Concord reverses course and decides to go ahead with athletics

After deciding to suspend high school athletics last week, the Concord School Board reversed course late Monday night with a 7-2 vote to allow fall sports and extracurricular activities.

The extracurricular activities will follow guidelines already voted on by the board, which recommended meetings and practices for any activities take place outside.

“I think every extracurricular activity in our district could be outside,” said School Board member Barb Higgins, who put forward Monday night’s motion to allow sports and extracurricular activities. “You can speak French just as easily around a picnic table as you can in a classroom.”

The vote followed the recommendation of interim Superintendent Kathleen Murphy. Concord High athletics practices and competitions will adhere to guidelines put forth by the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association and athletic director Steve Mello.

“The NHIAA protocol is pretty thorough, quite honestly,” Higgins said. “I think every other school in the state except us is participating. Not that we have to succumb to peer pressure, but we’re one of the healthiest towns, so it does seem logical that we can do this.”

The two dissenting votes came from board members Chuck Crush and Liza Poinier. Crush said the board, “voted on remote and we should try to stick as much as possible, with some outliers, to remote.”

Poinier said that interscholastic competition undermines the district’s efforts to minimize the risk of COVID-19.

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“Competing against far fling cities and towns, it just opens up all of the things that we’re to avoid,” she said.

Some parents raised concerns about athletics taking priority over academics given the board had voted to start the school year with remote classes. They said that the procedures and protocols for academics should be worked out before introducing athletics and the potential risks that come with competing against other school districts.

Higgins dismissed that notion.

“Saying that we’re going to be ok with athletics, in my mind, doesn’t decimate or put academics second. It’s two completely different beasts,” Higgins said. “It’s inside versus outside. It’s just very, very different things. So, I don’t feel that voting for sports means that I’m not voting for academics.”

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