With a unanimous vote of 24-0 on Thursday afternoon, the MIAA Board of Directors waived the two-year wait rule and will allow both Lynn Classical and Lynn English to join the Greater Boston League as full participants beginning in the Fall 2021 season. The two Lynn schools officially left the Northeastern Conference — where they had been charter members for over 40 years — following a vote in November, but neither school has participated in athletics yet this school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re very excited to be joining the GBL and we’re glad that everything has been cleared for us to get things started,” said English Athletic Director Dick Newton. “We’ve enjoyed our time in the Northeastern Conference for all these years and we’re looking forward to maintaining those relationships, but we’re also excited to move into the league that fits more with our demographics.”
“We’re all just so eager to get started on this new journey,” said Classical Athletic Director Bill Devin. “The GBL has been so accommodating to us over the past several months, and they’ve really made this process easier. We’d also like to thank the NEC for so many great years.”
The GBL has now doubled in size in just four years, from four schools in 2017 to eight schools today — Chelsea, Everett, Classical, English, Malden, Medford, Revere and Somerville.
“It is great news for those two schools and also for the Greater Boston League,” said Malden High Director of Health, Physical Education and Athletics Charlie Conefrey, who is also a sitting member of the MIAA Board of Directors. “We as a league were thrilled when we heard last year as early as the fall that Lynn Classical and Lynn English were interested in becoming GBL members.
“There is just a lot of common ground between all our urban-based schools, with demographics, geographic proximity and the competition levels,” Conefrey added. “Of course there are some schools which are stronger in particular sports, but overall, it will be a very balanced league. All of the GBL schools, including our newest members, understand and look forward to that.”
With the addition of the Lynn schools, the GBL becomes that much stronger and one of the best conferences in the state, according to GBL President Chris Mastrangelo, who is principal of Malden High School.
“We were already a strong league, and with the addition of Lynn Classical and Lynn English we are now the premier urban high school athletic league in Massachusetts,” Mastrangelo said Thursday. “It will be an exciting future for our league in the coming years.”
The GBL schools are currently planning to begin athletics on March 1 (the Medford/Malden girls co-op hockey team has already begun playing). If given the go-ahead, Classical and English will join the GBL for this new athletic schedule and then move right into the fall season later this year.
On Friday, Devin and Newton will meet with GBL school superintendents, principals, athletic directors and even city mayors via Zoom to discuss a path forward for returning to sports
“(Friday’s) meeting is going to be very interesting because so many people are going to be involved,” said Devin. “I think (Friday) will be a telltale sign of what’s to come for us, so we’re hoping that we get some good news.”
“We’re hoping for good things to come out of that meeting,” said Newton. “It’s been a very uncertain time not only for the Lynn schools, but also for the other GBL schools who haven’t played sports yet (Chelsea, Somerville and Revere). We hope that we can come to some kind of agreement and get the kids back out there playing in the near future.”
There was other news out of the Board of Directors meeting Thursday, including updated COVID-19 guidelines from the Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) and the announced retirement of MIAA Executive Director Bill Gaine effective Sept. 1.
Gaine, who has been in his position for the past 42 years, said Thursday that, “I’m tremendously appreciative. I consider it a privilege to have served, and I’ve just had a great run.”
MIAA President Jeffrey Granatino said that there have been preliminary discussions with the various MIAA boards as to how to search for Gaine’s replacement, but nothing definitive has been decided yet.
As far as the updated COVID-19 guidance, the most notable piece of information is that the EEA removed all references to the maximum number of players on any outdoor playing surface, while indoor playing surfaces are still limited to no more than 25 players at a time (coaches and officials are not included in that figure). In addition, the EEA removed all references to the capacity limits of 50 people at an outdoor venue while still limiting the people allowed at games to just parents and siblings. Indoor facilities must limit capacity to no more than 40 percent of the building’s maximum permitted occupancy.
For a full readout of the latest EEA guidelines, visit https://www.mass.gov/doc/safety-standards-for-youth-and-adult-amateur-sports-activities-phase-iii-step-1-effective-2821/download.