WESTFIELD – At the Jan. 21 Westfield School Committee meeting, the committee approved a return date for the hybrid plan on Feb. 1. The committee also approved the immediate start for both hockey and basketball after allowing skiing and swimming at the Jan. 14 meeting.

To start the back-to-school discussion, Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski said the district was seeing falling numbers in terms of new cases since Jan. 4.

“The week of Jan. 4 we had 59 new cases reported to the schools, the following week we had 21, and as of this week we are down to 15 with one reporting date to go. Since Sept. 14, we have now had a total of 170 cases and 95 of those have been reported since Jan. 4,” he said.

Health Director Joe Rouse gave an update on the current case count across the community.

“The numbers came down again this week and it’s looking as though holiday gatherings and their spread has started to resolve as we expected, and we are hoping to see the numbers continue to go down,” he said.

Rouse said he was in favor of returning to the full hybrid model as long as the committee would be willing to change their decision if the numbers went up again.

“At this point if you want to vote with proceeding ahead with the hybrid model for Feb. 1, which I recommended, you can go ahead with that. The only thing I would ask that you would reserve the option that if we see the numbers blast back up again, we could reconsider at that point,” he said.

The committee unanimously agreed to resume the full hybrid model on Feb. 1 with the option to reevaluate it at the Jan. 28 meeting.

To start the sports conversation, Athletic Director Ryan Dunphy said practices were going along with little issue.

“It’s been going very well these past two weeks and I would consider it a success so far. I also want you to consider the first two options we discussed last week, which would be continuing with athletics and some competitions or continuing with athletics, some competitions, and with limited spectators,” he said.

At this time, Rouse said that he was in favor of allowing athletics because the protocols will be followed.

“It is high risk right now, but there are a lot of things that are too. I think with the percentage of the student body you have; I feel pretty certain that the protocols are going to be followed and everything is going to be done the way it is supposed to,” he said.

Rouse also said he would be more comfortable if the athletes were learning remotely, but the committee did not include that requirement in their decision.

Committee member Ray Diaz said he changed his mind about sports after seeing the vocal outcry from students about playing.

“What I am heartened by this week is the students sending us emails about how they want to play. I am heartened by all the emails we got, what I heard this week that made me comfortable with allowing to play is that they said they will abide by all the guidelines, that changed my vote,” he said

Ultimately, the committee agreed to allow full participation in both hockey and basketball.

During the meeting, the committee also agreed to remove the mandate that required flu shots from its policies, but each member still recommended that students get the flu shot.

The Westfield School Committee next meets on Jan. 28.