said the decision was based on the recommendation of the athletic directors, and that the petition put together by the girls was considered, but the athletic directors said that some who signed the petition were multiple-sport athletes.
In other business, the board approved hiring Amy Citeroni as the new principal of Blairsville Elementary School, and approved the testing schedule for the 2017-2018 school year.
