PALMERTON, Pa. — Earl Paules knows what it's like to be on the losing side of a battle. He was the sole member of the Palmerton Area School District board to vote against switching to a fully virtual model for at least the next two months.
We talked to Paules inside his motorsports shop in Lower Towamensing Township, where he told us how he's invoking the school district's mascot, the Blue Bombers, in his fight to keep kids in school.
"The last eight months, you had all the politicians saying we're in a war with a virus. Ok, So I think this is great. We have a bomber as our logo. So why aren't we fighting? That's what a bomber does; it goes out and fights. It doesn't park itself and wait for the war to be over," Paules said.
And that's the message Paules wanted to get across during the school board meeting last week.
He then took his thoughts to social media, where his "bomber" analogy resonated with a lot of parents.
"So I think you know what? Let's put this on a t-shirt, and sell them and raise money for the school."
He came up with the words "ready for takeoff," printed underneath the Palmerton Blue Bombers logo on the front of the shirt, and Paules' quote from the school board meeting on the back. His goal is to sell 500.
And Paules got the OK from the school district to have the money from the t-shirt sales go directly towards paying off student lunch debt.
"So I'm fighting for them, I'm fighting for the kids. And me being me, I won't stop."
Paules is now on the winning side of the battle. The earlier decision to stay fully remote until at least the end of January was reversed.
Students in the Palmerton Area School District will now return to a hybrid model in the beginning of January, after the holiday break.