How can you make Pleasant Valley more competitive? That’s what Kyle Bonser, the new athletic director for the Pleasant Valley School District, said was asked of him when he interviewed for the job.

At the school board meeting Thursday night, Bonser said buying the gold version of the digital program HUDL is one of the best things he can offer PV coaches to help them become more competitive. Although HUDL was originally developed for football, it can be used for all sports. It helps coaches to break down their team’s performance, make notes, and show the video to the team during practice.

PVSD uses an older version of HUDL, but Bonser said a company representative contacted him this summer and told him it will no longer be available beginning with this school year. The level of software closest to what the school district uses now costs about $4,000 more than what the school district has been paying.

Bonser explained that his predecessor budgeted about $6,000 for the annual cost for HUDL and to pay someone to video record the football games. Recording the football games, though, is required by the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, he said.

The new cost to stay status quo would be about $10,600, Bonser said, which is about $9,400 for the program plus another $1,200 to have someone record the football games.

The school district could go up to the gold version of HUDL, which provides video recording for the sports that want to use it. There would be a camera at the stadium and at the gymnasium. The gold version also doubles the digital storage space, and provides a HUDL coach to train PV coaches on how to use the software effectively, Bonser said.

The cost is $13,000, but the district will be receiving a $2,000 refund from EPC, so that would bring the cost down to $11,000, Bonser said. The school district also has about $7,000 from its contract with St. Luke’s Sports Medicine program that can be used to close the budget hole.

Both contracts - the “status quo” and the gold version - are for three years.

“We are one of two schools in all of EPC - all 18 schools - that do not have this software,” Bonser said. “We are putting ourselves at a strategic disadvantage to not have this for all of our sports if we don’t advance.”

The gold version of HUDL gives coaches the ability to see problem areas instantly through video playback, Bonser said. This way they can make changes during the game.

School board Director Teresa Greggo did not think the extras offered for the gold version are needed by the school district, because the status quo is sufficient and the coaches for the other sports didn’t use the program much.

Greggo suggested that they purchase the “status quo” version. She made a motion that they amend the decision to vote on the gold version and instead stay with the status quo.

After continued discussion, school board Director Norm Burger said, “I have mixed emotions.” He said he wants to give the teams better software, but is concerned about cost.

“I agree. I’m torn on this also,” said school board President Susan Kresge. She would have liked to be able to commit to it for one year instead of three.

“I was on the athletic committee for many years and interviewed coaches and I just recall the one question asked to everyone was, ‘How do we bring Pleasant Valley School District up to the next level,’?” Kresge said. “To hear Kyle say that other schools are using this tool and we’re not affording this tool to our athletes, I’m struggling with this.”

The board voted on whether to amend their decision and voted 4-3 against it. They then voted on whether or not to purchase the gold version, and voted unanimously in favor of it.