Beverly School Committee Votes Unanimously on Minutes, Seeks Legal Advice on Fall Sports

BEVERLY — August 26, 2020 — Beverly School Committee approves reopening protocols and punts fall sports decision to legal counsel. The committee voted 7-0 at its August 26 virtual meeting to seek legal and ethics guidance before voting on whether to authorize fall athletics, after Superintendent Suzanne Charochek reported that nine of 12 Northeast Conference schools had voted to postpone soccer, field hockey, cross-country, volleyball, and golf to a new February 22 through April 25 window — a decision Beverly abstained from pending more information. Charochek also presented finalized mask, cleaning, and PPE protocols set to take effect at the district's September 16 opening, including mandatory two-layer ear-loop masks for all students and staff and a shift from every-other-night to nightly classroom cleaning. Enrollment figures showed 397 of 1,825 kindergarten-through-grade-4 students — roughly 22 percent — opted for the Remote Learning Academy, with all elementary classrooms holding at approximately 15 to 16 students under a four-and-a-half-foot distancing standard. Mayor Mike Cahill called the Northeast Conference vote on fall sports "at a minimum very premature," noting several communities in the league had already shifted from red to yellow on the state's COVID-19 metrics map.