Roanoke County student-athletes will now be able to play games outside of the county.
The school board unanimously approved that decision in an emergency meeting Wednesday morning, reversing its decision from last week to only allow competition with other schools in the county.
School board members said they didn’t fully understand the consequences of county-only competition, and they want students to have the chance to play at the state level.
“The thought of denying our student-athletes, especially our seniors, the opportunity to pursue a championship or participate in postseason play was one of the deciding factors 53 in changing my mind to vote for a district competition schedule,” said Jason Moretz, a member of the Roanoke County School Board.
Roanoke County’s fall football season begins Monday and all other fall sports begin on March 1.
Roanoke County student-athletes will now be able to play against other sports teams outside of the county.
The decision was made during a Roanoke County School Board special meeting on Wednesday morning. The decision is a reversal of the board’s decision last week, which was to allow competition between schools within the county.
Board members said they made the decision because they do not want to deny student-athletes the chance to advance further.