By Matt Noonan | @NoontimeNation
For the second week in a row, a New England state has announced that their respective high school spring sports season will be canceled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). And that state was New Hampshire, which made the announcement one week after the Maine Principals Association (MPA) shared the bittersweet news about their spring sports season being canceled, as well.
In addition to canceling spring sports, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu announced that classes will remain online for the remainder of the school year.
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont have not canceled their respective spring seasons – all four states seem hopeful and optimistic that they could provide their student-athletes with some competition, pending their state’s stay-at-home advisory or order is lifted sooner rather than later.
As of this morning, Massachusetts is scheduled to reopen its schools on Monday, May 4th, but it is possible Gov. Charlie Baker could extend closures beyond that date. “We’ll make a decision about schools sometime soon,” Baker said, during Thursday’s daily briefing with the media.
Connecticut is not scheduled to resume in-person classes until May 20th – the announcement came the same day Maine shared they would be canceling their spring sports seasons – while Rhode Island recently extended its stay-at-home order until Friday, May 8th.
The Vermont Principals Association (VPA) seems hopeful they can provide their spring student-athletes with a season but did share in a press release earlier this week that they would make a decision on Thursday, April 30. Vermont’s Stay Home, Stay Safe order has been extended to May 15th.