Some student activities move online as Stanislaus COVID cases rise. What’s affected?
Some school districts in Stanislaus County are postponing student activities or moving them online as Covid-19 cases reach record highs.
School officials from the county’s largest districts said their schools have limited large gatherings, rescheduled sports games and held off on planning events. The changes are the latest examples of how students’ educational experiences have been dramatically altered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Student events through the Stanislaus County Office of Education will run virtually until at least February, according to spokeswoman Judy Boring. These include Mock Trial and Academic Decathlon. The office is planning for in-person events in March “but will pivot as needed,” she said.
Through at least January, the Ceres Unified School District will postpone indoor meetings and events or move them online if physical distancing isn’t possible, spokeswoman Beth Parker Jimenez said by email Tuesday. Athletics and outdoor events are not affected at this time, she said.
Sylvan Union School District recently prohibited assemblies of over 500 students and asked administrators to be cautious when planning large student gatherings, according to Velma Silva, executive assistant to the superintendent. The district has not allowed dances or activities since the pandemic began, Silva said by email.
Patterson High School has postponed activities such as dances until the beginning of February, district spokesman Johnny Padilla said by email Tuesday. All other schools in Patterson Joint Unified School District do not have events planned for the near future, he said.
“While our district has not made an official decision to cancel or postpone in-person school events such as dances, our schools have largely taken the risk of outbreak into consideration in planning their events,” Padilla wrote.
Modesto City Schools spokeswoman Krista Noonan said if high schools decide to have winter formals and dances, they would be outdoors and would adhere to COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
Officials at each high school make decisions over school dances, Noonan said, but school administration teams work closely with district leadership to meet COVID protocols.
District officials are “still in the process of assessing where we are with the current transmission rate as the decisions are being made,” she said by email Wednesday.
District leaders at Turlock Unified have been “evaluating, and many times modifying, events” to follow COVID-19 mitigation protocols, spokeswoman Marie Russell said by email Wednesday morning. She did not respond to a request for examples of modified events and types of modifications implemented.
Oakdale Joint Unified School District has rescheduled three girls basketball games, one girls soccer game and one boys basketball game, Superintendent Dave Kline said by email Wednesday.
High school and college sports schedules across the county have also been moved around due to COVID-19 protocols, The Bee reported.
Stanislaus County schools are not alone in taking these precautions. Sacramento City Unified, for example, announced Monday it would temporarily pause some extracurricular activities including field trips, school dances and rallies, The Sacramento Bee reported. Los Angeles Unified School District postponed sports competitions this week, according to the Los Angeles Times.
COVID cases in California and Stanislaus County have reached record highs as the omicron variant spreads quickly.
