Peabody board supports waiver for girls hockey

PEABODY – A heated discussion about keeping the Peabody High School?s Girls Ice Hockey Varsity team alive occurred at the School Committee meeting Thursday night.There had been talk in the city to cut the program due to budget cuts and perceived lack of interest.School Committee Brandi Carpenter suggested that the committee approve a waiver that would allow middle-school students to play on the high school team. The waiver passed 6-0.?There are plenty of towns in the state that do this,” Carpenter said. Some of the communities are Marblehead, Saugus, Lynnfield, North Andover and Cambridge.?Age in hockey is not something that needs to be considered,” Carpenter said. “I personally know a girl in the eighth grade who plays on a high school team who is leading the league in goals.”Carpenter also pointed out that there are girls in middle school who are interested in playing at the high school. “We have them so why not give them the opportunity,” she said.A waiver does come with some strict guidelines. No high school student can be cut in favor of a middle-school student. Waivers are also a year-to-year agreement.Some worried about allowing such young girls play with high school girls.?I do have a concern about sixth graders playing with 12th graders,” School committee member Ed Charest said. “There are a lot of things high school students discuss and get involved in that I don?t know that sixth-graders should be involved in.”Team Coach Larry Minehan said he did have some hesitations about the waiver but was in favor for it. “At the end of the day, it all comes down to me. I will make sure certain things will not be discussed in the locker room,” he said. “I?m the coach and they listen to what I say. There is not one player on my team whom I would hesitate to put in a room with a sixth-grader.”Carpenter also pointed out that there is no checking in girls hockey.?If this was football, we would have to consider it since there such physicality. However, girls hockey is not a physical sport,” Superintendent Herbert Levine said.?Finding out it is a no-check team makes me feel better as a mother,” School Committee member Beverley Ann Griffin Dunne joked.The varsity team has faced some difficultly over the years. They have had only four wins in the past four years. For three years, the team had an 0-20 record. The team has been at the high school for the past seven years.However, this was expected.?We knew this sport would take time do develop,” Charest said.?We have gone through a lot but we have made it through together,” Minehan added.Carpenter adamantly was against cutting the team. “If you cut this team that is a lot of Peabody pride you can?t get back,” Carpenter said. “I will do everything in my power to make sure this doesn?t happen.”After the waiver passed the audience, which was filled with players from the hockey team, applauded the school committee.Sara Brown can be reached at [email protected].