by Larry Chowning –
The Middlesex County School Board (MCSB) is expected to consider in December whether or not the school system will participate in Virginia High School League (VHSL) sporting events in the winter sports season.
On Oct. 28, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam amended Executive Order 67 to allow Virginia’s public schools to begin winter sports in December under a local option.
Winter sports include boys and girls basketball, cheerleading and wrestling. Basketball practices can begin on Dec. 7 and games can start on Dec. 21. Wrestling can begin practice on Dec. 14 with contests starting on Dec. 28.
With the presence of COVID-19, the school board is scheduled to meet on Monday, Dec. 14, to consider whether to participate or not. At the Nov. 9 board meeting, Middlesex County School Superintendent Peter Gretz was cautious about participating in VHSL winter sports this year.
Dr. Gretz questioned how social distancing can be maintained while playing basketball and grappling in wrestling. “I have not gotten a satisfactory answer from health officials as to how we can justify playing basketball and wrestling without social distancing, yet we must maintain social distancing in our social studies classes,” he said. “How does safety go out the window when playing basketball?”
School board Chairman Claudia Soucek said it is certainly “odd” that restrictions are tight in classroom settings yet those restrictions are “thrown out the window for sports.”
“I do not see how this makes any sense!” she said.
