The San Mateo Union High School District (six comprehensive campuses from San Bruno through San Mateo) has decided to be a nearly total online academic experience during the fall semester. Only a few specialized classes will be conducted in-person and some of those may be held outdoors. The impetus for this move came, for the most part, from the teachers and their union. Their view was safety for them trumps everything else. Many parents objected to the plan last week but failed to convince the district's trustees that far more in-person instruction should be a priority. What this may mean for competitive athletics is unclear at this point. But it seems to bode poorly.
First Semester Plan
- Thread starter colhenrylives
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That's too bad. The risk is very low for the students and teachers and can be managed. This is a disaster for students learning and the many parents that have jobs.
It's worth noting that San Mateo County's pandemic performance has been better than most Bay Area counties: As of today, the county has recorded 108 deaths (73 in long-term care facilities); zero deaths below the age of 30; 11 covid patients currently in local ICU's (that number may rise due to placement of some infected San Quentin inmates at Seton Medical Center in Daly City); a 4.9 percent positive infection rate among residents tested. The point: If a county public school district like SMUHSD can't go back to a more robust in-person learning situation, it's doubtful that districts in other Bay Area counties can or will.
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I have seen plenty of anecdotal evidence, and some broad-term statistics suggesting that Covid risks for those under 20 are significantly lower, but I haven't seen anything saying that the risk is "very low" for teacher/staff demographics (generally early 30's to early 60's). Elevated stroke risk in 30-40 year olds and higher pneumonia risks starting in the 50's are hardly "low risk." Just curious if you have a link to any data on that.
I'm not arguing about the need to take steps to mitigate the spread so kids can go back to school. That is obviously the goal. I am 100% on board with doing whatever is necessary. However, we can't just declare "very low risk, no problem" if that's not even the case. I would love for it to be the case, but like I said, I haven't seen that information out there. If you have a legitimate source, please share.
In the SMUHSD, the biggest matter of concern is the safety of the teachers (and other employees). Hence the decision to tilt heavily to distance learning rather than in-person in the fall semester.
It's just a basic workplace safety kind of thing, unfortunately. Lawyers WILL get involved. Any job that can be reasonably done remotely (even though it is performed at nowhere near the ideal level), should be done remotely unless reasonable safety standards can be met. That's the sticking point. What is "reasonably" safe? Personally, I would go into the classroom with mandatory masks, limited and defined cohorts of students, daily health screening, systematic cleaning, and periodic viral testing. I'm not sure the districts can pull that off, and I am really not sure that any union would accept even those terms. Maybe in the North, but not in Sac County, the Bay Area, or So Cal.
The CTA was always going to be the biggest roadblock to on campus learning. Once they deemed that they were non-essential (not sure how compared to other "essential" stated jobs) it became an issue of them coming back to work. The CTA is leveraging their position to fight against budget cuts. This bodes poorly for public school sports. This makes it easy for CIF as it takes the decision out of their hands. I don't get the sense that private schools have the same roadblock but we will find out.
Amazing that we don't have the same kind of concern for grocery store clerks.
Do you really not understand the difference or are you just baiting me?
However, as I type, the Elk Grove Unified School District school board is actively debating bringing students back using a hybrid model that incorporates what I mentioned above. We shall see.
The job can’t be done reasonably remotely because it requires a parent to be at home and not working. It requires someone to not do their job so that you can do yours from somewhere else. Those grocery store clerks that pay taxes that pay for education and teacher salaries can’t have teachers no showing while they expose themselves to the very risks teachers themselves are unwilling to face.
So you were baiting me. Got it.
If you want to have a reasonable discussion, please do so rather than playing games. I am more than willing to discuss things.
Your point in this post (minus all the loaded assumptions) is one of the stronger arguments for kids going back to school. School legitimately functions as a form of daycare. However, it doesn't change the basics of creating a reasonably safe working environment that lawyers can't assail. I wish it was really more of a discussion on HOW to do that than rants about unions and taxes and other canned talking points. Too many people complaining, ranting, pointing fingers, pitting one group against another, etc. rather than working the problem.
Is there an issue with the safety measures I mentioned above? They are pretty much what grocery clerks have except the cohort part. Masks, screening, cleaning, testing. The testing part still needs to be ramped up. It's just atrociously inadequate.
If California's high school football season begins, this is what is likely to happen. These are stories from around the country just yesterday.
5 Utah teams have confirmed having a player test positive for COVID-19, while Herriman had a staff member test positive last weekend.
The Gwinnett County (Georgia) School District confirms four individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 since football conditioning began on June 8.
The Tuscarawas County Health Department (Ohio) is telling members of a high school football team to isolate after a player tested positive for COVID-19. A Dover High School player, who tested positive, last attended practice on June 26. The county is asking any player and coach that was at practice Friday to self-quarantine until July 11. It is unknown if the district will continue with practice.
Less than a week after the local health department reported Hillgrove High School’s (Georgia) football program had a confirmed case of COVID-19, two more Cobb schools football programs have also confirmed a case. Officials say football conditioning will continue and that all protocols recommended by public health officials are being followed.
Another Centerville High School (Ohio) football player has tested positive for the COVID-19, and the school district has put a hold on full-contact practices.
Now that a Mt. Healthy (Ohio) football player has tested positive for COVID-19, athletic programs in the district are taking a two-week hiatus.
Almost all Midlands (South Carolina) school districts are pumping the brakes on summer sports workouts as new coronavirus cases around the state continue to soar.
Less than two weeks after allowing football teams to begin training, Horry County Schools (South Carolina) is suspending athletic conditioning programs until further notice.
It is now being recommended that an entire high school football team undergo COVID-19 testing and self-quarantine after an assistant coach (in West Virginia) tested positive over the weekend.
The seasons for high school football and girls’ soccer in Tennessee will not start as scheduled because of COVID-19. The TSSAA on Tuesday sent a memo to member schools updating them on the start of the 2020-21 sports season. No new start dates were announced.
5 Utah teams have confirmed having a player test positive for COVID-19, while Herriman had a staff member test positive last weekend.
The Gwinnett County (Georgia) School District confirms four individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 since football conditioning began on June 8.
The Tuscarawas County Health Department (Ohio) is telling members of a high school football team to isolate after a player tested positive for COVID-19. A Dover High School player, who tested positive, last attended practice on June 26. The county is asking any player and coach that was at practice Friday to self-quarantine until July 11. It is unknown if the district will continue with practice.
Less than a week after the local health department reported Hillgrove High School’s (Georgia) football program had a confirmed case of COVID-19, two more Cobb schools football programs have also confirmed a case. Officials say football conditioning will continue and that all protocols recommended by public health officials are being followed.
Another Centerville High School (Ohio) football player has tested positive for the COVID-19, and the school district has put a hold on full-contact practices.
Now that a Mt. Healthy (Ohio) football player has tested positive for COVID-19, athletic programs in the district are taking a two-week hiatus.
Almost all Midlands (South Carolina) school districts are pumping the brakes on summer sports workouts as new coronavirus cases around the state continue to soar.
Less than two weeks after allowing football teams to begin training, Horry County Schools (South Carolina) is suspending athletic conditioning programs until further notice.
It is now being recommended that an entire high school football team undergo COVID-19 testing and self-quarantine after an assistant coach (in West Virginia) tested positive over the weekend.
The seasons for high school football and girls’ soccer in Tennessee will not start as scheduled because of COVID-19. The TSSAA on Tuesday sent a memo to member schools updating them on the start of the 2020-21 sports season. No new start dates were announced.
There are many ways to social distance and mitigate risks at schools for both the students and the teachers.
I’m more interested in when or if there will be football this year. I know there is a meeting in July. But if you are looking at the WCAL, they are spread out over 3 counties.
I’m more interested in when or if there will be football this year. I know there is a meeting in July. But if you are looking at the WCAL, they are spread out over 3 counties.
WCAL is a very interesting league to monitor through this. All private schools, but in different districts. Can create a quasi schedule with themsevles and a few other privates. Heavy sports emphasis so not going to cancel/postpone until all options are explored.
I mentioned a month ago on NCP that a single + test will throw a full season into dissarray IF during the season. And full season meaning at least 2-3 weeks for each and every player/coach/(ref?) that had contact. This is contact tracing at its core and as soon as CAs 10,000 tracers become refined, it’ll be real.
And you thought dwindling participation numbers and CTE were an issue last year!
And you thought dwindling participation numbers and CTE were an issue last year!
Won't each individual county have something to say about how any school, public or private, is allowed to deal with competitive athletics? The governor also has taken it upon himself to dictate a great deal in this virus realm so far. It's not clear at all that any school can do whatever it wants within its own set of protocols. This is all unexplored territory.
Collectively, as an entire U.S. Society, we have failed to contain this awful virus. Science and Data gave way to "COVID fatigue" and the spring/summer weather. No national guidance and all states/counties doing their own thing. Utter chaos. And, here we are.
Santa Clara County has been especially dicey in the virus department this summer. Tougher restrictions than San Mateo or San Francisco counties. Half the WCAL is located in SCC.
“Heavy sports emphasis.” Not so sure those families will appreciate the label. Not saying it isn’t true.
MLB will be the Petri dish. But there’ll be enough MiLB guys around to plug holes. (Not the case for most HS FB programs.) But just like Leake and others, some will decide “forget this. I’m taking a wash this year since I’m prorated anyhow. And those stories where super healthy dudes have lingering symptoms for months? No dice. I’ll wait for SARS-CoV-2-VAX...”
So true, which makes it so sad. But we still must move forward with new resolve.
I was in the grocery store yesterday and in a department store today in Elk Grove. In each case I saw ONE person without a mask. Even a few weeks ago, it was 50/50. Masks, hand sanitizer, and social distancing can keep this from spiking, but people MUST be fastidious.
Stay safe, everyone.
That is a good point. I was looking more about not having the school district hurdle, but still a complicated process.
I was writing in terms of if there are leagues/schools that will push through the issues the most in order to have sports, the WCAL is at or near the top of that list IMO. But like I said on my previous reply to @colhenrylives, that is a too simplistic view of what these schools will need to figure out over the next few months and beyond
Just ribbing S1. The complexity of remote school and “greater than social bubble” sports at any competition level was heightened this week with greater numbers of infections.
In a State of 40 million, the complexities are amplified. How can anyone, other than a police state, manage the behavior of individuals in an area, for example, the LA basin or the Bay Area? Multiple counties, jurisdictional blurring of boundaries, uncontrollable movement of people across such, is why leadership from Sacramento has to help mitigate.
As much as most vets here would like to be chatting about HS sports, it’s down the list.
In a State of 40 million, the complexities are amplified. How can anyone, other than a police state, manage the behavior of individuals in an area, for example, the LA basin or the Bay Area? Multiple counties, jurisdictional blurring of boundaries, uncontrollable movement of people across such, is why leadership from Sacramento has to help mitigate.
As much as most vets here would like to be chatting about HS sports, it’s down the list.
In my humble opinion there is too much fear of Covid19. Too many people equate catching Covid19 with death. If people are younger that 65 and healthy there is a very low risk of death. In CA we have had zero facilities of school age children. There has been much media coverage about the number of pro, college and high school athletes who have been tested and diagnosed with covid19 and almost all of them had no symptoms or any idea they had it. I have not even heard of a covid19 hospitalization of a healthy pro, college or high school athlete. The data shows approximately a third of the national fatalities are from nursing homes and 80% of the them are 65 or older and often with comorbidity issues. The data shows the risk of death for young and healthy people from covid19 is minimal and less than the flu and being in a car accident. We have learned to minimize the risk of car accidents and the flu and live with them. This should be no different. We should be isolating the old and sick and letting the young and healthy live life. The reason so many young and healthy people do not wear masks and ignore the shutdown is that they see the data and do not fear covid19. As a result infections are going up now but notably not fatalities of the young and healthy.
The shutdown of society and sports has not stopped covid19 and will not stop covid19 going forward. Covid is here to stay no matter how tight the shutdown requirements are. The shutdown has only delayed the problem. Every time we shut down the cases go down and every time we open up the cases will go up. Who knows if and when there will be a vaccine and the shutdowns are not sustainable and cause tremendous damage to our economy and the mental health of our people.
At the beginning of this crisis, many experts who sadly were silenced advocated staying open and going for herd immunity. Sweden went this route. We should be considering this option now and the young and healthy should lead the way.
High School, College and Pro Sports should all start in the Fall with a commitment to keep going when the covid19 cases start happening. If individual athletes or coaches are uncomfortable taking the risk, they should sit out. Looking at pro and college athletics to date it looks like 95%+ want to participate and are willing to take the risk. Individuals and families have all the data and should have the freedom to decided whether they want to take the risk or not. As part of deciding to take the risk, participants would need to sign a liability waiver (note the legal issues are probably the biggest deterrent for organizations going forward).
When athletes get sick, which is a certainty, the sick athlete should be removed to quarantine and the team should keep going. If too many players on a team are sick, that team should suspend its games until enough players are healthy but the rest of the teams should keep going. If there are significant fatalities authorities would need to pause but the data to date shows that outcome is highly unlikely. As mentioned above in this thread this same process worked with grocery stores and other essential services. Some may not consider sports an essential service but it is an essential part of our young peoples education and it is a potential leader to show the way in our too fearful society. We need leaders and sports can play that role.
A lot of this comes down to the philosophy of whether people want to live life afraid and stay locked up or live a full and free life. Looking back at history society has achieved great things when individuals have the freedom to take risks for the greater good. That is how wars and revolutions are won and new industries and lifestyles are created. This is a war vs. Covid19 and it will not be won by everyone staying home. I think people should have the freedom to choose how they live life.
The shutdown of society and sports has not stopped covid19 and will not stop covid19 going forward. Covid is here to stay no matter how tight the shutdown requirements are. The shutdown has only delayed the problem. Every time we shut down the cases go down and every time we open up the cases will go up. Who knows if and when there will be a vaccine and the shutdowns are not sustainable and cause tremendous damage to our economy and the mental health of our people.
At the beginning of this crisis, many experts who sadly were silenced advocated staying open and going for herd immunity. Sweden went this route. We should be considering this option now and the young and healthy should lead the way.
High School, College and Pro Sports should all start in the Fall with a commitment to keep going when the covid19 cases start happening. If individual athletes or coaches are uncomfortable taking the risk, they should sit out. Looking at pro and college athletics to date it looks like 95%+ want to participate and are willing to take the risk. Individuals and families have all the data and should have the freedom to decided whether they want to take the risk or not. As part of deciding to take the risk, participants would need to sign a liability waiver (note the legal issues are probably the biggest deterrent for organizations going forward).
When athletes get sick, which is a certainty, the sick athlete should be removed to quarantine and the team should keep going. If too many players on a team are sick, that team should suspend its games until enough players are healthy but the rest of the teams should keep going. If there are significant fatalities authorities would need to pause but the data to date shows that outcome is highly unlikely. As mentioned above in this thread this same process worked with grocery stores and other essential services. Some may not consider sports an essential service but it is an essential part of our young peoples education and it is a potential leader to show the way in our too fearful society. We need leaders and sports can play that role.
A lot of this comes down to the philosophy of whether people want to live life afraid and stay locked up or live a full and free life. Looking back at history society has achieved great things when individuals have the freedom to take risks for the greater good. That is how wars and revolutions are won and new industries and lifestyles are created. This is a war vs. Covid19 and it will not be won by everyone staying home. I think people should have the freedom to choose how they live life.
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Education employee unions do not agree with your main premise. They are having a huge impact on if and when public schools can continue with competitive athletics. Their focus is on the health and safety of their adult memberships.
It is correct that there are very few deaths for younger people, but while that 18 year old probably won’t even get sick, they will, unless they live in a bubble, be able to transmit it to others. Those others could be their parents, grandparents, friends or competitors on other teams who can then spread it even more. This is not just the flu. We will soon be at 130,000 deaths in the US in four months. We have tried opening things up and it has been a disaster. Wearing a mask and social distancing are vital, but too many are ignoring that.
You can’t social distance in athletic competition and wearing a mask is not really practical.
I don’t see the possibility of public schools participating in interscholastic athletics until at least January and most likely not at all until a vaccine is developed. At this time they can’t even figure out how to conduct schools for educational purposes.
Sports, cheerleading, choir, band, clubs etc. are near the bottom of the priority list.
You can’t social distance in athletic competition and wearing a mask is not really practical.
I don’t see the possibility of public schools participating in interscholastic athletics until at least January and most likely not at all until a vaccine is developed. At this time they can’t even figure out how to conduct schools for educational purposes.
Sports, cheerleading, choir, band, clubs etc. are near the bottom of the priority list.
I am consistently amazed by the "Only old people die" line of reasoning. It's really not accurate, but even if it was my grandparents all lived into their mid-80's to early 90's with pretty good mental functioning until the end. My wife's grandparents did, as well, with one grandmother making it to 100 years old with a SHARP mind. Mine and my wife's parents are all in their 70's now. Are we supposed to, as a society, just write off what could be 10 or 20 years of fulfilling experiences for these people and for their families? Are we just callous and cold now? The only businesses that will be saved by killing off parts of our population are funeral homes.
I'm not disagreeing with everything you posted, but I just can't get past this mentality when I see it. This isn't the flu and every other "rich" country has handled it much better than the U.S. Let's learn from them so that we can open up the right way instead of consciously sacrificing family members of a certain age.
Oh yeah, and Sweden REGRETS their move. FAR, FAR, FAR more deaths than the other Scandinavian countries and less than 8% of the population has contracted the disease, according to their testing. It takes 70-80% for herd immunity.
The Santa Clara County health director has banned extracurricular activities at schools in the fall. She has not ruled yet on athletics.
Coach R...Young people will make old people sick. Old people include coaches, officials, teacher, parents, grandparents...you get the picture. You say to isolate the old and the sick. Just how do you do that?
As for the Sweden model, 7.7% of COVID cases over there result in someone dying. In California the death rate is 2.6%. The Swedish government has begun a formal investigation to figure out what they did wrong.
Having said this, I do agree with Armchair who called it COVID fatigue. We are all getting tired of this. I predict no sports this Fall. I predict that by this time next year we will still have COVID cases and be confronted with the question of sports in the Fall of 2021. But I also predict that we will all be so tired of COVID that we will just accept it as a way of life...sort of like cancer. Sad, if true.
As for the Sweden model, 7.7% of COVID cases over there result in someone dying. In California the death rate is 2.6%. The Swedish government has begun a formal investigation to figure out what they did wrong.
Having said this, I do agree with Armchair who called it COVID fatigue. We are all getting tired of this. I predict no sports this Fall. I predict that by this time next year we will still have COVID cases and be confronted with the question of sports in the Fall of 2021. But I also predict that we will all be so tired of COVID that we will just accept it as a way of life...sort of like cancer. Sad, if true.
Pray for an effective, available vaccine.
I know we have opposing views but specific to your parents how would playing high school sports increase the risk to them?
some just think its no big deal. who cares if 10 kids on the team get it and then pass it to 15 other kids then pass it to 12 adults as long as they arent old.
Well, many "extended" families are very close. Be it they live together (grandparents, parents, kids, etc) and/or these family members are very dependent on each other -as caregivers, baby sitters, etc.). Also, many family members of all ages attend games and support HS activities.
it's pointless... the same arguments are going back and forth on this topic.
no one listens to anyone. if you think it's no big deal, apparently, there is no changing your mind.
it's infuriating.
too many people, including many on here, think they are smarter than the virus and public health experts.
YOU ARE WRONG. but, you know...football. priorities, i guess.
no one listens to anyone. if you think it's no big deal, apparently, there is no changing your mind.
it's infuriating.
too many people, including many on here, think they are smarter than the virus and public health experts.
YOU ARE WRONG. but, you know...football. priorities, i guess.
Well, in the specific, they go to games. Except my mom. But she goes to band recitals with my nephew. All of their grand kids have been, or are varsity sport athletes except the youngest ones. They are in youth sports, though. In the general, there is very little separation in many families, including many, many grandparents who live with their grand children.
I'm confused on the opposing views comment. Personally, I want to see data driven solutions that allow effective mitigation practices to be put into place (masks, screening, cleaning, testing, etc.) without unduly risking vulnerable populations so that we can all get back to some semblance of our former lifestyle. So many other countries are already there. We could be there, too. I can't imagine you are opposed to that.
At first I was skeptical. I thought it was no big deal. I do not attend football games so I figured it too will pass. Obviously I underestimated this virus and hope others realize it. Seems like so long ago I watched Contagion and Outbreak and thought it would be over soon.it's pointless... the same arguments are going back and forth on this topic.
no one listens to anyone. if you think it's no big deal, apparently, there is no changing your mind.
it's infuriating.
too many people, including many on here, think they are smarter than the virus and public health experts.
YOU ARE WRONG. but, you know...football. priorities, i guess.
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