MILL HALL — The Keystone Central school board unanimously approved the district’s “Return to Play” plan at Thursday night’s voting meeting, which was held via Zoom.

Central Mountain High School Athletic Director George Bidwell spoke about the plan, as the Wildcats prepare to return to athletic competition in the fall.

However, prior to Bidwell’s presentation, KCSD superintendent Jacquelyn Martin pointed out that students and parents will have to sign a waiver to participate in athletics or extracurricular activities. The “Return to Play” plan also applies to Bucktail High School.

“The waiver basically says that parents understand the liability and the assumption of risk, which is a huge component of this,” Martin said. “We cannot, at any time, ensure that folks are completely safe from attracting COVID-19 while they’re with us. We know that we’re going to be putting many safety precautions in place to reduce the risk as much as possible but we cannot completely deny that there is a risk.”

Schools throughout the Commonwealth have been closed since March 13 due to the pandemic. When the schools closed, athletics also ceased, putting a premature end to the spring sports season. Baseball, softball, track and field seasons were canceled as a result.

Bidwell said that KCSD used a task force to craft its “Return to Play” plan. There are four phases in the plan, which will lead up to heat acclimation in mid-August.

“We worked dilligently to develop a return to play plan that provides an opportunity for all athletic teams and extracurricular activities to conduct operations in a manner that’s best designed to prevent or mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and puts the safety, health and well-being of our student-athletes and coaches at the forefront,” Bidwell said.

The “Return to Play” plan will begin on Wednesday, July 1 and conclude on Sunday, Aug. 9. The four phases, Bidwell said, will transition into phase five, which not only covers the fall sports season, but the winter and spring sports seasons as well.

Bidwell said that there are several guidelines that will be employed in all four phases, including identifying high-risk individuals, educational updates, daily COVID-19 screenings, personal protective equipment, hygenie, sanitizing of equipment, illness protocal, KCSD participation waiver, liability and assumption of risk.

As students return to campus to participate in offseason workouts, Bidwell asked that student-athletes, parents, head coaches, assistant coaches and volunteer coaches to review the plan.

“We’re asking that they review, understand and abide by these guidelines that we’ve developed,” he said.

When practice begins, students will have to complete a COVID-19 screening before entering the practice facility. There will be an electronic screening process involving a QR code. By using their cell phone, they will access a link. Once they answer pre-screening questions and are approved by a coach, they will enter the facility, Bidwell said.

Social distancing will be used when possible. During practice sessions, players and coaches are asked to avoid unnecessary contact such as shaking hands, high-fives and fist-bumps. On a bench, players are going to be asked to sit every other seat. Coaches are going to stagger arrival and departure times and spectators will not be permitted at practice.

Following the presentation, board vice-president Roger Elling asked Bidwell, “are we going to be playing flag football instead of regular football?”

Bidwell responded: “Not to my knowledge, no.”

“I’m just wondering because they’re saying about not being able to tackle and part of football is actually being able to tackle,” Elling said.

Bidwell said that the PIAA has put restrictions on tackling during the offseason.

“At this point in time, we just want to re-iterate that these are offseason activities from July 1 to Aug. 9. Once the season starts, we’re gonna hopefully try and get back to normal. That’s when tackling and all that stuff would take place,” Bidwell said. “These are just preliminary precautions that we’re taking for the offseason.”

The KCSD board will meet again at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 9 for a work session.