By Marty Gordon
Administrators like Dr. Robert Graham, superintendent of schools for the city of Radford, are starting to wonder what “normal” really is.
Earlier this week, the Radford school system put almost all of its athletics on a “pause” after several positive tests of COVID-19.
Graham said golf is back up and running as almost all student-athletes and coaches tested negative on Tuesday. The football team was scheduled to be tested Thursday afternoon. The football coaches have already tested, and they are all negative. Volleyball tested on Friday. If all coaches are negative, they were hopeful they could start back on Friday.
“Our plan when COVID-19 hits in our schools or athletics program is to keep our routines as normal as possible without jeopardizing the integrity of our safety protocol regarding COVID-19,” Graham said.
For now, Radford High School is moving ahead with letting fans at full-capacity into all its sporting events.
But the need to test if a positive case pops up does loom on the horizon. Graham said his school is lucky to have a great partnership with a local clinic.
“We are very lucky to have a partnership with New River Valley Pediatrics. Any child who shows symptoms in the schools or in extracurricular activities will be scheduled to test with NRV Peds, and we generally receive the results from them that same day,” he said.
To say COVID-19 in education is difficult and challenging would be a great understatement,” according to Graham. “I am concerned for our students, staff, and school community members. Our school community has done so well with this situation during the last 18 to 20 months, but they deserve some sense of normalcy so they have the greatest opportunity to enjoy and succeed during the 2021-2022 school year.”
A similar rash of positive COVID tests at Carroll County High School forced the cancellation of a scrimmage with Christiansburg that had been scheduled for Wednesday night.
The Virginia High School League, the governing body for sports in the commonwealth, said Wednesday the indoor mask mandate for schools does not currently apply to extracurricular outdoor activities (sports). Thus, the VHSL says it would be up to the local school system to lay down any ruling.
In Montgomery County, Facilities Director Danny Knott says masks will be required for indoor sports under the following situation: “Indoors, masks are required for spectators and student-athletes who are not participating in the match. When on the bench, in the locker room and not actively participating in the match, student-athletes must mask. Each student-athlete will have their own individual water bottle. We will follow VHSL guidelines when traveling and follow the home school’s protocols as long as they are not less than our protocols. If this is the case, we will follow our protocols.”
Knotts said Montgomery County’s school system is moving forward with athletics as close to “normal” as it can.
Like Graham, Knott said the increasing number of cases in the area is troubling.
“We hope this will be a short-term situation and not linger very long,” Knott said. “We encourage our student-athletes to do everything they can when they are away from school to mitigate their chances of becoming infected because of the potential negative effects to the team if they were to become infected. We will certainly do what is best for students if we do have positive cases on any of our athletic teams.”
