DeKalb County Schools on Friday became the latest and largest school district to postpone football games and other sports competitions until October. DeKalb has 19 high schools that are members of the Georgia High School Association.
Newton County, with three high schools, suspended high school sports indefinitely.
DeKalb County made its announcement late Friday afternoon in an interoffice memorandum to faculty and staff.
“After evaluating the data and the cases since July 1, the District feels that this decision is in the best interest of our student-athletes, coaches, their families, and the community,’' superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris said in the memo. “The concerns created by coronavirus place our student-athletes at an unacceptable level of risk, even after safety measures were implemented during practices.
‘‘As a mother of a former high school football player and competitive cheerleader, I understand the role sports play in galvanizing the local community and instilling the values of teamwork, leadership, self-discipline and perseverance among our scholars. However, the current health risk is too great.”
The memorandum made it unclear whether sports teams were allowed to continue conditioning. It stated that ‘‘the district will continue conditioning through September’' but also encouraged ‘‘safe individual workouts.‘'
Newton County’s move comes a week after announcing that the district would have online-only learning this fall.
‘‘In keeping with the same objective, NCSS leadership has determined that the risk of transmission supersedes our desire to continue extracurricular activities at this time,’' the school district announced Friday on its website.
On Thursday, Fulton County suspended sports competitions until Sept. 14, pushing its opening football games to two weeks later than allowed by the GHSA. Practices were allowed to continue. There are 16 GHSA members in Fulton.
Bibb County Schools in Macon also moved Thursday to suspended competitions but set no date to return. Bibb allowed practices to continue. Other districts with multiple high schools that have delayed or canceled sports competitions are Clayton and Rockdale in metro Atlanta and Savannah-Chatham and Dougherty in South Georgia.
DeKalb has been one of the more cautious school districts in reopening sports since the GHSA allowed summer conditioning to begin June 8. DeKalb’s teams worked out in groups of 20 until June 27, a month longer than the GHSA opened it up to 50.
DeKalb’s schools that are members of the GHSA are Arabia Mountain, Cedar Grove, Chamblee, Clarkston, Colulmbia, Cross Keys, Druid Hills, Dunwoody, M.L. King, Lakeside, Lithonia, McNair, Miller Grove, Redan, Southwest DeKalb, Stephenson, Stone Mountain, Towers and Tucker.
Newton’s schools are Alcovy, Eastside and Newton.
Interoffice memorandum sent Friday:
To: All DeKalb Employees
From: Communications Department
Through: Antwyn Brown, Chief of Staff
Subject: DCSD Delays Athletic Activities for Fall Season Due to COVID-19
Date: August 14, 2020
DeKalb County School District (DCSD) announced today that all athletic activity for the 2020 fall season will be delayed until the end of September due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes marching bands and auxiliary groups. The district will continue conditioning through September while monitoring and revisiting its plan. DCSD will monitor the data provided by health partners and will revisit to make a determination regarding fall sports at the end of September.
The decision comes after reviewing the latest data from the DeKalb County Board of Health and feedback from parents, coaches and other stakeholders regarding the increase of COVID-19 cases in DeKalb County. The district has solicited and received input from the community on this topic and acknowledges that there are different opinions on the matter, however the health and safety of students and staff continues to be the top priority for DCSD.
To garner input and discuss the issue, the district held an Athletic Town Hall on Aug. 4 to engage the community and address concerns. During that event, Dr. Sandra Ford of the DeKalb County Board of Health shared the data outlining the spread of cases in DeKalb County, and other information related to prevention efforts of the district were highlighted. At this time, there have been 14 cases of COVID-19 associated with DCSD sports activity since July 1.
“After evaluating the data and the cases since July 1, the District feels that this decision is in the best interest of our student-athletes, coaches, their families, and the community. The concerns created by coronavirus place our student-athletes at an unacceptable level of risk, even after safety measures were implemented during practices,” said Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris. “As a mother of a former high school football player and competitive cheerleader, I understand the role sports play in galvanizing the local community and instilling the values of teamwork, leadership, self-discipline and perseverance among our scholars. However, the current health risk is too great.”
Collegiate coaches are still pursuing student-athletes for scholarship opportunities. A delay of the season will afford athletes and coaches more time to prepare and continue engagement through virtual workouts and team meetings. The district strongly encourages parents, coaches, and local athletic directors to continue appropriate collaboration with collegiate coaches and engage in safe individual workouts.
On June 18, DeKalb County Schools allowed athletes to begin conditioning with restrictions in accordance with Georgia High School Association guidelines (including fewer number of participants in pods, shorter amount of time allowed for activity). The district also implemented temperature checks, encouraged face coverings and monitored social distancing of athletic participants and stated that it would closely monitor data to determine next steps.
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