OSWEGO – The Oswego City School District Board of Education on Tuesday approved the return of high-risk winter sports at the varsity level, allowing five sports teams to move forward with their season.
The resolution, which was approved unanimously by the board, allows for the varsity sports of boys and girls basketball, boys and girls hockey, and cheerleading to start the season with practices set to begin this week.
OCSD Superintendent Dr. Mathis Calvin III during the meeting presented COVID-19 data and requirements that need to be in place per federal, state and local health officials. His final recommendation to the board that the district bring back only varsity sports with an avenue for modified and junior varsity teams to return sometime in March for the next season.
“I’d like to thank the community for all their feedback and all of the time spent talking with me about athletics,” Calvin said. “I’ve heard both sides of the coin – people who want all athletics and people who said we should work on getting students back in school first. Your calls are greatly appreciated.”
Calvin noted the local COVID-19 cases throughout the school year that have impacted the district as a driving force behind his recommendation that sports are slowly phased back in.
He said between students and staff, the district has dealt with 105 positive COVID cases, 322 individuals quarantined by the department of health and more than 250 others who needed to quarantine due to symptoms or travel.
“This data is important when considering bringing back sports and we’ve consistently been in the top three countywide as far as cases and quarantine goes,” Calvin said. “Our top priority is the safety and health of our students and staff, so I really feel the best would be to incorporate sports slowly so we can look at the data and make decisions based on that.”
In order for these sports to move forward, the district must follow a number of protocols that have been put in place from NYSPHSAA, Section III, the state department of health, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Oswego County Health Department.
These requirements include no spectators allowed in person, a sport-specific preparedness plan, a consent form for parents to sign, athletes being cleared to participate by their health care provider, screening for athletes and a masking requirement in addition to other pieces.
Calvin told the board a majority of these requirements have already been completed in anticipation of the board’s decision to approve the resolution.
“Planning efforts and discussions for the return of sports at OCSD have been ongoing since the day our governor cleared the way for high-risk athletics to resume on Jan. 22,” Calvin said. “Our team has been hard at work to get these plans in place to ensure as timely a return as possible.”
Officials said that similar to in the fall, as many sporting events as possible would be live-streamed or recorded so families can still have access.
Calvin said further information and communications would be released as information becomes available.
“We are committed to communications as often and in as many places as possible so our community is informed of decisions as they are made,” Calvin said. “We encourage everyone to utilize our website, social media platforms and the local media as official resources for this information.”
The Board of Education meeting from Tuesday can be viewed in its entirety via YouTube.com/WBUCNY, and those with questions may reach out to the Athletic Director’s office.
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