Onteora schools superintendent Victoria McLaren is still hesitant to allow athletics in the district amid varied guidance on Covid-19 precautions and pressure from parents.
Section 9 voted on September10 to delay the start of fall sports until March 1 after the New York State Public School Athletic Administration’s (NYSPSAA) decided to postpone high-risk fall sports, including football, cheerleading and volleyball until then. Section 9 took matters a step further and pushed all fall sports, even low-risk athletics like soccer, girls’ field hockey, swimming and tennis back to March 1.
“The fall season will follow from March to April and the spring season from May through June with exact start dates to be determined,” wrote Section 9 executive director Gregory Ransom after the decision. Under the plan, winter sports will commence on November 30. Ultimately, it’ll be the superintendent of each district who has the final decision.
“Really, it’s just expressing my complete frustration with the contradictory nature of the guidance and being held to certify that we are complying,” McLaren said of a recent reopening letter sent to parents in which she shared her thoughts on athletics.
The full letter is available at https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1600431764/onteorak12nyus/g2lrfal5axbayxc4pfoh/SuptLetter9-14-20_3.pdf. At the September 15 board meeting, she said students in sports can be six feet from each other, while activities such as playing musical instruments and singing require a twelve-foot distance.
McLaren said she has received many supportive emails and many not supportive of her stance. “Our state has failed our schools by providing contradictory guidance with no explanation and placing schools in a position to make decisions that have the potential to negatively impact the entire school community in an attempt to support our student athletes,” she said in her email.
She continues to question how there can be two sets of rules to follow within the same day. If one set of guidelines was developed to create a safe environment, she said, it should be consistent for everyone. Sports should not have been approved to proceed under these.
“Once students return to school, and we take the time to understand the impact of bringing large groups of children together,” she said, “I will consider whether it is in the best interest of our school community to resume athletics and what the guidelines should be for that to be done safely.”
Her letter struck a nerve with some parents who want their children to once again participate in athletics. “The email sent out districtwide last night had a tone that in my opinion was very negative,” said former school board trustee Lindsay Shands, a parent of a 2020 graduate and a kindergartener. “And it almost felt as if, after reading it several times, athletics is more of a nuisance for the administration than what it should be, which is a sense of pride.”
Shands implored the board and administration to say yes to things in a time of darkness and hopelessness.“As a parent, a voter and a community member, I am asking you to critically think this issue through, to delegate, to lean on our AD [athletic director] and communicate,” she said.
Shands criticized the lack of community discussion. “Section 9 has been discussing these issues since July,” she said. “Where are the town halls? Where is the communication? Please. I ask that you be consistent across the board.”
In the chat portion of the Google Meet platform used by the school board for videoconference meetings, some parents demanded town-hall meetings. Many included the slogan, “Let Them Play.”
Trustee Robert Kurnit said that given the risks he didn’t understand the opposition to McLaren’s position. “The superintendent laid out that there are some mixed issues with these guidelines. More than mixed. It’s a mess,” he said. “I just feel like we’re going down a rabbit hole here.”
Trustee Valerie Storey acknowledged the decision was a very difficult one. “There are some students that the only way they go to school is because they want to do sports,” she said. “On the other hand, you don’t want to introduce risk to students.”
Board president Laurie Osmond noted New York’s Covid-19 numbers were relatively low because the state erred on the side of caution. “Discussions aren’t going to change the science, and discussions aren’t going to change the characteristics of the disease,” she argued.
“A big part of this discussion should be a conversation about shared responsiblity,” trustee Emily Sherry said. “Until we’re all in agreement about what that responsibility looks like, I don’t know how we have that discussion.”
Trustee Dafne DeJesus said she would have been “a basket-case teenager” had it not been for high-school sports, but she said there were risks because of mixed households that didn’t exist before the pandemic. “There are senior citizens living with college students who are home and high-school students who can spread the disease to their relatives,” she said. “I don’t know if a forum is something we can do. I don’t know if I would be helpful. It might be helpful to the parents.”
Trustee Kevin Salem didn’t think a forum would be helpful to anyone “other than people expressing their feelings.” Salem said it was possible there could be an inexpensive rapid test that could change the whole discussion in two months. “If that’s true, this board member would approve funding. There are rational solutions coming, and I think we’re going to have to be more patient with this.”
Anti-racism resolution
In other business, the board unanimously approved an anti-racism resolution discussed at the September 1 meeting in response to recent events and protests across the country. Trustee Dafne DeJesus had researched resolutions from other school districts, and the board came up with language it thought appropriate for Onteora.
“We shall implement anti-racist training that requires district employees to be reflective of their own implicit biases and implement progressive disciplinary actions for employees who do not follow training guidelines or who exhibit racist behavior toward students, families, and other staff members,” states a passage in the resolution. “Continued education, monitoring, counseling, and mediation of students exhibiting or participating in racist behaviors shall also be implemented.”
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