Frewsburg Central School Board of Education members are pictured discussing June topics, the end of the school year and the upcoming school year.

FREWSBURG — A declined merger application is placing the Frewsburg Central School football program in a precarious situation heading into the 2017 season.

During Thursday’s board of education meeting, it was determined that varsity football summer sessions and practices will be scheduled as normal. However, participation in the upcoming season will be dependent upon the amount of available players. The bare minimum allowed to field a team is 16 varsity athletes.

The districts of Randolph and Frewsburg attempted to avoid a lost season by submitting a merger application with the Section VI Merger Committee. The application, submitted by host team Randolph, was unfortunately done so post-deadline.

In other news, the board discussed at length field testing for children in grades four through eight and 11th grade. RHJ Elementary School Principal Tiffany Freders and Middle/High School Principal William Caldwell both spoke about the recent field testing performed by students in the aforementioned grade levels. Frewsburg Central School was participating in a study that compared paper with digital tests.

“They are digital natives,” Freders said, describing the youth moving through the school.

Although it wasn’t as debated as the field testing, Freders and Caldwell also proposed the Spring 2019 school trip to Europe to the board. The proposition, 10 days in Spain and Italy, was approved by the board after an exciting 29 children had pre-signed up for the trip. Now the trip can begin full planning, which includes student payments, creating an agenda and finding trip chaperones. Chaperone positions will first be offered to school staff and if not enough volunteer, then it will turn to a draw system for interested parents.

Lastly, new board member Larry Lodestro was welcomed to the board and took his oath.