Hello PORTA Families, I offer some positive news this evening in regards to return to play for Illinois. Recently, the Governor of Illinois and IDPH opened a pathway for school to return to play and this past week the IHSA has provided season dates (https://www.ihsa.org/News-Media/Announcements/ihsa-board-announces-sports-schedule-for-remainder-of-2020-21) and participation guidelines for our athletic programs. We are completing schedules and have developed spectator guidelines to manage the capacity limitations we need to follow. In essence, for all indoor High School activities we will allow 2 spectators for each athlete at home events and 1 spectator for each visiting athlete. In most cases we will be expected to follow these same rules at visiting team’s venues, if they allow spectators at all. Because Central Gym is smaller we will only be able to allow one spectator per athlete for both the home and visiting teams for our Jr. High program contests. Gyms will be cleared after each contest in preparation for the next contest and their spectators. By doing this we will be able to manage the minimum requirements handed to us by IDPH and the IHSA, while still allowing fans to take part in the contests.
As vaccinations of staff are nearing completion we will begin to consider our next transition from our current learning models and consider full time in-person learning along with a remote option. While a definitive date has not been set for a transition we would hope that increases in Covid Vaccination clinics over the next month would lend itself to allowing us to consider moving to a full 5 day model by the beginning of the 4th quarter. Currently, we have been able to remain fairly steady on the numbers of staff and students who are in quarantine and if that is able to continue and hopefully improve we should have few issues moving to a new stage in our learning plan.
Are we seeing the light at the end of the tunnel? I cannot say that is the case but at least we are starting to see some progress and hopefully by the end of the 2021 summer we will all have the opportunity to be vaccinated so that the next school year more normal.
So, as we continue down this road please do your part to keep our students and staff safe. Please consider the benefits of being vaccinated and I hope you encourage your student to participate in the athletic seasons that are beginning next week, even if they would not have normally participated. With the reduced length of season and contests, what a great opportunity to be part of a team and determine if a particular activity is for your student.
As vaccinations of staff are nearing completion we will begin to consider our next transition from our current learning models and consider full time in-person learning along with a remote option. While a definitive date has not been set for a transition we would hope that increases in Covid Vaccination clinics over the next month would lend itself to allowing us to consider moving to a full 5 day model by the beginning of the 4th quarter. Currently, we have been able to remain fairly steady on the numbers of staff and students who are in quarantine and if that is able to continue and hopefully improve we should have few issues moving to a new stage in our learning plan.
Are we seeing the light at the end of the tunnel? I cannot say that is the case but at least we are starting to see some progress and hopefully by the end of the 2021 summer we will all have the opportunity to be vaccinated so that the next school year more normal.
So, as we continue down this road please do your part to keep our students and staff safe. Please consider the benefits of being vaccinated and I hope you encourage your student to participate in the athletic seasons that are beginning next week, even if they would not have normally participated. With the reduced length of season and contests, what a great opportunity to be part of a team and determine if a particular activity is for your student.