LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- After initially deciding to suspend extracurricular activities -- sports, band, theater, choir -- as the district plans to reopen with remote learning on Sept. 8, Lakewood City Schools Superintendent Michael J. Barnes announced last week students could resume training for the time being.
“When the recommendation from the Cuyahoga County Board of Health first came out that sports had to be discontinued during remote learning, that was not in concert with the most recent recommendation from the Ohio Department of Health,” Barnes said. “So we were careful to use the word suspended, because we were trying to find out where the truth lies, where the truth was at and make sense of that inconsistency.
“After further review, it was clear that recommendation indicated that sports and extracurriculars should discontinue when remote learning begins. So if there’s an opportunity to keep students, athletes and band members engaged with advisors and coaches -- who, by the way, did a really good job doing that all summer following proper protocols and expectations -- then we wouldn’t want to short change them.”
While the district allowed extracurriculars to resume, it plans on revisiting the issue on or before Sept. 8. Barnes hopes by then there will be a clearer indication from state and local officials.
“We’ve gotten some mixed signals,” Barnes said. “We had the governor’s office say that the state color code system was never intended to inform schools, even though most of the schools in the state of Ohio developed plans around that. That was a little bit of a surprise to hear the governor make that comment.
“That said, we’re also heavily dependent upon the recommendations of the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. We’re all just trying to navigate throughout all of this information as the science evolves and the data becomes clearer. We just need to know where best to look for guidance. That will allow us to make sound, consistent decisions.”
The uncertainty and lack of guidance has taken its toll with the parents, who last week protested with signs outside of Garfield Middle School asking for the district to reinstitute fall sports and extracurricular activities.
“We understand their frustrations,” Barnes said. “We’re frustrated too. It’s a moving target, and we’re just trying to adjust the best we can and never losing sight of safety and educational excellence of students.”
As for starting the school year with remote learning, the superintendent said Lakewood City Schools will do so for the first quarter before reevaluating.
“We’ve had so much inconsistency, we’ve had so much uncertainty, that I think it’s good for the wellbeing of our community to have a plan and try our best to stick to it,” Barnes said. “Academically, it provides some consistency and as it relates to instructional delivery we feel that it gives some people some clear direction as to where we’re going.”
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