Weymouth School Committee Approves Fall Sports Plan, Reduces Preschool Tuition

WEYMOUTH -- August 25, 2020, Weymouth School Committee votes 6-0 to approve fall athletics under a restructured MIAA four-season calendar. The committee met Tuesday and heard new Athletic Director Rob O'Leary, who does not officially start until September 1, outline a plan in which outdoor fall sports begin September 18 with no postseason play, football and unified basketball move to a new "floating season" running February 22 through April 25, and pod-based weekly scheduling limits COVID contact tracing exposure. A pre-season conditioning camp opens August 31, with athletes required to have a current sports physical on file. The committee also voted 5-0-1, Vice Chair Tracy Nardone abstaining over a potential conflict of interest, to cut Johnson Early Childhood Center tuition to half the current rate for the duration of remote learning, after Assistant Superintendent Brian Smith warned the move would reduce the program's revolving fund from roughly $730,000 to under $500,000. School Committee member Dr. Charlotte Shangra presented a draft COVID metric framework that the committee plans to use to evaluate future return-to-in-person-learning decisions, drawing on state public health data, district PPE stockpile status, and local contact-tracing capacity.