WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) -In a 7-1 vote, the Wausau School Board voted to proceed with all fall sports in accordance with current WIAA guidelines.

The recommendation before the board entering the night was for low-risk sports (cross country, golf, tennis, and volleyball with masks) to proceed in the fall, while high-risk sports (football, volleyball, swimming) would move to the spring. Wausau School District superintendent Dr. Keith Hilts said the recommendation was strictly based on trusted guidance.

“I don’t want quarantines and closures from sports to minimize our opportunity to come back,” said Dr. Hilts. “Everyone wants the kids back you know in school. We have a lot of precautions in place to hopefully have that happen, I hope this doesn’t prevent that.”

There was massive public reaction within the Wausau community to hold a fall sports season, and the benefit of sports is certainly understood by the school board.

“There’s nothing bad about sports,” said Dr. Hilts. “It’s really about mitigating the risk around the pandemic. So, I can’t say that there’s not a little part of me that’s happy that we’re going in this direction.”

Dr. Hilts said that the district will go to work tomorrow to put the plan fully in motion. The Wisconsin Valley Conference had already moved back practices for low-risk sports to September 1, and high-risk sports can begin practices on September 7th.

The next issue for the Wausau School District to tackle, is how many spectators, if any, to allow.

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