Booster group urges more support for Punxsutawney football; board debates athletic director role and staffing options

Josh Greenblatt, president of the First and 10 Club booster organization, told the Punxsutawney Area SD Board of School Directors the group supports the district’s football program with equipment, apparel and travel needs and asked the board to consider help with field maintenance and some equipment repairs.

"We solely help with the football program," said Josh Greenblatt, identifying himself as the club president. He told the board the club recently paid more than $8,000 toward coaching expenses and purchased jerseys and apparel. Greenblatt said the club had bought an "Iran 800 picker" (equipment for jerseys/printing) and planned to supply alternate jerseys and coordinated quarter-zip outfits for students on game days.

BJ Gold, a First and 10 Club board member, urged attention to the program’s practice field and some worn equipment. "We have the nicest grass playing field in District 9," Gold said, and asked the board to inspect the practice field and consider supporting repair of sled wraps and other items that affect safety and practice quality.

A man who identified himself as interested in applying for the head varsity boys basketball position described his family ties to Punxsutawney athletics and said, "I'm very, very interested in, and looking forward to working with you and, pursuing the, head basketball job." He did not make a formal request for action; his remarks were entered as public comment.

On safety, Greenblatt and other speakers raised concerns about apparent increases in concussions in recent seasons and noted that some districts use protective "guardian caps" in practice. They also asked the board to allow more community branding and signage at the stadium if consistent with district rules.

The board spent substantial time discussing the athletic director (AD) position. Administrators and board members reviewed options: keep the current part-time/teacher-plus-stipend model, create a full-time athletic director, or create a combined athletic director/assistant principal position that would require administrative certification. Board members expressed differing concerns about candidate pools, job duties and costs.

Board members described daily tasks that an administrator handles—attendance, truancy-elimination meetings, and tardy discipline—and debated whether those duties could be performed outside typical athletic-event hours. One board member summarized cost comparisons discussed in packet materials, citing combined current salaries for a teacher/AD, an assistant and an equipment manager of roughly $156,000, and asked whether a single full-time AD with administrative certification could be made attractive on a $70,000–$80,000 salary.

Administrators told the board they could draft job descriptions and advertise the role in different ways (certified or noncertified/anticipated posting) to test the candidate pool. The board did not adopt a final job description or formally vote to create a certified assistant-principal AD role at the meeting. Instead, the board directed administration to prepare comparative job descriptions for review and to continue the discussion at a future meeting.

No formal board action was taken on booster requests during the meeting; boosters said they would continue to support equipment and apparel purchases and coordinate with athletic staff. The board requested additional detail from high-school administrators about day-to-day tasks and a time estimate for duties to inform the job design.

The board also noted there were personnel items elsewhere on the agenda that were approved by motion, and that the AD discussion would continue before any final hiring or reclassification decisions were made.