Players and parents are looking forward to the delayed high school basketball season that can begin by mid-January, but if Washington County returns to a yellow designation under the state's color-coded Health Advisory System that classifies the relative risk of COVID-19 transmission, no games will be played. The Maine Principals' Association (MPA) has made many of the decisions about winter sports participation during the pandemic, but local schools can decide not to take part.
     The MPA has decided that basketball players could begin conditioning drills on December 14, try-outs can be held beginning Monday, January 4, and games can begin on January 11. At the December 16 meeting of the Eastport School Committee, Eastport schools Principal Paul Theriault said he expects Shead High School will be able to field both varsity boys' and girls' basketball teams. Both players and referees, who will use electronic whistles, will have to wear masks, and no spectators will be allowed at the games. The games will be broadcast on Shead social media.
     "Everybody's ready to move," he said. However, if the county returns to a yellow status, as it was until December 4, no games can be played. Superintendent Ken Johnson said he is concerned about the number of cases in the county since last week, and he noted that the county could go back to a yellow status at any time. However, he also pointed out that "data is emerging that schools are one of the safest places to be," since they enforce all of the safety protocols more than some other places in the community.
     Each team will be able to play a maximum of 12 games, and schools can only play against schools that are either in their county or an adjoining county. Shead will only be playing in-county schools, along with Deer-Isle Stonington. While there might be regional tourneys, Theriault said it is "very doubtful" that the Bangor tourney will be held this year. In the event a school has concerns about playing another school, if they think there is too great a risk of virus transmission, either the host or the visiting school can decide to cancel the game.
     While school boards earlier this year voted whether or not to participate in fall sports, "a lot of the decision-making has already been made for you" with winter sports by the MPA, Johnson told the board, so there was no need for a formal vote about participating. Of area schools, Sumner Memorial High School is the only school that has decided not to take part in the basketball season. There's not yet been any discussion about elementary school games in the county later in the year.

Snow days
     Johnson noted that schools in AOS 77 are making different choices about how to handle snow days. The Lubec school sent out a survey, and the school board decided to have remote learning on snow days. The Perry, Pembroke and Alexander boards decided to not have any school and have "a good old-fashioned snow day, with school closed and kids being able to sleep later." Teacher Erin Mahar noted that she remembered as a student that one of the perks of going to school was "you get to stay home if there's a snow day."
     Theriault said he has been "a snow day grinch," never liking them. But other educators have pointed out that in the year of COVID, a snow day is "the one normal thing we can do for our kids," and he has now changed his mind. The board then voted to have normal snow days and not use remote learning on those days.

Nearly half of students learning remotely
     The number of students choosing to learn remotely has more than tripled since the beginning of the school year, with an uptick especially after the Thanksgiving break. There are now 84 students in K4 through Grade 12 learning remotely, including 17 who are doing so temporarily. The number at the start of the year was 25. With a total enrollment of 182, nearly half of the students are learning remotely.
     "There's a lot of fear for the virus in the last few weeks, with Thanksgiving," Theriault said. He noted that some students and parents feel that remote learning is working well. While Theriault said he had not anticipated this high a number, he predicted that after the holidays a good number of students will return to in-person learning.
     The schools have begun four sessions of trauma-informed training for staff, so they can help students, particularly with the stress of the pandemic. The training is being provided through the MPA. Staff will also receive further training in remote teaching and learning.
     A Christmas dinner for students and staff was held on December 21, following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. On December 22 the school prepared dinners that were delivered to local senior citizens. On Wednesday, December 23, Santa will ride through the city on a fire truck, with staff following in school buses, to deliver presents to elementary school students at their homes.
     Johnson told the board that Hailley Bradbury has been appointed an ed tech at the elementary school and Brandon Britt as a night custodian at Shead.