Cheltenham School District sent an email this morning that included a letter from Superintendant Dr. Wagner Marseille that provided details on his decision to suspend fall sports. This includes all athletic activities, practices, and competitions. The formal announcement will be made tonight (August 20th) at a special meeting of the school board.

Fall sports include football, cheerleading, cross country, field hockey, golf, soccer, tennis, and volleyball.

The letter from the superintendent is below:

Dear Cheltenham Families and Staff –

This evening at our special board meeting, I will make an important announcement regarding fall sports for the upcoming school year.

Balancing the importance of the mental and physical well being of students associated with interscholastic play, while attempting to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 is challenging. The district has taken counsel from Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Montgomery County and Pennsylvania Departments of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, other health agencies, and countless experts from across Montgomery County and Pennsylvania.

While athletics is an extension of our students’ curricular experience, allowing fall sports to move forward would be contradictory to our current stance of opening school in a virtual environment. I am not confident in our ability to mitigate the exposure and transmission of COVID-19 during interscholastic competition. With the health and safety of everyone involved at stake, I’m not willing to take that risk. With that, I will announce the suspension of all CSD fall athletic activities, practices and competitions at Thursday evening’s meeting.

Best,

Dr. Wagner Marseille
Superintendent of Schools