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Date: 5/19/2021
EAST LONGMEADOW –The May 10 East Longmeadow School Committee meeting included discussion of a host of important topics including an update on the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) eligibility process and a series of updates regarding sports modifications, spectator guidelines and summer programming. However, because of the shift in state mask mandates and gathering limits, many of these topics are expected to be discussed again at the upcoming School Committee meeting.
State Update
On May 17, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced that on May 29 the state will lift COVID–19 restrictions, including allowing all businesses to reopen and operate at 100 percent capacity without restrictions, though masks will still be required in certain settings such as transportation, in schools and at health care facilities. It is important to note that non-vaccinated individuals will be advised to continue wearing face masks and to continue distancing in most settings. The latest advisory notes that vaccinated individuals no longer need to wear a face covering or social distance indoors or outdoors, except for in certain situations, such as the aforementioned settings.
The state of emergency that has been in place in Massachusetts since March 10, 2020 will be officially lifted on June 15. In addition to this, effective May 18, guidance for youth and amateur sports have been updated to allow kids under the age of 18 to play outdoor sports without having to wear a mask and to allow kids at school or child care facilities to go mask-free when outdoors for activities such as recess. Finally, the guidance added that children in schools will be allowed to share classroom items again.
Sports Spectator Updates
At the May 10 School Committee meeting, Athletic Director Kevin Magee shared that spring sports were “off to a good start” and said that at the time, they were looking to make adjustments to their spectator policies to allow for more spectators to attend games. The committee voted to approve Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) wrestling modifications, which included: face masks being required at all times by those in attendance, dual meets or tri meets only, the East Longmeadow High School (ELHS) wrestling staff noted that they prefer to have their competitions indoors, disinfecting of the mats would occur after each MIAA match and there would be a limited number of athletes training together to allow for contact tracing.
At the time of the meeting, Magee shared the spectator policy for home, outdoor ELHS athletic events, which included four adult spectators per home team participant, and two visiting spectators per visiting team participant. Magee noted that the MIAA/Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) office changed, noting that the cap of two adults and two siblings per participant had been lifted, however capacity guidelines must be followed. At the time, the Pioneer Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference (PVIAC) stated they would leave it up to individual school districts to determine the policy they wanted to set regarding home and visiting fans.
Following the presentation from Magee, the School Committee voted to continue to allow four home team spectators per athlete and allow an increase from two to four visiting team spectators for outdoor games. The largest change, however, came with allowing up to 100 ELHS student fans. There would be a designated student station outside the track fence posts closest to the lake at stadium field. Student fans would be required to stand at each fence post, and would need to sign in at the entry gate. There would be no re-entry allowed – once a student fan left the premises, they could not return. The committee voted 5-0 to allow up to 100 student fans to attend outdoor games.
For indoor sports, the committee voted to allow two home team athlete family members and two away team athlete family members to be spectators. Again, the vote was 5-0 in favor of the change.
With the updated state guidelines, however, it is expected that local entities will host meetings noting the changes and will potentially adjust further to allow more spectators.
MSBA Eligibility Process Update
Superintendent Gordon Smith shared an update at the meeting regarding the eligibility period for a potential new ELHS that the district is in with the MSBA. Smith said that the process began in October, and the eligibility period is roughly 270 days long. He noted that during the eligibility period, the district has to complete eight requirements, some of them being providing the MSBA with information on capital projects, information on the maintenance process and procedures that the district uses on their schools, data on what the district’s enrollment currently is and what the projection for enrollment will be in 10 years, and more.
Smith stated that at the time, seven of the eight requirements were complete, with the final step being sending the MSBA a vote that the Town Council takes that appropriates funding. He shared with the committee that the council had actually already taken the vote at its former meeting, but were having the Town Council vote again at the May 11 meeting as the committee was amending one sentence. Smith noted that the MSBA was “fully aware” that the town was going to vote again on this – the MSBA already had the first vote, and knew that the funds were approved by the Town Council.
Once the MSBA receives the final vote front he Town Council, Smith explained that then the MSBA and the Town of East Longmeadow would create a funding agreement that would break down costs for items such as design, drawings and more, which would show where money would be specifically attributed.
Smith explained that the “last time we checked” there would be a 56 percent reimbursement from the MSBA toward the project for eligible costs. He noted “eligible costs” is the key phrase, as there will always be costs that are not eligible for reimbursement by the MSBA. Once the district has the agreement from the MSBA, they will know the exact reimbursement percentage, however Smith said he is “assuming it should be in the 55 to 57 percent range.” The agreement is expected to be back to the district by the end of June.
The next step in the process will be conducting a feasibility study. He noted that members of the building committee have been “sitting idly” for a while, but soon they will be bringing that group together to share information from the MSBA, and to be sure that each member knows what their role in the process is. As the district enters the feasibility study phase, Smith noted there would be “things [the building committee] would be able to act on” and that the building committee would become more active than what they are doing at this time.
In closing, Smith noted that this is a “long process” and that the eligibility period from start to finish can be somewhere around seven years. “We’ve at least taken off one year,” Smith said. “We’re in a good spot,” he said, continuing that he was appreciative of the Town Council, town manager, finance director and town clerk for helping the committee organize the vote.
School Committee member Sarah Truoiolo shared that she felt the vote is “a huge testament to this being a community effort.”