The Story
Winter sport guidelines are out.
What’s the big deal?
Obviously, there are some big caveats that come with running the winter sports season. COVID-19 is getting worse in the US and in good old NH, especially with the move of most activities indoors. The school board met last Monday to discuss winter sports, and they brainstormed a bunch of fun rules that Mr. Parker sent out a compounded email to “winter sport families” last Thursday.
What changed?
The biggest modification made for the season is that many teams are not allowed to play their sport outside of the school team. AKA, you can only play for the school and no one else. That list included basketball, wrestling, cheer, and perhaps the biggest bombshell, hockey. We’ll see how that goes.
But why?
The decision was made based on what would happen if someone actually got the virus. On those four teams, if one person gets COVID-19, the entire team will have to quarantine for 14 days. That’s a big deal. But to be fair, it’s also not that big of a jump from the break some NH hockey teams took from active play for the past two weeks, due to their rising number of cases. Come on, hockey! The high school season hasn’t even started and you’re already problematic!
Any other surprises?
Something mentioned in the school board meeting but not in the email last Thursday was daily temperature checks, or a self report of symptoms. No official guideline has been rolled out as far as that goes, but you can probably see it coming in the near future. Get those thermometers ready.
What’s the timeline?
Winter sport tryouts are on December 14th, and the first day teams are allowed to compete is January 11th. No one, including Parker, knows when the season will end, which could potentially push back spring sports by proxy. Poor spring sports. They really keep drawing the short end of the stick.
The Runaway
Be grateful, unless you’re hockey. Then be afraid.
What to Say…
When you’re getting kind of tired of the coronavirus…
Tighten up your masks, because we’re not quite at the end of the tunnel. BHS currently has no active cases at the moment, but our last active case was confirmed on October 22nd. So don’t get too comfortable yet. As for the rest of the district, McKelvie’s last confirmed case was on the 21st and Lurgio’s was on the 12th. That’s good, we guess? Unfortunately, some other New Hampshire schools and colleges have not been doing as well as us. Goffstown High School discovered a new case on the 29th, and Plymouth State University has 10 active cases as of the 27th. And of course, UNH in Durham comes in on top, with 21 infected people.
When you’re getting flashbacks from that stress initiative from a year ago…
It’s baaack. Well, sort of. Mr. Cannon sent out a survey about student workload for our resident overachievers, AKA the AP and IB students, to participate in. Questions included rating students’ workloads compared to other AP/IB classes they’re taking this year, rating workloads compared to other AP/IB classes they’ve taken in previous years, and which subjects have the most work. The form is anonymous (where have we seen that before?) and it doesn’t ask students to specify exactly what classes they’re in or who their teachers are. Results aren’t in yet, but we’ll keep you posted, as always.
When you hate all of those signs on every single corner…
They better be cleaned up by tomorrow, which is election day! The high school will be open for voting 7am-7pm. Normally, parents are allowed to bring their kids to vote, due to COVID and all that, it’s no longer allowed. We guess you’ll have to find another way to get that singular Democracy In Action hour. Wondering who’s running for our local positions? We’ll give you the rundown: Chris Sununu is battling Dan Feltes and Darryl Perry for governor. Up for executive council for our district are Republican Ted Gatsas and Democrat Mark McKenzie. Senator Jeanne Shaheen is up for reelection for her third term in the US Senate opposing Bryant “Corky” Messner, and fun fact, he’s only lived in New Hampshire for two years! If you say so, Corky. There are a whopping 12 candidates running for District Hillsborough-7 state rep, including incumbents Sue Mullen, Linda Gould, John Graham, and David Danielson. Lisa Nash and Laurie Sanborn are competing for District Hillsborough-41 state rep. And finally, Jeanne Dietsch and Dennise Ricciardi are up for state senate in Bedford’s district. Whew, that was a lot. For our efforts, go vote. Pretty please?
Things to Know
School’s out!
Just kidding, it’s only for one day. We said this already, but election day is tomorrow! Please vote, we’re begging you.
Not orange or green ribbon…
It’s Red Ribbon Week! Sorry, other ribbons.
Time flies when you’re having fun
Or doing a lot of schoolwork. First quarter ends on Friday, and that’s also the last day to drop a class or change levels.