State College Area School Board on Monday voted to approve a winter and spring athletics health and safety plan that, for now, will allow interscholastic competition for Little Lion winter teams to begin in January.
The plan, developed in consultation with the district’s health and safety team, allows for competition to begin after Jan. 1. But, Superintendent Bob O’Donnell said, if statewide and local COVID-19 cases continue at their current pace or rise in the coming weeks, ‘we may forego interscholastic competition until we see a more positive outlook. We would do this for the sake of the district’s health and safety and the community at large.’
Pennsylvania has routinely set single-day records for new COVID-19 cases over the past month as hospitalizations continue to rise. Centre County has seen an uptick in new cases after daily increases began to drop in October, and for weeks Mount Nittany Medical Center has had its highest numbers of COVID-19 inpatients, with 38 hospitalized as of Monday.
SCASD has had 18 COVID-19 positives among students and 23 among employees in the past week, but the district has been in remote learning since Thanksgiving break because of staffing challenges and concerns about a post-holiday surge in cases. The district has had a total of 45 employee positives and 44 student positives since the school year began in August.
“We don’t think we have all the information right now to make decisions, but if the virus in the state continues to get worse, we want to have the ability to pull back on competitions and travel,” O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell said that he and superintendents of neighboring school districts would like to see the PIAA postpone statewide competition to Feb. 1, adjusting championship dates and the start of spring competitions accordingly.
‘Our rationale really is with seeing some light at the end of the tunnel with the pandemic and the vaccines coming, we believe that if there was a Feb. 1 start date and things were adjusted accordingly for both the winter and spring seasons that would be a better scenario,’ he said.
Because the school district conducts all contact tracing for student COVID-19 cases, O’Donnell said, an athlete testing positive after a competition would consume resources needed to keep schools in in-person learning status.
‘Every case that we’ve had in the district we’ve done every bit of contact tracing with our employees,’ he said. ‘The Department of Health has done nothing to help us with any of this. They state that they’re committed to do that. The problem is that they don’t have the ability.
‘Most of the superintendents in our region want to see this postponed so that athletics doesn’t become the main thing if we end up having to contact trace because of a close contact at a competition. That’s not a quick process, and we want our nurses to focus on our efforts to have in-person learning.’
He added that teams in school districts like State College that started their fall seasons later were at a disadvantage when others began in late August and early September. A unified later start would put teams on a level playing field.
Under the plan approved Monday, when district schools are in in-person status, all sports will be permitted to compete in a reduced schedule, mostly within the Mid-Penn Conference.
When the district is in remote status, only non-contact sports will be allowed to participate in interscholastic competition because they have no variance of risk between practice and competition. Those include sideline cheerleading, rowing, baseball, softball, track and field, tennis, swimming and bocce.
During remote status, contact sports could conduct practices and intrasquad scrimmages but not take part in interscholastic competition. Those include basketball, ice hockey, field hockey, girls lacrosse, rugby, wrestling, competitive cheer, boys lacrosse and volleyball.
For practices during remote status, coaches will adjust the number of athletes, the length, and the structure of each practice to help mitigate contacts.
The plan includes safety measures for mask-wearing, hand sanitizing and physical distancing, as well as requiring temperature checks before practices and travel to competitions.
Coaches and staff are required to wear masks at all times during practices and competitions. Athletes are required to do so when idle and not engaged in physical activity — meaning as of now the district will not require athletes to wear face coverings while competing.
That could potentially change, however. Will Stout, assistant superintendent for secondary education, said an informal survey was sent to athletic directors around the state, with 98 responding so far. Of those, 80% said they are requiring athletes to wear masks during competitions.
‘Our competition plan right now allows our students when they’re participating not to wear masks,’ Stout said. ‘But that may change. We may have to apply some administrative discretion there.’
The plan authorizes district administration to assess conditions and make changes as needed.
Board member Scott Fozard said he has heard concerns about ice hockey players wearing masks because it restricts peripheral vision. As a result, players are keeping their heads down, leaving them open to potential injury
‘We’re trading one risk for another relative to the hockey players being on the ice [if masks are required],’ Fozard said.
Michelle Young, who has three students in the school district, said face coverings for wrestlers are dangerous and not helpful in mitigating the spread of the virus, adding that the World Health Organization recommends agains mask-wearing during vigorous exercise.
‘Mask-wearing while wrestling is impractical at preventing the spread of COVID as an opponents’ hands, arms and side of their face while come into contact with a sweaty mask and then they touch their own faces. Nor will the mask remain in place as wrestlers vigorously attempt to dominate their partner or opponent,’ she said. ‘Dealing with viral, bacterial and fungal infection is always a part of wrestling. Using proper mitigation events can happen with little to no transfer of virus. Mitigation practices such as those endorsed by the PIAA for wrestling have worked for clubs and the events that we have been attending.’
Amy Schoen, whose son is a senior wrestler, said she would like to see the district allow sports like wrestling to continue even if in remote status.
‘Yes, there are other opportunities for wrestlers in the community. However, the State College team will always be the first choice for most of these kids. I would love for that season to actually be able to happen,’ she said. ‘I endured the fall season with him and it was very challenging, albeit at the same time it was the one constant thing that you could count on, the way the year is going.’
The school board approved the plan 7-2, with members Lori Bedell and Gretchen Brandt voting no.
Bedell said she is concerned about rising case numbers and hospitalizations in the local community.
‘We’re talking about bringing hundreds of kids together in a systematic way. I worry that at this juncture that if we’re not making conscious choices not to potentially contribute to rising case numbers we’re maybe not being responsible citizens and leaders in the community,’ she said. ‘I think allowing events where there is close contact indoors is so risky particularly as we head into this worsening situation. I feel we’re in a pretty dire situation and I don’t know that OKing athletics for January 1 is a good idea.’
O’Donnell noted that athletes have been working out indoors for weeks and have not been a source of COVID-19 cases within the district.
School Board President Amber Concepcion said she ‘felt better’ about the sports health and safety plan with administration having the ability to make changes as needed.
She added that she would support administrators further restricting spectator attendance, which under the current plan follows the Department of Health order for occupancy limits.
“I certainly would be comfortable with the administration making more stringent provisions for spectators than we’ve had so far, if you feel the situation warrants it,” she said.
Varsity wrestling was granted an exemption to the Jan. 1 start to compete in a dual tournament on Dec. 19, with the requirement that participating wrestlers must move to remote learning for the remaining days before winter break.
