DEKALB SCHOOLS POSTPONES GAMES UNTIL OCTOBER

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 Thursday, Fulton County suspended sports competitions until Sept. 14, pushing its opening football games to two weeks later than allowed by the GHSA. There are 16 GHSA members in Fulton.

Bibb County Schools in Macon also suspended competitions but set no date to return. 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 schools that are members of the GHSA are Arabia Mountain, Cedar Grove, Chamblee, Clarkston, Columbia, 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.

Meanwhile, the Mays and Therrell high school football teams are under two-week quarantines after players tested positive for COVID-19, according to a spokesman for Atlanta Public Schools.

They join the programs at Westminster and Woodstock, whose teams have been sidelined or limited because of the virus.

Woodstock is the only known program quarantined in Cherokee County, where the school system has 1,106 students and staffers quarantined as a result of 80 positive COVID-19 cases.

Therrell is scheduled to end quarantine Aug. 17; Mays can resume practice Aug. 21.

When APS players test positive, teams must be quarantined from all football-related activities for two weeks, according to the school system’s policy. If an APS player tests positive once the season starts, the school system will consult with the GHSA on how to proceed.