As public schools across Utah begin to reopen there is much uncertainty, but one thing is for sure: There is no possible way for football players, basketball players, wrestlers, cheerleaders and all the other athletic programs to maintain social distancing.
In the Davis School District, teachers are going to school full time, but their students are going to school part time.
Within the four walls of their classrooms, teachers can maintain proper social distancing with a high degree of effectiveness. Is it perfect? Will there be times when students are less than 6 feet apart? Will there be exceptions for hallways and parking lots where teachers can’t always maintain social distancing guidelines? Of course.
But pandemic reduction is about percentages, not about perfection. Students can be socially distanced in classrooms, and if they are all wearing masks and 6 feet apart, the percentages look good and the reduction, or at least the maintenance of the status quo, can occur.
There is absolutely no way to socially distance while playing athletics at all. The idea is absolutely absurd.
What essentially is happening is this: The Davis School District has decided that the education of 70,000-plus students is worth sacrificing on the altar of the pig skin and the pom-pom. If we are going to get this right, we have to do this right.
Cancel all high school and junior high athletics while there’s still time to save a year’s worth of education for 70,000 students. Otherwise it’s online learning for all within a month.
“The Legislature shall provide for the establishment and maintenance of the state’s education systems including: (a) a public education system, which shall be open to all children of the state,” the Utah Constitution states.
That’s weird. Our Constitution doesn’t say anything about football or cheerleading.
Sam Dixon, Salt Lake City
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/32xvCU0
August 30, 2020 at 07:30AM
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