The news that came from the PIAA on Friday that fall sports could be held in Pennsylvania was a welcomed announcement for many schools, teams and student-athletes.

Although the PIAA gave the green light to move forward if schools could do so safely, it ultimately left that decision up to each individual school.

MMI Prep has chosen to move forward with just two of its five team sports this fall amid ongoing concerns about the coronavirus.

In a letter from the school sent to parents of MMI students and obtained by the Standard-Speaker, school officials felt the risk was still too high to compete in certain contact sports, while at the same time keeping the entire student body healthy and in the classroom.

“One of our primary goals once we reopen will be to stay open,” the letter from Head of School Justin Kleinheider stated. “Recently released Pa. Dept. of Health guidance indicates that as few as 3 to 5 positive COVID-19 cases among our school population might necessitate the closing of the school for a period of 5 to 14 days. Thus, a small number of COVID-19 cases in our school community would jeopardize our ability to provide in-person instruction for all.

“Unfortunately, it has become apparent that moving forward with some of our fall sports could jeopardize our ability to keep the school open for in-person learning,” the letter went on to say. “Therefore, we are notifying the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association and the Wyoming Valley Conference that MMI will not be participating in fall sports that have been classified as ‘higher risk’ or ‘moderate risk’ sports by the PIAA. For MMI, this means girls’ tennis, middle school and varsity soccer, and girls’ volleyball. We will be moving forward with fall sports that have been classified as ‘low risk’ by the PIAA, which includes, for MMI, cross country and golf.

“This decision, which was made jointly by the Head of School and the Board of Directors, was not an easy one, and came after much careful consideration. We know the news will be disappointing to many in our community, especially our senior athletes, and we deeply regret the necessity for this action. We look forward to resuming all sports at MMI as soon as it is safe to do so.

“In these unprecedented and challenging times, we believe our first priority must be to provide in-person learning for all our students, within the appropriate governmental safety guidelines.”

The announcement is a tough pill to swallow for MMI’s student-athletes affected by the decision, some of whom already had their spring sports season yanked from them earlier this year when the PIAA cancelled spring sports due to the coronavirus.

For the Lady Prepper volleyball team, it was no easier. Several key players were expected to return for a program that reached the District 2 Class A final last fall for a fifth consecutive year under head coach Shawn Evans.

The Standard-Speaker reached out to several MMI officials and coaches for comment. Those who responded directed those questions to Kleinheider, who said he was heartbroken about the decision.

“First, we feel terribly for our athletes and coaches,” Kleinheider said by phone Sunday. “They work really hard, especially our seniors. I’m really, really sad for them.

“Our objective is to be open for in-person instruction, and more importantly stay open. A couple of cases and the school can be closed for up to 14 days. This was really about that goal,” he added. “For the students we have a school councilor and she’s going to be reaching out to help them through this, because we know how challenging a situation this is.”

MMI Prep is by no means alone in halting multiple fall sports. Schools from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh have already shut down their fall sports seasons entirely, and many others have gone to a reduced or localized schedule to help ensure the safety of their student-athletes.

“We’re always watching what other private independent schools are doing and what the other districts are doing, so that information is always very helpful,” Kleinheider said. “The decision we made was what was best for all of our students and our goal for being open for in-person instruction, and staying open.”

Kleinheider said going ahead with lower-risk sports like golf and cross country will be done so carefully.

“Lower-risk sports that have far less contact will be following PIAA guidance on the low-risk sports with the creativity and dedication to those guidelines, and making sure everybody is safe,” he said.

As for cross country, Kleinheider confirmed that the setup for those races and practices will be different this season.

“Things have to be staggered,” he said. “The main thing is that these sports mirror what the distancing guidelines are for in-person instruction plans. The moderate-risk sports don’t, and that’s really unfortunate. The PIAA has classified tennis as a moderate risk, as is volleyball and soccer. I think (the PIAA’s) focus on tennis is on doubles play.”

Kleinheider didn’t rule out moving volleyball, soccer and tennis to the spring if things improve.

“Conditions are changing all the time,” he said. “If there’s a possibility of safe resumption of sports in the spring, we would absolutely do that.”

While the high school winter sports season is still three months away, Kleinheider addressed that topic on Sunday as well.

“There’s a lot of unknowns at this point,” he said. “Obviously because that’s far in the future we’re evaluating everything. No decision has been made. We obviously will make a decision before the first official day of practice. We’re looking at everything, and that’s true up and down the line.”

MMI Prep was originally scheduled to return to school this week, but the start-up date had already been pushed back to Sept. 8. MMI students have the option of beginning the school year in-person or online. If a student starts on-line, they can come to class in-person later.

“We’ve done a survey, and the overwhelming majority of our parents and students want to be back in-person,” Kleinheider said.

The first official day of fall sports practice statewide is today. Golf matches can begin as early as Thursday, and the first scheduled cross country meets statewide are Sept. 11.