New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
BOE to allow extracurricular activities for distance learners
EAST HAVEN — East Haven public school students who have chosen distance learning over an in-person return to school now can take part in extracurricular activities — including sports — as a result of the Board of Education’s decision to change a policy that had been put in place by the administration.
The board voted unanimously to allow it after members, including Tom Hennessey, received an email complaining that band members who already had been practicing for two months were told they no longer could be in the band because they or their families had opted for distance learning.
Hennessey, a Republican board member, asked to add it to the agenda at a recent board meeting. East Haven was one of the few districts in the area to do a full in-person return to school. Its first day of school was Sept. 8.
Neither the state Department of Education nor the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, or CIAC, has taken a position on the subject, so it is up to individual school systems, Superintendent of School Erica Forti told the board on Sept. 8.
“So you have North Branford that’s not allowing it, West Haven that’s not allowing it, Amity that’s not allowing it, but I think Milford is” and “Guilford is,” Forti said.
Hennessey told the board, “I got an email tonight from a parent, and if this email is true ... the band’s practiced for two months, and all of a sud
den, today,” a student was told, “‘Oh, you’re a remote learner. You can’t come.’
“Is that true?” he asked.
Several people at the meeting told him it was.
“It sounds crazy to me,” Hennessey said.
Chairwoman Michele DeLucia responded, “The best thing we can do is go forward and change that right now.”
East Shore District Health Department Director Michael Pascucilla said there is nothing to prohibit students who are distance learning from participating in extracurricular activities.
“Legally, it’s allowed,” he said. But it sends “a mixed message,” Pascucilla said.
“I think a parent needs to think carefully . ... If they’re concerned about (sending their child to) school then they should be concerned about extracurricular activities,” he said.
While he said he was not overly concerned about it, “if someone has
... a compromised immune system or some other reason why they’re being kept out of school, then the parents really need think twice” about whether to allow them to play sports or participate in other extracurricular activities.
At DeLucia’s request, the board
will require a liability waiver and a medical release form for any students who have health conditions that necessitate them staying home. The release would need to be signed by a physician, she said.
The vote, while unanimous, came over some misgivings by board Vice Chairwoman Theresa “Tia” DePalma, who thought more study was needed — and voted against adding it to the agenda before later voting to approve it once it had been placed on the agenda.
“I think it’s too soon to discuss this,” DePalma said. “I think we should do a little more research on I think that this was a surprise. To vote on this tonight, I don’t think we have enough information on it.”
Forti sought clarification as to whether the rule change would apply to sports, as well.
“Extracurricular activities we can do in both a remote and in-person setting, especially some of the clubs and other activities here at the high school,” Forti said. “Obviously, sports or band or things of that nature, you can’t really do remotely.”
“... I think if there are medical conditions, a release from a medical adviser is a good idea just so that we know it’s safe for the child,” she said.
Hennessey responded, “If you’re not asking for a medical waiver for a kid to come to school, why would you ask him for one for one to play in the band?” he asked. “It sounds ridiculous.” it.
DeLucia pointed out that “every kid does have a physical that is signed-off in order to play sports,” but said that if they’re claiming another illness as the reason to stay home, “we should have a waiver from a physician.”
Hennessey drew applause from the few parents in the audience in the socially-distanced meeting in the East Haven High School auditorium when he responded, “They don’t have to claim anything to stay home, except, ‘I want to stay home.’”
Forti said that whether to allow stay-at-home students to take part in extracurricular activities “would be at the board’s discretion.”
“They do need, obviously, to have a physical on file and all the appropriate paperwork, like they would when they registered to come in-district,” she said. “Most students probably already have that, with an updated physical form in place . ... We can use that as the ‘release,’ per se, which is required by state law.”
DePalma, who works as a teacher in a neighboring town’s school system, pointing out that by letting students who are learning at home participate in extracurricular activities, the school system is putting them in contact with students who are in school, working against “the same reasons that you wanted to keep your kids remote,” except “you’re now saying it’s OK.”