Members of Quakertown Community School District attended the school board's regular monthly meeting on May 28 to witness QCSD's decision regarding the future of the high school's softball team. It currently utilizes the fields at Richland Area Softball Association for games and QNB Field for practices.

            Member Rebecca Merola expressed a desire to provide the softball team with the same infrastructure that the baseball team benefits from, noting that the baseball team uses the high school's multipurpose turf field for practice.

            Several board members vocalized support for the construction of a softball field as a long-term piece of critical high school infrastructure that would support the softball players for years to come.

            At this meeting, members voted to begin pursuing the construction process. Details of the actual building plan have yet to be ironed out, meaning there is no exact dollar amount available at this time. The board estimates to spend about $5 million dollars.

            Commitment to a new softball field was approved by the board 7-1. Jon Kern was not present at the meeting, and David O'Donnell was the sole 'no' vote, explaining his opposition due to the school needing to borrow the money for the project, as the district already faces a deficit in the next budget.

            O'Donnell championed an alternative of making the all-purpose field – currently used by baseball – viable for softball, a measure that would cost significantly less but would force five different teams to utilize that field for games and practices. Other members disagreed, explaining that having five teams using one field was not practical and would incur unforeseen costs due to wear and tear and constant moving of the pitcher's mound and outfield wall.

            The board gave a brief update regarding the school district's upcoming budget, noting that the school will have to deal with the aforementioned deficit. Some of the deficit was attributed to huge increases in benefit costs for staff, with a total increase of more than $800,000 for health, dental, and vision coverage over last year.

            Member Chris Spear explained to the public in attendance that the budget is a "living document." The preliminary budget from the school's finance committee does not include the newly-committed softball field.

            In addition to working on the budget, the school board decided that Quakertown will no longer be using longtime provider LifeSpan for its before and after school care services for K-6^th graders. LifeSpan has been offering these programs to Quakertown since 1987.

            For the upcoming year, Quakertown will be partnering with a new provider, Right at School. Details of the new arrangement are still pending, but the board reiterated to the public to make clear that before and after school care services will not be going away.