Oklahoma high school sports are finished for the 2019-20 school year.
The state's department of education announced Wednesday it was closing school buildings for the remainder of the academic year, along with a multitude of other moves, including the cancellation of in-person instruction and extracurricular activities.
No Classes 6A-2A state basketball tournaments. No spring state tournaments.
The next high school sporting events in Oklahoma will be in August when the 2020-21 school year begins.
The decision comes because of the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the world. The number of cases and deaths continues to rise in the state, and schools had been postponed until at least April 6 across Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association has a teleconference board meeting Thursday to discuss a multitude of topics, including the situation with the postponement of the state basketball tournaments.
This will be the first year that Oklahoma has not crowned state champions in boys basketball in all classes since 1918 and first for girls since 1934, when the activity was voted out of existence for a year.
The OSSAA was adamant about wanting to reschedule the state basketball tournaments and doing whatever it could to get all of the spring sports in as scheduled. The State Dept. of Education's decision, though, nullifies any hope of playing more games this school year.
Last Edit: Mar 25, 2020 10:49:30 GMT -6 by The Admin
Oklahoma’s public school students will shift into a variety of distance learning models for the remainder of 2019-20 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state Board of Education decided Wednesday.
The mandatory closure of schools that began March 17 will continue through April 5 for students, but now, “continuous learning plans” adopted by each local school district will begin for students April 6. Local districts will also determine the end date.
State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister acknowledged that a number of people across the state had asked “Can’t we wait a few weeks to decide?” but she said “The answer is `no.’ .... It isn’t possible for districts to flip a switch and shift into this type of delivery of education without advanced notice.”
Hofmeister and state board members made it clear that “distance learning” will not consist of web-based or online instruction requiring technology in some districts. Offerings are expected to vary according to student needs and home internet access, and according to each district’s capacity, including those with “significant technology limitations.”
Board member Carlisha Williams Bradley, of Tulsa, said the need to move to distance learning will represent a “unique burden on several of our districts.”
“When we do return to normalcy, there's additional barriers districts that will not have had that close touch with students will face,” Williams Bradley said. “Although this is a very difficult decision to make, health is the top priority. This calls on our communities to support districts. We do have to think about the students who don't have access and the parents who may still be working who need additional supports from the community at this time.”
Board member Jennifer Monies, of Oklahoma City, said every board member had heard from concerned students, parents and educators before Wednesday's special meeting.
“I know I speak for the full board, we’ve been in close contact. ... We’re all here with the purpose of making sure every student gets a quality education. This pandemic presents very trying times to make sure that happens,” Monies said. “Why do we have to do this now? My answer has been we have to give districts the maximum amount of time to think through and innovate.”
In an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the state’s public school buildings must remain closed to all except workers providing child nutrition services and only the administrative services required to provide distance learning and employee payroll, Hofmeister said.
She called Oklahoma’s public school educators “strong and dedicated and smart,” and said she has confidence they will find “creative and innovative ways to continue learning for their students and they will rise to the challenge. It will look different for all schools and we have to accept that.”
Districts must provide “assurances” to the state that their distance learning plans include English learners and special education students, but beyond that, districts will have great leeway in what they offer.
But Hofmeister said ending the academic year now is not an option for local school administrators or boards.
“That is unacceptable,” she said. “We’ll get through these barriers. ... This is far from ideal, but these are extraordinary situations for us.
“Our education communities are tough, they’re resilient and they’re committed. If this pandemic underscores anything it’s that we must help one another, we must care for one another and we must love one another.”
She vowed that the Oklahoma State Department of Education would be providing extensive support to local districts at the state level and seeking permission from the U.S. Department of Education for local school districts to receive waivers from complying with a host of federal requirements and flexibility in the use of their remaining federal funds to support distance learning.
Federal education officials have already granted Oklahoma waivers from federal laws and regulations to permit continued school meal service for qualifying students and to suspend standardized testing and Oklahoma School Report Cards for the 2019-20 school year.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Hofmeister announced new numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases and related deaths across Oklahoma that had just been released by state health officials.
“It underscores the way this is going to have embedded flexibility to respond to CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommendations. This is not permanent, this is a temporary measure,” she said. “It is worth the struggle to schools to keep learning going.”
I just talked to someone about baseball camp and summer play. He's still planning for June, but it will be up to what's still going on then. As for play, it would be up to the league and the other teams.
Last Edit: Mar 25, 2020 11:07:27 GMT -6 by The Admin
The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association officially ended the 2019-20 high school sports season Thursday morning.
In a unanimous vote, the board of directors approved executive director David Jackson's recommendation to cancel the Classes 6A-2A state basketball tournaments and all spring activities. This comes following Wednesday's State Department of Education ruling that ended all extracurricular activities at public schools.
The state basketball tournaments were postponed March 12, only hours before tipoffs were scheduled at 10 sites across the state.
The next high school sporting events in Oklahoma will be in August when the 2020-21 school year begins. Spring sports include baseball, golf, slowpitch softball, soccer, tennis and track. Spring football practice and camps are also canceled.
"It's disheartening to allow those teams that have worked really hard to get to the state tournament to not have a chance to play in it," OSSAA executive director David Jackson said Wednesday. "For a lot of people, that's a once-in-a-lifetime accomplishment."
This will be the first year that Oklahoma has not crowned state champions in boys basketball in all classes since 1918 and first for girls since 1934, when the activity was voted out of existence for a year.
The OSSAA was adamant about wanting to reschedule the state basketball tournaments and doing whatever it could to get all of the spring sports in as scheduled. The board of directors also wanted to play the games, with many of the members saying the unprecedented events just made it too difficult to happen.
March 26, 2020—1:30 p.m.—On March 25, the State Superintendent announced that all public schools would remain closed until the end of the academic year for each respective public school. The academic year for schools will end between May 8 and May 15.
In conjunction with this decision the OSSAA Board voted unanimously, at the March 26, 2020 Teleconference Board Meeting, to cancel the State Basketball Tournament for Classes 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A; additionally, all spring activities have been cancelled for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.
For the purpose of all OSSAA member school activities, all school personnel, including certified, adjunct or volunteer coaches, as well as teachers, directors, or instructors are prohibited from engaging in any type of OSSAA member school activity involving secondary students; no practice, instruction, training, weight lifting, tryouts, competition or travel is permitted.
SUMMER TIME ACTIVITIES: Until further notice, no OSSAA member school activities will be permitted. The timeline for the beginning of summer activities will be provided to member schools at a time when CDC recommendations as well as State and Local government recommendations allow for safe participation.
No summer activities until further notice - This means camps, 7 on 7 or summer leagues