The LuLac Edition #4,370, August 5th, 2020

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

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This week’s Write On Wednesday deals with the return or not of athletic to school in the fall. Te Times Shamrock asks the question we all are at this point.

WHAT IS THE PIAA THINKING?

As one can guess from its name, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association is all about athletics.
So it’s no surprise the PIAA board of directors has voted to go ahead with practices for fall sports across the state beginning on Aug. 17.
But it’s doubtful the PIAA will have the last word on this issue. Most school districts are still struggling with how classes will be held this fall. And some combination of cyberschooling and in-school instruction with strict social distancing measures is likely to be the norm.
If districts feel they cannot safely return to classrooms, how can they justify the close contact inherent in sports? Some of them are already opting out.
Last week, the Norristown Area School District suspended fall sports and the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference in the Allentown area decided practices for contact sports — field hockey, football and soccer — will be delayed until at least mid-September.
As of Friday, 24 states had delayed the start of fall sports, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. Seven states have announced there will be no fall football at all and pushed the season back until the spring semester.
Given the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising case counts across the country and here in Pennsylvania, resuming sports might prove too risky and the costs of the required safety measures and testing too steep. If Major League Baseball, with all its resources, has been unable to pull off even a shortened season without outbreaks, what is the likelihood public schools can do better?
Undoubtedly the majority of Pennsylvania’s high school athletes, and maybe even their parents, if polled, would choose to play the games they love.
But the realities of the pandemic might prompt the Wolf Administration and the Department of Education to think otherwise.
In the end, the PIAA vote last week to go ahead with the season might prove to be a case of wishful thinking.