Windham, NH High School Goes Remote, Sports Suspended After Students Contract COVID-19
WINDHAM, NH (CBS) - All Windham, New Hampshire high school sports practices and try-outs are suspended indefinitely and the school will shift to remote learning after multiple students tested positive for COVID-19.
"I want to inform everyone that there have been positive COVID-19 cases within the WHS student body," Superintendent of Schools Richard Langlois wrote in an email Tuesday morning. "As many of the students are athletes, we will be suspending all high school athletic practices/try-outs until further notice."
Windham High School students were supposed to return to the classroom in a hybrid learning model starting Wednesday, September 9. However, Langlois announced late Tuesday that due to more positive tests, high school students will be moved to remote learning for the remainder of the week.
"All students who have tested positive for COVID, their siblings, those who were in close contact with an individual who has tested positive, and their siblings, have been contacted and will adhere to their recommended quarantine time," Langlois said.
All other students in the district (PK-8) will continue with their predetermined schedule for Wednesday and the remainder of the week.
"It's incredibly frustrating," said Sam Hoyt, a rising senior at the high school. He doesn't play fall sports, but is disappointed for his friends who do. "I have friends that have followed every rule, worn their masks, stayed six feet apart," he explained. "And they are getting that opportunity [to play sports] taken away from them...It doesn't feel fair for anybody."
"It's happened before we are even back in school so imagine what it's going to be like a month in when we are all in contact with each other every day," rising senior Ethan Flakne added.
"We will take anything over what we had [last year]," said Nadeen Hernandez, the mother of a rising freshman who planned on trying out for the volleyball team. "I still went out and bought pads. We are still preparing. We still practiced last night. So we are just going to go on as if we will eventually have a practice," she said.
The superintendent told parents via email that the school is working with New Hampshire's Department of Health and Human Services to figure out if - and when - sports at Windham High School can play again.