DSD moving forward with conditioning and practices for high school sports

DAYTON—Dayton School District Superintendent Guy Strot talked about some loosening of school sports restrictions by the state when the Dayton School District Board of Directors met in a work session last week.

The state has decided to allow summer athletic conditioning from Sept. 27 to Nov. 27, he said. A typical summer season is for a team to have 20 organized practices in the months of June and July.

With that in mind, he and Mark Pickel, Waitsburg School District Superintendent, and Martha Lanman, County Public Health Administrator, feel it will be alright for Dayton students to practice in Dayton and for Waitsburg students to practice in Waitsburg, at least for the time being.

The decision was made in part because Waitsburg is in Phase 2 of the Governor’s Phased Plan for Reopening, and Dayton is in Phase 3.

Strot said he and Superintendent Pickel met with a couple of the coaches earlier last week. He said coaches would design a conditioning and practice program for basketball, volleyball, and football. No games will be held, and only high school athletes will take part.

“Our goal is to put a high school team out there, safely, and if we can do that, then maybe we can organize middle school basketball in January or February,” Strot said.

He said conditioning is running outside, or it is weightlifting.

Weightlifting will require the use of face masks because athletes will be closer than six feet in a small weight room, he said.

Strot said student athletes who are conditioning for football practice and are out of doors, and are six feet apart from each other, don’t need to wear a mask. Those practicing basketball or volleyball in the gym don’t require masks.

To control access to the gyms, only administrators or custodians will have keys to unlock them.

“Pods” of athletes will be limited to no more than ten people, including the coaches, Strot said. If a player comes down with COVID-19, everyone in that pod is quarantined for 14 days.

“There will be an elevated risk, but I think it’s a reasonable risk,” he said.

The District will inform and involve parents about the risks and provide consent forms. The WIAA issued guidelines for athletics, on Oct. 6, followed by additional information on Oct. 7. Strot said there are categories of risk for individual sports. Golf is considered to be a low-risk sport. Volleyball is considered a medium risk sport. Basketball and football are considered high-risk sports.

“We are going to follow 100-percent the WIAA guidelines as well as any of the governor’s guidelines,” he said.

The county Public Health Administrator is allowing practices to be run for two weeks, and she will reconsider whether Dayton and Waitsburg can get together for basketball games.

Strot said he is not optimistic about basketball games in December.

“We’re going to assume I’m wrong, and we are going to practice and get our kids ready,” he said. The primary focus, for now, is on high school sports, for Season 2, with an emphasis placed on girls and boys basketball, and for season 3, on volleyball and football. Strot said he is more optimistic that volleyball, football, track and field, softball, baseball, and golf can take place.

He also talked about transportation challenges.

Transportation supervisor Danon Griffen said there are fewer substitute bus drivers every year, and there isn’t one currently. The District will be conducting a search for substitute bus drivers. Two would be ideal.

If substitute drivers can’t be found, Strot said there would be lag time between the time a bus driver is finished with after school routes and when student athletes are picked up for practices and games.

He said an additional challenge concerns the choice of a D/W mascot. When the Dayton ASB students were asked about the voting process for “Wolfpack” last year, they said they didn’t feel good about the process.

Strot said he would discuss his findings with Superintendent Pickel. He would like for the ASB classes from both schools to decide on the process for coming up with a list of names. Then the two student bodies would cast votes, and the ASBs would tally the votes.

He hopes to have a mascot identified before the beginning of the basketball season, on Dec. 28.