While most of Section 1 will end a nearly seven-month sports hiatus on Tuesday, only two Dutchess County schools are certain to join them on that day.

Roy C. Ketcham, John Jay-East Fishkill and Arlington high schools will host their first practices of the fall season later in the week. It still is not yet known if Poughkeepsie will play, and Pawling High School withdrew from fall athletics altogether this week.

Beacon and Our Lady of Lourdes are the two local schools that expect to have sports underway Tuesday, the first day Section 1 schools are allowed to have practices.

The Wappingers Central School District, which includes John Jay and Ketcham, has delayed the start of athletics until Thursday and Arlington until Friday. Both districts still expect to meet the required minimum of 10 practice days prior to the first day of section-wide interscholastic competition on Oct. 13.

The Oct. 1 start date gives them more time to sort through medical clearances and registration for athletes, Wappingers administrators said.

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“Because of the late notice of us having a go for fall sports, we wanted to give people more time to register and for our nurses to clear,” Wappingers athletic director Kurt Jesman said. “That’s what our thought process was. We got the OK on Tuesday from the Board of Education.”

Arlington chose to delay athletics until Oct. 2 to sync up with the start of its hybrid learning period. Students will begin reentering the school then, though in a limited capacity.

“The last day of online learning is that day and we go into our hybrid,” athletic director Michael Cring said, “so we thought that would be the easiest way to do it.”

The Wappingers high schools will continue remote learning until late October and athletes will be required to get themselves to and from practices. School buses will transport teams to away games, though.

“We’ll do as best we can to ensure the health and safety of the athletes and their communities,” said Maureen Myers, assistant athletic director of John Jay High School. 

Sports deemed low to moderate risk were given permission by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resume as early as Sept. 21, but Section 1 opted to wait an additional week.

Girls and boys soccer, cross country and girls tennis will begin next week. But football, cheerleading and volleyball, each of which was considered “high risk” by the state Department of Health, were postponed until March 1 by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association. Swimming, because of logistics and pool availability, was postponed by Section 1 until March as well.

Section 9, which covers parts of Dutchess along with Ulster, Orange and Sullivan counties, chose to put off athletics entirely until Nov. 30, opening with the winter season. All Section 9 fall sports were moved to next March.

Of the seven Section 1 schools in Dutchess County, Lourdes and Beacon were the only ones that confirmed to the Journal a Sept. 29 start date. Poughkeepsie has been without an athletic director since Christian Hodge left for Pelham in July and coaches couldn’t confirm if there will be a fall start. Calls to district leadership were not returned as of Friday afternoon.

Pawling decided this week to withdraw from fall sports and postpone its season until next year, Section 1 director Todd Santabarbara confirmed via text message. Calls to athletic director Tamara Barbour were not returned.

The COVID-19 pandemic halted sports in March as schools were ordered closed. New York once was the epicenter of the virus and positive cases skyrocketed to more than 450,000 in the state. The remainder of the winter sports season was cancelled, as was the entire spring season. This summer, the NSYPHSAA cancelled its regional and state championship tournaments for fall sports.

Individual sections were allowed to determine if and when they would restart sports. Sections 8 and 11, covering Long Island, have postponed all athletics to 2021.

Districts resuming sports are expected to adhere closely to the Department of Health guidelines and the rules put in place by Section 1’s COVID task force, which include the wearing of masks and social distancing whenever possible.

“I think the kids are itching to get out and play,” Arlington boys soccer coach Craig Sanborn said. “I don’t think they’re too thrilled as far as what it’s going to look like. I’m not thrilled, either. But if we’re going to make this work, we’ve got to follow some protocols.”

Those protocols include daily temperature checks and the practice grounds and equipment being disinfected after each session. Hand sanitizer will be readily available to players and coaches. Beacon athletic director John Giametta said their buses will be at half capacity and students won’t be permitted to sit next to each other.

“We’re hoping for the best,” Jesman said. “All the safety precautions are in order. We just have to hope it continues and we have a full season. That’s our goal.”

Stephen Haynes: shaynes@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4826; Twitter: @StephenHaynes4; A.J. Martelli: amartelli@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4836, Twitter: @AJ_Martelli