Savannah-Chatham County Schools will hold only intra-district sports competitions this fall without band and cheerleading, district athletic director John Sanders announced Wednesday.
Football will start no sooner than Oct. 1, Sanders said. Other fall sports will resume Sept. 1.
“By allowing intra-district play, Savannah-Chatham County Public School System is better positioned to react, respond and ensure proper protocols are being followed pertinent to contact tracing,” Sanders said in an informal board meeting streamed live.
Savannah’s public high schools are Beach, Groves, Islands, Jenkins, Johnson, New Hampstead, Savannah, Savannah Arts Academy, Windsor Forest and Woodville-Tompkins. Savannah Arts and Woodville-Tompkins do not have football teams.
Seven of the schools compete in Region 3-3A. Their departure would leave Liberty County and Southeast Bulloch without huge chunks of the sports schedules.
Islands, Jenkins and New Hampstead are in 3-4A, a four-team region that also includes Benedictine, a Savannah private school.
Dougherty, Clayton and Rockdale school districts have made similar moves in the past week. Doughery’s three Albany high schools won’t play sports until Oct. 1. Clayton’s 10 high schools have suspended sports through Aug. 21. Rockdale County’s three high schools won’t play sports at all this fall.
