Northern Lehigh School District is supporting a modified winter sports schedule.

On an 8-0 vote, the school board on Monday authorized athletic director Bryan Geist to vote to table the Colonial League schedule of 22 games and to support of a modified schedule beginning on Nov. 20.

Geist said all 13 member schools in the Colonial League are looking at modifying a schedule for this winter.

“So since we’re modifying school, we’re looking at modifying our league schedules and trying to come up with the best possible answer to run winter sports which would be our girls basketball, boys basketball, wrestling programs as well as winter cheer throughout our winter season,” Geist said. “The league is looking at going at about a half schedule.”

Geist said normally the district has 22 basketball games, and normally 22 competitions for wrestling.

He said that with 13 teams in the Colonial League basketball, they’re looking at playing each team one time and spacing it out so that there’d be 12 contests, and in wrestling, wrestle each individual team once for 11 wrestling matches.

“The way we have it spaced out, we’re looking to go every other day and also have almost somewhere between a 2½ to 3-week complete contest shutdown over the Christmas/New Year holiday to give any type of time to allow teams to come back and practice in their pod,” Geist said.

If any of the teams do come up with a positive test, a minimal number of teams in the league would be affected.

The vote is scheduled for today to modify the schedule.

Superintendent Matthew J. Link asked if there’s a recommendation from the Colonial League on spectator attendance for indoor events.

Geist said the Colonial League is going to follow the varsity football/volleyball model that was done in the fall. The league will limit the number of people just to home spectators, and each school would make that determination based on their venue. Northern Lehigh seats about 1,100.

Several residents commented during the virtual meeting that the district can have sports with physical contact, yet can’t teach in person.

Geist said they’ve had close contact with football “and we’ve been very blessed and fortunate not to have any particular cases and contract any cases from any other teams. So from an athletic standpoint, we’re following our data in regards to our close contact again with football. Wrestling may be a challenge.”

Link said he shares Director Gale Husack’s concerns about wrestling.

“We are working within the recommendations and the confines of our medical advisers, our trainers, and also within the guidelines laid out by PDE and the Department of Health,” Link said. “We are educating students in the building, 50% at a time, I know that nothing replaces our teachers in person, live instruction. However, we have to work within the parameters that we can right now.

“As schools continue to close around us, we are doing the best that we can to avoid a full closure. I think we’re trying to strike a balance between sports, extracurriculars, instruction, teaching and learning, safety and health, and there’s no one-size-fits-all single answer for all of those domains, so we’re trying to navigate each domain simultaneously.”

Geist said if the district has to shut down, he supports shutting practices down.

“If it’s an isolated case, then we have to kind of play each case on its own merits,” he said. “Just like the fall, there will be no penalty for not completing all of your contests.”

Husack then weighed in on the matter.

“So as much as I’m against having sports be there five days a week and not our students in the classrooms five days a week, I think at this point I’m struggling with the fact that I can’t take another thing away from our children, who need this socialization, just the mental health that we’re causing across the board is substantial, and I think we really need to be aware of it and take it into consideration as we really start making decisions and thoughts on education and sports in general.”