The Everett Public Schools has suspended its plans to begin the Greater Boston League’s winter athletics season, following a strong recommendation by the City of Everett’s Board of Health. Tryouts for boys and girls basketball and coed hockey, which were scheduled for this week, have been canceled.
“We know this has been an emotional roller coaster, but we want to make sure everyone who is interested in playing a winter sport this year knows that we are doing everything possible to ensure we have a season,” said EHS Athletic Director Tammy Turner.
The GBL will reassess its plans after the first of the year. The winter interscholastic schedule is slated to begin in the middle of January. Anyone interested in winter sports is encouraged to submit all necessary paperwork, including a current physical. You can email questions HERE.
“I commend Tammy and her colleagues in the GBL for developing an excellent plan for interscholastic competition this winter,” said Superintendent of Schools Priya Tahiliani. “I endorsed the proposal, and it received the unanimous support of the School Committee last Monday. But the pandemic metrics continue to be a major impediment to large-scale in-person activities.”
Sabrina Firicano, the Executive Director of the Board of Health and Human Services, advised the EPS not to proceed, due to the current Covid-19 metrics in Everett and the trajectory of the pandemic that state health officials are predicting for the coming weeks.
“We have greatly leaned on medical professionals and public-health experts throughout the pandemic, and we are doing so in this instance as well,” said Superintendent Tahiliani. “We were right in exhaustively exploring this option for our students, and the Board of Health was right to be honest and decisive in its recommendation.”
The EPS will continue to closely monitor Everett’s Covid-19 positivity rates in hopes of acting quickly to start winter athletics as soon as it is safe. The MIAA has also made plans for a Fall 2 season, which is scheduled to begin in February, and a spring season, slated to start in April.
“I thank our coaches for their enthusiasm and dedication,” said Turner. “Certainly, we have established a complete list of protocols and safeguards that will serve us well once it is, in fact, safe enough to practice and play games.”