It’s official.

The Pleasant Valley School Board approved the district’s 10-year contract with St. Luke’s University Health Network during a special meeting Thursday night.

The board passed a resolution on June 11 in a 5 to 3 vote, with one member absent, to switch from Coordinated Health/Lehigh Valley Health Network to St. Luke’s. Voting no were school board directors Todd Kresge, Teresa Greggo and Susan Kresge.

The same three directors turned their thumbs down again in a 6 to 3 vote; this time on the contract.

School board director Todd Kresge said he has been against the switch all along.

“This is basically for our athletes. We’re not a big school where we have a barrel full of athletes that we can choose from, so it’s important that we get an injury looked at in a reasonable time.”

School board President Donna Yozwiak said in an interview, “It is not only athletics. It’s K-12.”

Yozwiak said St. Luke’s is providing the district with $6.9 million worth of services, scholarships and sponsorships over the 10-year period. This includes an athletic scholarship, band uniforms, mental health care, as well as nutrition counseling and wellness care.

At the meeting, Kresge said he couldn’t resolve giving up the experience level of the athletic trainers they had with Coordinated Health for the level of experience they were getting.

According to the Sports Medicine Services and Sponsorship Agreement, St. Luke’s agreed to provide access to one or more primary care sports medicine physicians, sports fellowship trained orthopedic surgeons and other specialists as necessary; and three and a half athletic trainers, as per the contract released to the public on July 16.

Yozwiak said the district had it put in writing that the lead athletic trainer will have at least five years of experience and the other athletic trainers will have at least three years. Before that, the agreement had simply referred to the level of experience as being mutually agreeable. St. Luke’s is also providing a sports performance coach with at least three years of experience.

Yozwiak said St. Luke’s has selected a sports medicine physician, Dr. William Tenpenny, for Pleasant Valley, and a sports performance coach is something the district has never had before.

“This is something new and exciting,” she said.

Greggo said she was concerned about the phrase “mutually agreeable.”

“I don’t support that language and I had asked several times to remove that unless it is otherwise approved in writing,” she said.

School district solicitor Mark Fitzgerald told her that he doesn’t see a conflict between the contract’s agreement and the exhibit detailing the services.

“There is no language that would conflict with the language that was in the exhibit,” he said. “The district is in the full driver’s seat with regards to that three years minimum experience for those assistant trainers.”

Fitzgerald said St. Luke’s is bound to uphold the contract and provide the experienced athletic trainers the district wants.

Greggo also said she is upset that the football players were not given baseline concussion testing as part of their preseason physicals. She was told by the athletic department that St. Luke’s wanted to wait until after the roster was complete and would probably do them during the first week of practice.

“Preseason to me is before the season starts. Practice to me is during the season,” she said.

Susan Kresge asked Fitzgerald if St. Luke’s could move an athletic trainer that has been with the school district for several years to another district and replace the person with someone with less experience.

Fitzgerald said yes.

“St. Luke’s has been working under good faith,” Yozwiak said. “They have been providing temperature checks daily, physicals already, and we have not even approved the contract yet, so my thought is they have stepped up. They are providing us services on good faith, and I think that speaks wonders for the organization.”