As schools around the
country reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic, the risks of new
outbreaks meet reality. Person-to-person learning can present life
and death situations for students, faculty, and staff. One particular
area of concern involves extracurricular activities. This report
defines a tragic encounter.
Nacoma James, a
42-year-old teacher and an assistant high school football coach at
Lafayette Middle School in Mississippi died on Thursday, August 6,
while self-quarantining with COVID-19 symptoms.
Though teachers and
students across the district returned to the classroom this week for
the start of the new school year, James did not. Still, this prompted
fears that an outbreak could occur as the district’s teachers and
students return to classrooms for the first time since March.
Superintendent Adam Pugh
told Mississippi Today …
“No one has told me
officially that he had COVID, but I do know he was self-quarantining
this week. Last Thursday would’ve been the last contact he had with
any students, at summer workouts for the (high school) football team.
I’m not exactly sure what symptoms he had, but he wasn’t around
students or teachers this week.”
(Adam Ganucheau.
“Mississippi teacher’s death during first week of school stokes
COVID-19 outbreak fears.” Mississippi Today.
August 06, 2020.)
Pugh said James was with
students “all summer” during football workouts, and he said
district officials were conducting contact tracing to determine which
students might have been exposed.
Contact tracing is now
underway to determine which students may have been exposed, the
superintendent said. Lafayette County has seen 956 cases and 15
deaths.
Earlier that week, Gov.
Tate Reeves, the only elected official who could delay the start of
school at the state level, announced that he would allow most schools
to reopen in person this month. In doing so, Reeves ignored the
advice of the state’s top medical experts, who had publicly urged
the governor to postpone school reopenings until early September.
Safety Measures
What is happening with
plans for extracurricular activities in other places around the
nation? Varied approaches are meeting the challenge. Controversy over
the best plans is making news daily.
In Parma, Ohio, Parma City
Schools have announced their decision to suspend all student
functions until further notice. The decision came after the Cuyahoga
County Board of Health recommended that schools stop extracurricular
activities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, like sports, band and theater.
The Board of Health is also advising school districts to begin
classes this fall with all remote learning.
Some districts are sending
home liability waivers for athletic, afterschool and summer programs
that release them, employees, insurers, board of education members
and others acting on the district's behalf from liability for
injuries to or death of children related in any way to COVID-19. At
least one district in Idaho is also requiring a waiver for seemingly
any on-campus activity.
Here are other examples of
waiver activity:
In Missouri's Hazelwood
School District, criticism of such a waiver led the district to
clarify that the waiver is meant to "ensure that parents can
make an informed decision" about their children participating
in athletics, and that no waiver exists for in-person school.
According to the district, the waiver was created by its insurance
provider and distributed to all other schools under the same
insurance program.
In Florida's Volusia
County Schools, liability waivers for voluntary extracurricular
activities were recalled by the district, which says they were
"inadvertently" sent to coaches and students. The local
teachers union, Volusia United Educators, advised members to "not
sign any waivers" and presented the district with a "cease
and desist" letter. Officials from the Florida Education
Association suggested waivers will intensify concerns of whether
it's safe for children to return to school.
(Neaz Modan. “COVID-19
language in waivers for extracurriculars heighten reopening safety
concerns.” Education Dive. July 16, 2020.)
Buncombe County Schools in
North Carolina are providing professional development and training to
our athletic personnel, extracurricular activity sponsors, parents,
and students in “best practices” regarding the safe return to
participation in extracurricular activities in our schools.
In cooperation with
Buncombe County Schools’ two sports medicine providers, Pardee
Sports Medicine/UNC Health System and PT Solutions/Advent Health,
specific training is being provided on our school campuses, and two
informational training videos have been developed illustrating the
safety protocols that are being implemented. Staff, parents, and
students are encouraged to review the protocols in the videos and to
follow all established protocols as you return to our campuses this
summer.
(“COVID-19 Prevention
for Extracurricular Activities.”
Buncombe County
Schools. June 18, 2020.)
Ohio High School
Football
What about high school
football in Ohio? The Ohio High School Athletic Association is
preparing for the season to proceed as scheduled, even as COVID-19
continues to slowly spread throughout the state.
To OHSAA Member Schools’
Superintendents, Principals and Athletic Administrators: Bob
Goldring, Interim Executive Director:
“While affirming that
our fall sports seasons will start as planned, the modification will
shorten the length of the 2020 football regular season to a six‐game
schedule prior to the playoffs beginning. With this, all
football‐playing schools will now be eligible to enter the 2020
playoffs.
“Schools also will be
afforded the opportunity to play 10 total regular season contests –
whether they continue regular season games after they are eliminated
from the playoffs or should they decide not to enter the playoffs –
as long as they complete their season by November 14.
"This raises the
possibility of schools generating some revenue through gate receipts,
and allowing schools to play after being eliminated from the playoffs
is similar to regulations that already exist for many other OHSAA
sports. Additionally, this means schools that may be delayed in
starting their seasons could still have a football season.”
(Administrator
Update. Ohio High School Athletic Association. August 7, 2020.)
The OHSAA recommendations
for the season include extending team boxes to the 10-yard lines on
each side of the field so players can spread out more, banning the
sharing of towels and equipment, sanitizing footballs multiple times
during games, allowing coaches and team staff to wear masks and
gloves and allowing players to wear cloth masks.
Among the biggest changes
the recommendations call for: extending timeouts to two minutes in
length, extending the break between quarters to two minutes and
shortening halftime to 10 minutes so players aren’t confined in a
locker room for too long a period.
Other recommendations
include eliminating players shaking hands after games, limiting each
team to one representative during coin tosses and not sharing
beverages or drinking stations.
Those recommendations go
along with previously recommended pre-participation screenings that
including temperature checks and symptom assessments.
The OHSAA stressed in a
memo to school administrators its recommendations (which drew from
both National Federation of High School guidance as well as OHSFCA
guidance) are not exhaustive and added, “there might be additional
steps in each school city, and state to help prevent the spread of
virus.”
Other schools and leagues
are already making further restrictions. One recently announced
change came from the Miami Valley League, which has decided marching
bands will not travel to road games.
Other issues – including
spectator attendance – are still up in the air.
Football teams throughout
the state have been practicing throughout July following a move
earlier in the summer by the OHSAA to allow unlimited off-season
practicing time for all sports.
(Bryant Billing. “OHSAA
releases guidance for 2020 football season.”
Sidney Daily News.
July 24, 2020.)
No comments:
Post a Comment