Gov. Tom Wolf made his recommendation that high school athletics should be shut down until January 1, 2021, but the PIAA has decided to move forward with the start of the fall season on Monday nonetheless.
Shortly after the PIAA voted to move forward with the season, Wolf maintained the position that while he does not believe sports should happen in high school this year, it remains a decision until the PIAA.
The Wolf administration has been in contact with PIAA representatives during the pandemic. While the administration expressed widespread concern about the PIAA’s plans, including its request for liability protection, we have made it clear since July that this decision should be made by the PIAA in consultation with local school districts, “said Lyndsay Kensinger, spokeswoman for Wolf , said in an email.
On Friday, the PIAA board voted 25 to five to mark the start of the fall sport on Monday, August 24 for those schools that can allow it to happen. It also voted, unanimously, to allow changes to be made to all schools that have chosen them should the opportunity arise for them to fall at a later date.
The PIAA’s decision came after a two-week period in which the governing body worked to discuss with the governor’s office what it would take for sports to resume safely and for Wolf to change his mind. Following a meeting last Friday between representatives of Wolf’s bureau and PIAA executive director Robert Lombardi, the governor’s position has not changed.
According to emails received by PennLive, the governor’s office has been sharing with the PIAA since late July about returning to competition. Kensinger told PennLive earlier in the week that the governor’s position that falling sports had been pushed back to Jan. 1. 2021, was shared with Lombardi on a July 27 phone call and that he misjudged the governor’s office by saying that the PIAA was blinded by Wolf’s response to a question during a August 6 press conference.
The coronavirus pandemic has already caused several schools, including Harrisburg and Milton Hershey, to cancel the fall sports season before the campaign could begin in 2020.
Although Wolf recommended that sports be shut down until 2021, he had previously said during a press conference that schools and the PIAA can do whatever they want and that it is simply his opinion that schools should not start athletics in the state.
“The governor has a deep appreciation for the importance of athletics and the role that sports play in the lives of student-athletes,” Kensinger said in an email on Friday. “The governor’s recommendation is based on evidence of public health and a general sense of reaction to competition after the cancellation or postponement of competitions, their broken seasons, outbreaks in the country, growing evidence of higher transmission in children, protection of adults with “Higher risks, and the fundamental importance of getting children back to learning in classrooms. Every meeting outside the classroom brings an opportunity to a school to follow instruction by individuals, because it increases the risk of super-spreading events.”
– Follow Ed Sutelan on Twitter, @EdwardSutelan
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