High schools to resume in-person, outdoors-only sports practices

This is GREAT news for SOME of our HS kids. What about the rest of our 11,000 students?

I hope PAUSD plans similar programs to be offered after school @ the Elementary and Middle School level.

Will Gunn and Paly be restricting access to only the 14 students chosen by the coach based on ability? None of these "activities" are competitive at this point. It's not "sport" it's exercise and conditioning. Hopefully this will be open to all?

I'm sure there are a great many parents who would like to see their kids involved in this kind of safe activity to get exercise and se friends. A lot more interest than just 14 per sport and gender.

If there is more interest than availability I assume some form of lottery be used to select who is invited to participate?

Encouraging a lifetime healthy, physical activity doesn't revolve around competitive sports (although I do agree they do help in many ways). Please PAUSD provide this access to all students, not just the ones who can throw the fastball, return the kickoff, or hit the three.

If PAUSD can do school sports outdoors, and if child care centers can be open for business indoors, why can't in person instruction be offered outdoors or even indoors with safety precautions? The teachers union?

And what about all the other schools applying for waivers for in-person instruction for TK-5? Los Altos school district and Bullis charter are applying for waivers. Why not PAUSD? The teachers'union?

@Kathy who said "why can't in person instruction be offered outdoors or even indoors with safety precautions?" Indoors has been addressed several times in many ways. Outdoors is even easier. What if a student has allergies? What if it suddenly starts raining. Classes will be cancelled as students scramble back home for online classes as teachers do the same to teach them. Students could get sick for being in the cold. Students could get dizzy from overexposure to the sun. Are you as a taxpayer ready to pay for mobile whiteboards, or are you advocating against November's parcel tax? How about paying for a few hundred tents?

Do you actually want answers to your question or are you just looking for new ways to make teachers and our union look bad?

@Paly teacher, there are lots of uncertainty in life. We need to be smart to deal with things especially now. There should be options for families: online or in person learning(at least hybid).

Can we label reading, writing, and math as sports, and requisition some of these coaches to coach kids in person for those? Outdoors with small groups, precautions, and health checks sounds great.

The new and expensive football field is turf, so allergies shouldn't be such a problem. Practices sometimes get cancelled. I think families will understand and accept that.

Most current Paly athletes have not been notified about this change. Does this only apply to football? Girls volleyball and girls field hockey players have yet to receive any details. What about sports other than football? Conditioning is important for all athletes. And, agree with the post above, that all kids need exercise after Zooming in their rooms for 6 hours each day (followed by hours of online homework). Let’s try to get a variety of kids out there if possible. Looking forward to hearing more next week (I hope).

wow , comment from Paly Teacher makes me depressed. Do you really think you can go through life with no risks. Rain, dizziness , cold . Ok but how about some concern for the mental health of our young people.

I read the other day that Pac 12 League college football plans to start, and this was stated: with (thousands of) rapid tests. Outrageous - for example, UC Berkeley has something like 1/7 of typical freshmen welcomed recently on campus and they are very isolated.
Meantime, their football team (and Stanford, etc.) will practice, play and travel!? I particularly disagree with this usage of Covid tests, much less prioritization of college football in a Pandemic. I guess the coaches, managers, staff, water persons, trainers, travel arrangers, etc., etc. will all get rapid tests (and maybe their girlfriends, roommates, families?) Seems like adding an unnecessary risk to the general public in the Pac 12 region - while it remains tough for general public to undergo tests (much less REPEATEDLY).
The mission of colleges/universities is education and research. College football is an add-on activity.
More relevant to this thread,
I prefer rapid tests go to public school districts/schools, travelers at our commercial airports, etc.
Yes, I have written one politician so far and received a good response.
We should try hard to open our schools.

@ Paly Teacher - I was just in Idaho earlier this week and saw at least three classes of high school aged kids at a local park having class outside. I heard one teacher with a microphone system holding a Spanish class. I spoke w one of the kids in another group and she told me it was her history class.

It's possible

Always easy to find reasons NOT to do something.

@Samuel L

Thank you.

We cannot wait to be in the red zone for K-6. Even though Palo Alto's numbers are very low, Southeast County's numbers remain high. At a minimum, PAUSD should apply for a K-6 waiver as soon as possible.

@Paly Teacher - the teachersy union doesn't need anyone's help to make it look bad. They do a pretty good job on their own.