A former Jim Thorpe Area School District volunteer baseball coach questioned the school board Wednesday night over the intended use of a $25,000 pledge from Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Rich Strack said he began negotiations with LVHN in March 2022 with the intention that at least part of the funds go toward a new scoreboard at the high school baseball field.

Board President Scott Pompa, however, said the decision on how to use the funds, which haven’t hit the district’s coffers yet, remains up to the board.

“Your negotiations were never brought to the board,” Pompa told Strack. “That money is a community grant that was given to the district for us to decide how to use it. We were told the money is coming, but we didn’t hear much after that.”

In February, Pompa said he would like to see LVHN sponsorship money used to purchase a digital informational sign for placement on North Street.

“I personally would like to see something similar to what Carbon Career & Technical Institute has at 13th Street,” he said at the time.

Strack described what he called seven months of “hard negotiations” with LVHN to get the money committed.

“I didn’t do this for you to get it and do what you want with it,” he told the board. “Last spring, 11 seniors really looked forward to having this new scoreboard and it was not to be. I would really like to see a good part of the money go toward the baseball scoreboard.”

Superintendent Robert Presley said he would contact LVHN to check on the status of the donation.

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate your efforts,” director Cindy Henning told Strack, “but I don’t think you should go and talk to them for us. We didn’t know about this.”