VOORHEESVILLE — Boys’ lacrosse will be on the high school sports’ schedule this spring since the school board voted unanimously on Monday to accept a proposal from the Voorheesville Blackbird Youth Lacrosse club.

Active for two years, the club agreed to fund the school’s team at the outset, expecting to raise roughly $7,000 for the first season.

School board members asked mild questions at Monday’s meeting, mostly regarding funding, of Doug Brill, president of the club, and Timothy Sweeney, vice president, and had no discussion among themselves.  After the vote, a crowd of two dozen, including club lacrosse players and their parents, applauded.

School board President James Coffin moved the vote to the front of the meeting’s agenda and introduced the discussion by saying the board’s process would be transparent — he then said that he had taken the “temperature” of board members before the meeting and they had generally positive feelings about the program.

The club had approached the school district with a similar plan last year, but it was rejected.

At that point, the administrators charged with looking into the feasibility of the program advised against adopting it.  Last month, the district’s superintendent, Dr. Teresa Thayer Snyder, said she planned to make a similar recommendation to the board this year.

The plan as adopted this week creates a boys’ junior varsity lacrosse team for this spring.  “This is a rolling experience, if you will,” Coffin said, explaining that the district would reevaluate the program on an annual basis.

The club plans to maintain its feeder program for drawing in young players and establish a varsity team for the spring of 2012, which Brill expects will cost roughly the same amount as the junior varsity team.  Since the district established the school team on Monday, Brill said yesterday, there’s been more interest from students and parents in joining the team.

Brill, who has coached the club team for the last two years said that he’d be interested in coaching the school’s team, but recognizes that teachers in the district have the right of first refusal for the post.

If there is enough interest among female athletes, the club has agreed to also field a girls’ lacrosse team, in accordance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which requires that equal opportunity will be available to all students attending institutions that receive federal funding.

“We’re promising that this will be no burden for the taxpayers,” Coffin said at Monday’s meeting.  He concluded, “This is a good deal for the students.  It’s a good deal for the district.  We’re all getting something out of this and that’s a good thing.”