WATERTOWN — Even though the New York high school fall sports season is allowed to begin on Sept. 21, all Jefferson County schools have decided to postpone their low- and moderate-risk fall sports seasons. The exact start date is unclear.

Cross country, tennis and swimming are considered low-risk sports, while soccer is considered a moderate-risk sport.

“This decision is was not made lightly, nor without serious thought as to the impact to our students and our schools,” a letter from the Jefferson-Lewis BOCES said. “However, as Superintendents of Schools, our first and most important priority must always be to ensure that we are providing a safe, healthy, and secure environment for the education of our students.”

The letter is signed by the Lyme, Alexandria Bay, LaFargeville, Belleville Henderson, Thousand Islands, Sackets Harbor, Sandy Creek, Watertown, South Jefferson, General Brown, Carthage and Indian River school districts.

The letter also stated the decisions of these school districts to postpone athletics in 2020 “should not be taken as a decision to withdraw our districts from all sports for the current 2020-2021 school year. Our decision should not be constructed as a ‘no’ to interscholastic sports, but rather a ‘not now’ approach for the current fall sports season in order to protect the health, safety, and wellbeing of our students, staff and communities, and to protect the continuity and integrity of our instructional programs.”

Lewis County schools were not included in the letter. So far, Lowville and Beaver River school districts have confirmed to the Times that they’ll be playing their fall seasons with practices hopefully starting on Sept. 21.

Watertown and Indian River school districts both stated in individual press releases that they’ll be holding in-district intramural athletics for its students in the fall months.