Village of Life issued the following on Dec. 23
School, youth sports delayed again
Due to a spike of COVID-19 cases in El Dorado County, the El Dorado Union High School District announced that schools will not open full, in-person instruction Jan. 11 as previously planned.
On Nov. 10 the EDUHSD Board of Trustees announced plans to have students back in class full time by the second week in January. Since that decision was made, El Dorado County has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases, moving from the state’s orange tier and into the purple tier, the most restrictive. Then, under a plan devised by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the county and the entire Sacramento region was locked down for a minimum of three weeks due to dwindling ICU bed availability.
EDUHSD Superintendent Ron Carruth said COVID-19 community data will be reviewed at the Jan. 12 EDUHSD board meeting, during which trustees will look into the next steps toward moving to full-time, in-person instruction.
“Given the recent spike and increase in COVID-19 cases since Thanksgiving, we understand that coming back … on Jan. 11 would have exposed some significant challenges,” said Union Mine Principal Paul Neville. “We’re currently working through a shortage of substitutes and developing creative ways to safely bring all students back.”
Oak Ridge Principal Aaron Palm echoed similar sentiments. “The data that was coming in just wasn’t in our favor. I think the board made the right decision and we’ll get to that point where we’re able to open hopefully sooner than later.”
The high schools are currently in a hybrid learning model where students attend in-person class in staggered model a couple days a week.
Neville said that has been sustainable at Union Mine.
Oak Ridge moved to online only learning for about a week after cases spiked at the El Dorado Hills school; students have since returned to class part time.
Sports
High school athletes had hoped to start playing their respective sports by the end of December, but that too has been postponed until at least Jan. 25.
The California Department of Public Health recently released new guidelines for youth sports, further delaying games and competition. The guidelines will again be reassessed Jan. 4.
“Competitions between different teams have been associated with multiple outbreaks in California and across the country,” CDPH officials state in a press release. “Competitions are not permitted as they increase the probability of transmission due to mixing of households, traveling and unavoidable physical contact.”
Outdoor, low-contact sports like cross country and tennis will be allowed to come back while the state is in the purple tier (more than 8% positivity rate). Sports like baseball, softball and field hockey have to wait until the county is in the red tier (5-8% positivity). Football and soccer must wait until the county reaches to the orange tier (2-4.9% positivity) and basketball and cheerleading must wait until the county is in the yellow tier (less than 2% positivity).
“It’s been pretty tough on the players and coaches because we have such high hopes for this team,” said Union Mine head football coach Taylor Duncan. “We have been coaching this group of seniors since they were freshmen and we know how hard they have worked for their senior year.”
Duncan said his players are upset the season keeps getting delayed but the players continue to work as if they have an upcoming game.
“As a group we feel like this time is a great opportunity to come together as a team,” Duncan said. “I keep telling our players to control what they can control. A lot of times in life, things are out of our control. This is a great time to get bigger in the weight room, get fast, maintain good grades and be positive role models for their classmates and teammates.”
For a lot of athletes, missing out on their senior seasons could mean they won’t be able to show off their talents to college scouts.
After finishing with 48 catches for 714 yards and five touchdowns as a junior last season, Oak Ridge senior wide receiver Brandon Barthel worked extensively over the offseason to prepare for his senior year. He has been able to participate in 7-on-7 tournaments (non-tackle) in Washington and Utah, where he showed how much he has improved since being a key contributor to Oak Ridge’s 2019 section championship. At the Utah event he scored 15 touchdowns and was named tournament MVP.
He has since been offered chances to walk-on at Division 1 schools — University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Southern Utah University — but if the county can’t get back into the orange tier, he said he will miss out on the opportunity to play in front of scouts for other top universities interested in Oak Ridge’s players.
Original source can be found here
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