While Green Lake’s high school athletes have spent the summer anticipating the fall sports season, they will have to wait a bit longer than teammates in Princeton and Montello to practice and compete this year.

In a 5-1 decision last week Wednesday, the Green Lake School Board voted to postpone the beginning of the fall sports season for four weeks based on recommendations from the Green Lake County Health Department.

Prior to the decision, School Board members discussed a host of safety concerns related to starting fall sports amid the COVID-19 pandemic, including transmission between teams and the lack of a clear testing plan for student-athletes.

Much of the discussion centered around an Aug. 19 memo from Green Lake County Public Health Officer Kathy Munsey, advising school administrators across the county to hold off on beginning fall sports for at least the first four weeks of the academic year.

The memo noted starting fall sports too early in the reopening process could increase the likelihood of coronavirus-related school closures.

“In light of the increased risks posed in introducing co-curricular activities while reopening schools, we are recommending schools pause and wait in determining what co-curricular activities can be done safely given the level of COVID-19 activity in their community,” Munsey wrote. “Co-curricular activities, including sports, increases student’s, teacher’s and support staff’s risk for being exposed to this virus — thus increasing the risk for school closures.”

Currently, student-athletes in the Green Lake School District are allowed to begin practice Monday, Sept. 21, and can participate in games beginning Thursday, Oct. 1. However, those dates are subject to change based on further action by the School Board.

Prior to the start of practice or competition, the health department will work with the school district to review the COVID-19 activity level in Green Lake and surrounding communities before making a recommendation for beginning fall sports.

“Our main focus has been to get school started successfully because we think it’s important to have a strong start for in-person instruction,” Green Lake School District Superintendent Mary Allen told the Commonwealth. “We’re worried about cross-contamination from crossing county lines throughout our conferences. I feel that our school board has a very strong commitment to keeping our kids safe.”

Meanwhile, the Princeton and Montello school districts will follow the timeline established by the Trailways and South Central conferences, with cross country practice beginning Aug. 24, followed by practice for football and volleyball starting Sept. 7.

Fall student-athletes from Green Lake are on the same football team as students from Montello and Princeton, while Green Lake and Princeton partner for volleyball and cross country.

The Princeton School Board voted 4-2 against the four-week delay because it didn’t want athletes competing against teams with more practice and game time completed due to an “increased risk of injury,” according to District Administrator Chris Metras.

“The Princeton board stated that when we agree to be in a conference (Trailways and South Central), and when the conference takes a vote on athletics, we either need to be on board or withdraw from the conference,” Metras said in an email. “Our district wants to remain in our athletic conferences, and trust that the decisions made are in the best interest of all students.”

He added the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association “failed to give districts clear direction from the onset,” putting them “at odds with each other.”

Despite heightened tensions, Allen noted the districts have a strong working relationship and she doesn’t expect recent decisions to change that.

“These are signs of the times,” Allen said. “All schools are going through things we never thought we’d have to.”

Even so, during last week Wednesday’s Green Lake School Board meeting, board members voiced concerns that fall athletics may pose health risks for the community — even with the four-week delay.

School Board Vice President Andy Gryske raised concerns about the lack of a coordinated testing plan, noting that sending students across county lines to compete against other schools without a testing plan could result in “a serious Pandora’s box of problems.”

“There is no testing plan, so we could have 30 kids go play football somewhere, come back to school [and] we won’t know who’s infected and who’s not,” Gryske said.

Depending on the COVID-19 situation, he added the Green Lake School Board may vote to cancel fall sports entirely, explaining that the district cannot move fall sports to the spring because it wouldn’t have enough players with Princeton and Montello continuing on schedule.

“We may not even make it through two weeks of school, so why are we arguing about whether or not we’re going to play sports? If staying in school looks to be a challenge, I think we then have to look at our next meeting as voting to discontinue this plan and shut down sports at that time,” Gryske said. “We want to give the kids a chance to play, we just don’t know right now if it’s possible or not.”

IN OTHER NEWS

In others news from the Green Lake School Board meeting:

• The School Board changed face mask requirements for their reopening plan to fall in line with the governor’s emergency order, which requires students to wear either cloth or disposable face masks that cover the nose and mouth.
• Teachers returned to school Tuesday, Aug. 25 and students will return Tuesday, Sept. 1.
• The School Board moved its annual meeting to Wednesday, Oct. 21. “We’ll have more information about how the school year is going at that time,” Allen said of the move.
• The Green Lake School District will post its annual budget online rather than in the newspaper.
• The School Board also approved contracts for an English teacher and a long-term substitute teacher, as well as revised co-op coach contracts to adjust for the possibility of a partial season.