Safety updates jeopardize S.F. sports seasons
Stricter health and safety requirements for referees in the San Francisco Unified School District might delay a longawaited high school sports season, leaving coaches, athletic directors and parents frustrated and angry.
In an email sent Friday by San Francisco Section Commissioner Don Collins to school athletic directors and principals and seen by The Chronicle, the SFUSD’s legal office is reclassifying sports officials in order to limit contact with students.
The new requirements — a COVID-19 vaccine, a TB test and a Department of Justice/ FBI fingerprint for background checks — put the fall season for SFS public schools, as well as sports at SFUSD middle schools, in a bind.
The girls high school volleyball season — set to start Friday — was postponed for a week. All football and volleyball nonleague home games must be played at non-SFS sites. If that isn’t possible, games will be reduced to scrimmages.
“The reclassification means that we currently can’t contract with officials in any sports,” Collins wrote.
The move comes after the San Francisco Section was the only one in the state (there are 10) to not play football and basketball in 2020-21 because of SFUSD regulations. Other sports pushed into the spring season also were delayed by more than a month due to district red tape. Complicating matters is the shortage of high school officials.
Lincoln football coach Phil Ferrigno — expecting another delay in the fall season — scheduled only road games.
“This is ridiculous,” Ferrigno said. “Stupid. I knew that the school district would find a way to screw something up. In this case, someone in legal dragging their feet. I’m so glad I scheduled away games.
“Hopefully, they can iron this out soon. Let’s face it, there aren’t people standing in line to referee high school games in the city. Making it harder on them on such short notice is not the way to go.”
The timing of the announcement, not the requirements, is the issue.
“The vaccination requirement isn’t a problem,” wrote Collins. “We live in a pandemic.”
But the TB test for those not in academics and the background requirements could require considerable time and expense, Collins warned.
“In short, we aren’t going to have officials for a while,” Collins said.
“As a parent, I have no problem with the rules they are trying to instill,” said longtime Lowell assistant baseball coach Romeo Aurelio, whose seventhgrade daughter Simone attends Lawton Alternative School and plays baseball. Lawton had its season-opening game canceled Thursday when no umpires arrived.
“It’s the timing of all of this and how they are going about it that concerns me. Why not put this in for next year? Let’s put a plan in place to make that happen and let’s find a way to get the games played right now. It seems like the SFUSD is doing everything they can to prevent the kids from getting out on the fields and courts. Haven’t these kids been through enough the last two years?”
Mission High School athletic director and boys basketball coach Arnold Zelaya said his student-athletes have been more than patient.
“We’re still in the middle of a pandemic, and sports provides some sort of normalcy for these kids,” Zelaya said. “They’ve been great and adjusted well to all the craziness of the world. Now we’ve hit them with another snag. Another precaution. It’s very frustrating.”