God’s Bureau Tom Wolf said PIAA executive director Robert Lombardi misjudged the communication between the state’s athletics association for high schools and the governor’s office when he said Aug. 7 that he was “blindsided” by Wolf’s recommendation that there would be no high school until 2021.
A spokeswoman for Wolf called that surprise Thursday, saying that deputy chief of staff Eric Hagarty told Lombardi 10 days earlier, during a July 27 call, “that the mayor was of the opinion that youth sports should be postponed until next year.”
Eric also informed Dr. Dr. Lombardi that although the governor intended to leave decisions on youth sports at the local level, as asked at a press conference, the governor would probably respond as he did on August 6 by publicly recommending that youth sports was postponed, “Lyndsay Kensinger, Wolf’s spokeswoman, said.
Emails received by PennLive via a right to know request found that the governor’s office also began expressing written concerns on July 28 about playing fall sports.
Lombardi told PennLive that this is not how he remembers that July 27 conversation with Hagarty. Lombardi said that although he did not take notes, “he thought Eric said something about the governor was concerned about high-risk sports” and that he “did not remember” that a date was given for the possible suspension of the season.
The PIAA is being approached to meet today to likely decide the fate of the bankruptcy sports season on Wolf’s recommendation. That comes on the heels of an emergency meeting Aug. 14 between the PIAA and Wolf’s staff, followed by a Tuesday meeting of the Pennsylvania Athletic Oversight Committee as the debate over whether, and how, an fall sports school season can take place.
Kensinger told PennLive that Wolf’s office was in contact with the PIAA in the days leading up to the July 29 release of the association’s Return to Competition guidelines. She said the governor’s office on July 27 and 28 made it clear to the PIAA that it did not approve of its intended leadership.
The PIAA published these guidelines on July 29 and “noticed that it was endorsed as written by the health and education departments, contrary to our actual feedback,” Kensinger said.
The cover of those original guidelines mentioned those sections at the bottom left, and Hagarty emailed Lombardi on July 30 to request that they be removed from the page, and that the PIAA “immediately publish a public withdrawal, clearly stating causes us not to approve or support your plan. “
Lombardi apologized in an email, but the PIAA did not remove the names of the agencies from the page. Instead, it added the line, “References to orders and guidelines from the following sources” on the front page and left them below as references.
“I believe they misinterpreted what we proposed – and it was our document, and because we mentioned it as a source, they felt that they were interpreting it as an author and it was never our intention to be an author,” Lombardi said. PennLive.
‘It was only our intention that we correct them at their request, was that they were a source, because in much of the guidance they put through public documents, we traced their language and put it in our guidance, as illustrated by the spectator information as well as the face mask, ”Lombardi added. “That document is from us, it has been requested by our member schools and their staff and it has been very, very well received.”
Side-by-side comparison of the cover sheets of the PIAA’s Return to Competition guidelines. On the left is the original copy and on the right is the revised copy, which states that the NFHS, DOH, PDE and SMAC were used as resources. The change came at the request of the mayor’s office.Screenshot of PIAAs Return to Competition Guidelines
The emails received by PennLive – 271 pages from the governor’s office and 42 pages from the PIAA – show that the parties maintained communication through the early months of the coronavirus shutdown. But they began to diverge in the build after the PIAA’s release of the Return to Competition guidelines.
In an e-mail dated July 28, following the PIAA’s advice, Deputy Secretary of Policy and Planning Allison Jones said the guidance did not match the order of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine on masks and answers to frequently asked questions. Jones wrote that “we would appreciate PIAA updating the guidance to comply with the Order and the FAQs.”
Jones said she “remains concerned about the ability to implement health and safety protocols and sports in a safer way with higher risks, higher contact”, but added the decision would still be left to the local school districts.
And Hagarty said in an July 30 email to Lombardi that Wolf’s office continues to have “serious concerns about the ability to implement health and safety protocols” and this year has high-risk sports.
Lombardi told it Dad. Athletic Oversight Committee said Tuesday that it hopes the PIAA will have a plan to move forward with a fall sports season after its meeting today. But that did not seem to be a certainty following Wolf’s Aug. 6 recommendation, which appeared to abandon the PIAA regulation. The association held emergency meetings on both August 6 and August 7. It was at the August 7 meeting that Lombardi said the PIAA was “blindsided” by the recommendation, and that he seemed “surprised everyone else” by Wolf’s words.
The governor’s recommendation and the PIAA’s response also prompted players, parents, coaches and fans of high school athletics to question how the sides could have had such a decline in communications in August regarding the impressive season. How come they were not on the same page with the plan to late, or not continue, with sports this late in the game?
Both sides believe they were clear on where they stood up to that point, but they met again on August 14 with the PIAA in search of clarity on moving forward with a season. However, Wolf’s recommendation was unexpected at that meeting, and Lombardi referred to her differences over back-to-game guidance as an ‘open disagreement’.
“We said we believe through the health and safety programs and the return to competition guidelines we have proposed, we believe we can host all bankruptcy sports in a very safe environment and allow spectators and have athletic competition in a fair , safe location, “he said.
The governor’s office insists that although schools may decide if they think it is safe to play, spectators will not be allowed to attend games. Wolf has repeatedly stated that he has postponed the preference for sports until January 2021 to limit the spread of the coronavirus. More than 126,000 people in Pennsylvania have been infected and more than 7,500 have died.
Lombardi said “the staff who have been in contact with us were very professional, and I enjoyed the conversations.” But ultimately, he said, he did not feel as if the sides were the right type of discussions.
“I’m not sure we have the in-depth conversation that needs to be discussed to make sure the administration understands the emotion and depth of the care of student-athletes and their families around the common ground about sports,” he said.
And, somehow, what appears to be clear communication through the first months of the shutdown has led to this day. With some schools already opting out for the season, and the PIAAs, potentially, season-ending meeting difficult, it remains an “open end” between the athletics association for high schools and the governor’s office.
“The mayor has a deep appreciation for the importance of athletics and the role that sports play in the lives of student-athletes,” Kensinger told PennLive.
“The governor’s recommendation is based on a common sense response to the cancellation or postponement of competition after its fall seasons, outbreaks in the country, growing evidence of higher transmission in children, protection of adults at higher risk, and the fundamentally important need to bring children back to learning in classrooms, ‘she added.’ Any out-of-class gathering jeopardizes a school’s ability to resume instruction in person because it risks super-spreading events. enlarged. “
– Follow Ed Sutelan on Twitter, @EdwardSutelan
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