EAST LONGMEADOW – On Sept. 3, the East Longmeadow School Committee hosted a meeting to decide on what plan they will be moving forward with in regard to athletics.

The meeting began with the committee giving the opportunity for visitors to speak at the meeting. A sports advocate and mother of three noted the hard work the committee has been doing during this tough decision. She explained that one of her children was the captain of the soccer team, and hoped they would take into consideration how important it would be for students mentally and physically to play amongst other towns given the fact they will be in their homes remotely learning.

Following the public comment portion of the meeting, the committee proceeded with Superintendent Gordon Smith sharing updated staff professional development and the discussion of the opening of schools.

During the summer, administrators offered 28 workshops to start preparing staff – one of those workshops being the Universal Design for Learning Now course.

Administrators, paraprofessionals, and teachers will be working on social-emotional education and support, and how they integrate that into what they do in the differing grade levels and content areas.

Smith said, “We know that’s going to be a piece that we’re going to have in place and be well-established, so we can support our students right from the start on Sept. 16.”

When asked if staff was ready to take on virtual learning, Heather Brown, director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment responded, “It’s a tall order, but I know we can do it and we’ll do a great job.”

Moving on in the meeting, East Longmeadow High School Principal Frank Paige, Athletic Director Kevin McGee and town Health Director Aimee Petrosky joined the meeting to make a proposal for the fall sports.

Paige stated that he appreciated families reaching out to them over the last couple of weeks and their support and interest in this topic.

“Our school committee has been awesome in terms of conversations we’ve had as we try to come up with these ways of giving children an opportunity to get out, exercise, socialize and potentially compete,” Paige said.

At the Aug. 24 meeting, the committee discussed that the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s (MIAA) board of directors approved a plan submitted by the organization’s COVID-19 Task Force that will allow high school athletics to resume this fall for four athletic seasons from Sept. 18 to Nov. 20.

Since that time, Paige has found out what the modifications are going to be and the recommendations for those modifications for the fall sports that he hopes to run at the high school.

McGee presented the committee with a slide show of MIAA’s modifications to outdoor fall sports, which would be comprise of golf, cross country, field hockey and soccer.

The MIAA has moved all football and cheerleading competitions to begin Feb. 22.

As stated in the guideline, facial covering will be worn during activity. Breaks will be planned by coaches during social distancing activities. Handshakes and huddles within six feet will not occur and athletes on the bench will remain six feet apart.

In terms of the major modifications, golfers can’t enter clubhouses and exchange scorecards. Tee times will be staggered at least 10 minutes per group. Cross country competitions will only be dual meets. Course previews will be virtual to opposing schools.  Staggered starts in waves of eight to  10 athletes. And starting and finishing areas will be widened to allow for social distancing.

For both of those sports, McGee said there are many more modifications the MIAA put in, but those are the ones he wanted to bring to everyone’s attention and for the public to see what some of these sports would look like.

Field hockey will be played seven vs. seven.  Officials will use electronic whistles and air horns. There will be no penalty corners and fouls in circle will be 25-yard hits.

The fall sport with the most major changes, McGee said, is soccer. No head balls will be allowed. Intentionally making body contact with an opposing team member’s body is a violation. “Throw-ins “ will be replaced with “kick-ins.”  The use of traditional defensive walls is eliminated and all indirect kicks must be played on the ground not including goal kicks.

There are some strict Department of Public Health (DPH) guidelines, McGee mentioned, with the number of participants they can have on a practice field – which is 25 in a designed practice field. Different sports would have to split up into groups. On that practice field with 25 individuals, their coaches will continue to separate cohorts of five to 10 athletes.

The Mass. DPH will only allow 25 participants inside the gymnasium for volleyball. Teams will remain on the same side during the entire match, and volleyballs will be replaced with a clean ball after every rally during interscholastic competitions.

“We don’t want to cut athletes this season,” McGee responded. “We want everyone to have an opportunity to participate. Whether or not they’re able to compete in games that will be a varsity coach’s decision as far as playing time, but we do want them to have somewhere to participate.”

It was indicated that there will be a lot of communication between the Athletic Department and families over the next few weeks.

By the end of the meeting, the committee decided that cross country, golf, field hockey and soccer will participate in the interscholastic competition model this fall. They will allow football players and cheerleaders to participate in Level 1 (non-contact workouts, aerobic conditioning, skill work and drills) outdoor practices. Additionally, volleyball will be permitted to participate in indoor interscholastic competition model practicing and competing indoor, though the committee would like to provide at least an opportunity to have some of the practices outside, while following all Massachusetts EEA (Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs), DESE (Department of Elementary & Secondary Education), DPH and MIAA guidelines.

After, they approved the EBCFA face covering policy and the EBC – S – COVID related issues policy, as well as the town flu vaccine clinic.

This year the Health Department is looking to expand their flu clinic to three days and are offering it at two different times in conjunction with the health department and local pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens to provide a mobile flu vaccination group. The department is looking for volunteers to sign up ahead of time. The dates are Sept. 30, Oct. 1 and Oct. 2 between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. by appointment.

Residents can look on the East Longmeadow website for further details.