Gingras said she is concerned that if student athletes practice sports elsewhere, it will not be under the rigorous COVID-19 protocols the district is putting in place.

In Bedford, a change.org petition has garnered more than 770 signatures since the district announced that interscholastic play will not be permitted for some sports, including football, soccer, crew and cheer.

“I am a student athlete and have poured my heart and soul into football, and to have it be taken away is actually heartbreaking,” Dylan Kumbani wrote on the petition.

A similar petition has been created in Merrimack asking its school board to allow the Merrimack High School football team to play its season.

Gingras said Nashua sports teams will be playing an average of five to seven other school districts within a close proximity, instead of the typical 22 teams in the division. If there is an outbreak of the virus, this will help the schools contain the situation, she said.

If a member of a team does test positive, all members of that team will stop playing for 14 days, according to Gingras.

“We know if there are spikes in Nashua, we may need to put a pause on the season or end the season early,” she said. “We just want the ability to start.”

Details such as transportation to and from games must still be finalized, as well as how many spectators, if any, will be permitted at meets and tournaments. Gingras said. Parents will be permitted to drive their own children to games.

“I am going to support this because I think the interaction with their peers is very important, especially at this point in time,” Nashua Board of Education member Paula Johnson aidlast week, stressing the need for kids to be physically active.

Gingras said temperature checks and other health screenings will take place before all practices and games; person-to-person contact will be limited during practices and equipment such as balls will be sanitized during and after play.

Jennifer Bishop, school board member, voted in opposition. Before committing to extracurricular activities such as sports, she said there must be a comprehensive look at the additional financial costs of the pandemic. She described sports as the “frosting” on the cake.

“I’m thinking the priority needs to be getting the kids back into the classroom,” said Bishop.

School board member Raymond Guarino said athletics improves intellectual capacity and is an important part of a student’s social and emotional wellbeing.

“Sports is part of an education just like math, just like reading,” Guarino said.

In Merrimack, similar discussions are underway after Mike Soucy, the school district’s athletic director, recommended that all fall sports take place — except for football.

“He shared the disappointment we feel for our football team and felt by all of us every day as we continue to deal with the effects of a pandemic all of us reasonably would have hoped and expected by now would no longer need to be a part of our lives or a factor in any of our decisions,” said Superintendent Mark McLaughlin, adding the school board approved the recommended fall sports.

“They will continue to evaluate the recommendation for football and reconsider their position at an upcoming special board meeting,” he said.