Sacramento County recommendations for schools ‘would kill high school sports’

High school sports as we know it in Sacramento County will have a wildly different, scaled-back look this coming academic year and perhaps much longer if recommendations laid out by the Sacramento County Office of Education are followed.

The Sacramento Bee obtained an early copy of the recommendations SCOE prepared regarding a plan for school reopenings amid the coronavirus pandemic. A task force comprised of 54 education officials and 15 teacher/parent leaders worked with the Sacramento County Public Health Office to prepare the recommendation plan. The plan presented offers a skeletal menu of sports -- if any of those seasons were to start this week.

That’s the key wording in the document, leaving plenty of room to adjust in the coming weeks.

The following sports for schools in Elk Grove Unified, Twin Rivers Unified, Natomas Unified, Sacramento City Unified, San Juan Unified and Folsom Cordova Unified could be permitted “If social distancing is feasible and modifications are made,” according to the document: Cheerleading, diving, golf, swimming (every other lane), tennis, track and field (which has clusters of people in some races) and cross country (which starts and often ends with large groups of runners in a pack).

The following sports would not be played under the guidelines as of this week: Basketball, baseball, soccer, softball, volleyball, water polo, wrestling, and the real whopper in terms of participation, popularity and revenue, football.

“This would decimate area schools and it would kill Sacramento County high school sports,” said Carl Reed, athletic director and assistant football coach at Grant High School. Reed also teaches computer science at his alma mater in Del Paso Heights.

“Our students need to be involved. Sports helps them stay engaged, gives them on track to graduate. And I know my community at Grant. People will be in an uproar about this. They’ll be absolutely livid about this if sports or activities that their kids want and need are taken away.”

Ron Nocetti is the director of the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for prep sports based in Sacramento. He received a copy of the report. He told The Bee, “From the CIF, this falls right in line with what we’ve said. As of today, this would be the recommendation. It clearly says in the report that as the school year approaches, further guidance likely is forthcoming if situations changes. We from the CIF are advocating a time of patience.”

He added, “Everyone wants to respond and not read (The Bee story) where it’s clear that these recommendations are as of today. That’s the nature of our society.”

Countering the impact? — All coaches and administrators contacted by The Bee said caution in dealing with the coronavirus is wise. Sacramento County has 1,439 confirmed cases as of Tuesday afternoon with 1,159 recovered and 58 deaths. But they also wonder whether more damage will be done in terms of a crushed school spirit and a loss of students via transfer if these recommendations carry through into the academic year without a drastic reduction on coronavirus numbers.

High school sports often include reactionary parents, and raw emotions fuel reactions, coaches said.

“Sacramento County is condensed, a lot of people, and there are a lot of kids in these schools,” said Monterey Trail football coach T.J. Ewing of the Elk Grove Unified School District. “We know we have to be super careful with this but I don’t think people need to panic.”

Natomas Unified Superintendent Chris Evans, part of this panel, said educators and administrators want their students involved in anything extracurricular on their campuses -for the social aspect, the development and the lessons learned. Adjustments are not easy on any campus or in any district, Evans said, adding, “People hate change.”

Evans added, “No one wants to fail our students,” adding that it would be a measure of failure if any extracurricular activities in schools are greatly reduced or eliminated.

Click here for the full document from the SCOE.

Transfer epidemic? — If the county’s recommendations are followed, coaches fear a mass exodus of students, meaning transfers, not to mention the decision-making of scores of incoming freshmen of which schools to attend. Parents generally spend the month of June plotting such courses.

If sports programs are suspended, eliminated or simply not offered in Sacramento County schools, scores of parents will surely move their student-athletes to areas that allow a full menu of extracurricular options. That could be in outlining areas such as Placer, El Dorado, Yolo or Yuba counties. Those districts have not released plans for school reopenings.

If there is an exodus of students leaving for other schools, the SacJoaquin Section office that governs schools in the region would then be placed in an unprecedented situation of how and if to clear transfers. Normally, students who transfer to schools outside their residential boundaries for athletic reasons must sit out either a year or 30 days in an effort to dissuade mass transfers. But California Interscholastic Federation bylaws stipulate that if a sport is not available on one campus, a student can transfer without penalty to the school that offers it.

“I hope that doesn’t happen, but I could see transfers happening in some cases for sure,” Inderkum football coach Casey Taylor said. “Kids need to get out and exercise, to be active. I’ve been really optimistic.”

Taylor became Inderkum’s coach after the COVID-19 pandemic led to him and 24 others getting laid off at Capital Christian High.

Speaking of private schools, would they suddenly get an influx of incoming transfers if these recommendations hold up? Private schools such as Bradshaw Christian, Capital Christian, Christian Brothers, Jesuit and scores of others do not have individual school districts. But they do charge tuition, unlike public schools.

Some of the powerhouse athletic programs in Northern California are from schools under this recommendation umbrella: Folsom football, basketball and wrestling, Sheldon boys basketball and softball, Inderkum football, Grant football and basketball, Monterey Trail football and track, Franklin baseball, Elk Grove football, baseball, softball and wrestling, and right on down the line.

Will students remain put in hopes of better news? To what extent is loyalty supposed to last?

“I wouldn’t beg our students to stay if we suddenly didn’t have some of these sports,” said Reed, the Grant athletic director. “I would tell our kids that if they can go and afford to go, then go somewhere that you can play sports that we won’t have. I hope it doesn’t get to that.”

Said Casa Roble football coach Chris Horner of the San Juan Unified district, “My gosh, this all opens the door for more problems. Now you’ll be dealing with the thought process of families and what their alternatives are, and I’m already dealing with some parents on that now. It’s everything -- all across the board: band, music, any sport a kid is involved in. I know our district works hard, and no district wants to lose kids.”

The CIF has said that it will rely on school districts across the state to implement plans of reopening. The CIF does not influence those decisions. One Bay Area district has approved the return of sports summer conditioning, and there is light talk in other parts of the state of pushing football into the spring, if needed, to salvage that season.

Sheldon softball coach Mary Jo Truesdale said she wonders how a large-populated school such as hers can make it all work. The recommendation guidelines calls for a modification of school schedules, staggering them, to avoid a mass crunch of students on campus at once. Considering that the Elk Grove Unified is the most populated district in Northern California, this figures to be quite a challenge.

Said Truesdale, “If we’re going to allow students back on campus this fall, how can we not have sports? I have a hard time believing that even if we cut it in half and we have 1,200 kids on campus at one time how we can really social distance everyone. It doesn’t make sense that you would allow that many on campus and still not allow a lot of sports activities.”

Howard Cadenhead is the principal at Folsom High, which ranks as one of the state’s top schools in terms of academics, programs and athletics. He also wonders how this can all work.

“We’re all mindful that things can change so fast right now,” Cadenhead said. “I don’t believe anyone is panicking right now, including with the latest recommendations, but things can change. We need to keep kids engaged, myself included, because these are all critical activities.”

Cadenhead said he wonders about more than just athletics, theater and the band. How does one social distance at a game or at a dance? Last year’s homecoming dance at Folsom had 1,800 students in the gym. Schools wrap weeks and seasons around such events, a build up of school spirit and anticipation.

“Dances are the least-positive example of social distancing,” Cadenhead said. “This is all a core of discussion (for educators and administrators across the region). If these are just recommendations, it allows us a lot of gray areas of what we can do, but if it’s mandated ... there won’t be a lot of things going on at area schools. What’s appropriate for Elk Grove schools compared to those in Sacramento or here? There will be a tremendous amount of social pressure if a nearby school is open for all activities and we are not.”