GONZALES — Recreational and extracurricular sports face an uncertain future, as discussed by leaders from the Gonzales Unified School District and City of Gonzales during a joint steering committee meeting last Wednesday.
The most short-term changes may be to the possibility of a summer camp and which sports can be offered in the city and schools.
In addition to the anticipated $4 million funding cut for the upcoming fiscal year, Superintendent Yvette Irving said the school district is expecting 10 percent cuts to local control and accountability funds.
Funding losses are compounded by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the need for safety measures and protocols, restricting the types of physical activity that can be led by government agencies, such as schools or city recreation departments.
“As of right now, I’m thinking that we would not consider any type of summer programming until after July, if that,” said City Manager Rene Mendez. “Similar to athletics and sports, we would be in close communication with our superintendent to make sure we’re consistent.”
Mendez noted a late summer start for summer camps would be the result of currently undetermined safety protocols, which would need to be approved by Monterey County Health Officer Dr. Edward Moreno before they were implemented within the city. Some of the expected protocols include children staying in groups of fewer than 12, hand sanitizing and not sharing equipment.
In addition, the use of city property for programs must consider health limitations that restrict the type of sports that can be played.
“We are under the same guidelines,” Mendez said, referring to city sports being a mirror of school sports. “It’s important to understand that school athletics are not being allowed or to come back, and we’re going to follow suit in the areas that we do.”
One example would be if schools cannot play baseball, the city would not offer Little League.
“It still poses the same risks, the same concerns, the same issues,” Mendez said.
Irving said sports like football and basketball are considered high-risk sports due to the proximity players must have in order to compete, which might complicate their return to offerings in the near future.
“As a district at every grade level, we recognize that sports as well as every other extracurricular activity is what we use to keep kids engaged,” Irving said. “It is part of an educational experience and we recognize the hardship this has caused for our community and more importantly the disappointment that it has caused for our students.”
Irving added, “Our authority stops where the department of public health provides guidelines and decrees.”
In addition to waiting for county or state clearance for different sports programs, student health requirements mean a shift in how physical education will work in schools during the upcoming school year.
“Students are going to this coming year be given individual balls they will keep in their cubby, because as the direction is right now, they can’t even be playing back and forth,” Irving said. “We have been given no indication that any of this will change prior to fall or after first semester for us at a secondary level.”
As schools await how to effectively offer physical education, they are looking at what changes the state has already made.
“The other concern for us is the state had also taken action and suspended physical education requirements, instructional minutes and testing for students in public schools,” Irving said.
She explained the return of team sports is made more challenging by transportation.
“We have 80 passenger buses that right now, per the current guidelines, will only be able to carry 12 kids,” Irving said. “The district’s ability to reopen is more dependent on logistics than it is instructional program.”
While the district looks to have fewer sports offerings in the upcoming year, the idea of other extracurricular activities was brought up.
“Other opportunities at this point in time are improbable,” Irving said. “We right now as a district are concentrating on the transition to online and distance learning, and the amount of time students engaging via computer is challenging.”
The district is trying to find a way to engage enough students in activities that can be done online and identify staff that could lead such programs.
Also a consideration for the district is the anticipated $4 million budget shortfall, as it looks toward staffing in general.
“Our priority is, first and foremost, on staff and student safety, and second is retention of employees to the greatest extent possible,” Irving said. “We know every time we’re forced to lay off or not fill a position, the work doesn’t go away, it just gets inherited by others.”
Overall, with health protocols an ongoing unknown and the expected staffing trouble, Irving said the school district is not in a situation to take on additional programs “unless the board decided to go in a different direction.”
