Jasper County schools suspends fall sports indefinitely as virtual classes continue
Jasper County School District has suspended fall extracurriculars, including sports practices and games, indefinitely, superintendent Rechel Anderson told parents and student-athletes last week.
The decision, first reported by Bluffton Today, was the result of the district’s decision to hold classes virtually due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“In our view, if circumstances concerning COVID-19 pose a health and safety risk preventing in-person in-school instruction, those circumstances also should prevent conducting extracurricular and athletic activities,” Anderson said in a statement.
In an Aug. 26 letter to students and parents, Anderson said she would make another announcement “if and when a decision pertaining to beginning fall sports is made.”
Fall sports in the district include football and volleyball at both Hardeeville-Ridgeland Middle School and Ridgeland-Hardeeville High School.
Volleyball games for the middle school would have begun Wednesday, according to the school’s published schedule; football games would have begun Sept. 9.
According to MaxPreps, the high school’s football season would begin with an Oct. 2 matchup against Timberland High School, and volleyball would begin with a game against Philip Simmons High School on Oct. 6.
Neighboring Beaufort County School District began sports workouts and practices Aug. 17, and will begin all-virtual classes Sept. 8.
Football games will begin Sept. 26, under the South Carolina High School League’s COVID-19 guidelines.
“Ultimately, the discretion of parents and families to decide if they want their children to participate in athletics is a decision they should make within their respective households,” said Duke Bradley, Beaufort County School District’s deputy superintendent, at an Aug. 6 press conference.
Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said at the same press conference that the district is working with schools and staff “to see the options we can provide in a safe manner” for other extracurricular activities such as band and theatre,” adding that the district’s goal is to return to face-to-face instruction.
Jasper County School District began fully remote classes Aug. 17.
The district received word from the South Carolina Department of Education on Aug. 12 that “unless major health and safety obstacles exist, it will be a requirement” for districts to reopen buildings two weeks after their official start date, per DOE spokesman Ryan Brown.
However, district spokesman Travis Washington said Monday that the school district had not received an update from the Department of Education on reopening school buildings.
Previously, the district was required to provide an in-person option by Sept. 14, about four weeks from the start of classes.
According to an Aug. 17 report from South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control, both counties are currently considered “high-risk” for the spread of coronavirus, though both have seen a significant decrease in new cases in the last two weeks.
The DHEC classification system has three metrics:
Number of new cases in the past two weeks;
Whether new cases have increased, decreased or stayed level over two weeks;
Percent of positives among people tested for COVID-19 in the past two weeks.
Brown said the DOE will use DHEC’s risk-measuring system while evaluating districts’ in-person options, along with other documents.
Prep sports reporter Lou Bezjak contributed to this story.
This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 4:52 PM.