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| Bucks County Courier Times
Remember The No Child Left Behind Act?
Back in 2002, the United States Congress initiated that act which addressed education in America, before eventually replacing it in 2015. I’m neither an educator nor qualified to debate the merits of the act, so I certainly don’t want to go in that direction.
Instead, let’s just look the statement itself and place it to the context of what’s going on in Pennsylvania these days as the debate rages over whether or not to have high school athletics this fall in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More: 21 of 24 Suburban One League schools vote to give fall sports a try
If one of the goals and missions of education is to provide opportunities for students — all of the students — then the argument can be made that some children are certainly being left behind here.
Over the past month, the debate has raged. Should Gov. Tom Wolf have made his recommendation that there be no school sports until January? Should the PIAA give the go ahead for the fall season? Should all of this be left up to the individual school districts across the commonwealth?
It was left to the school districts and, in some cases the leagues, and the responses have been varied and inconsistent.
More: Philadelphia Catholic League says no to fall season
Friday, officials from the Suburban One League, which features many of the schools in Bucks and Montgomery counties, met on a Zoom call to debate this subject. Most of the school districts already voted and made their intentions known whether they were to go forward with sports this fall or not prior to meeting.
Friday, it was made official. Kind of.
Cheltenham said no it wasn’t playing sports this fall. Harry S. Truman, which earlier in the week looked to be in the “no” category abstained from voting Friday pending additional conversation with the Bristol Township School Board. Springfield also abstained, while Plymouth Whitemarsh voted no for football, but will be playing other sports.
Other schools emerged with thumbs up. Many of those schools had rallies by parents and students, or large vocal contingents that made their opinions heard on social media.
More: Palisades, Colonial League push back start of fall sports
Other leagues have varied too. The Philadelphia Public League canceled the fall season a few weeks ago. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia made the same decision this week for its schools, many of whom are members of the Philadelphia Catholic League. While not members of the PIAA, the Inter-Academic League and the Friends School League both decided not to play.
Some think the risk is too great. COVID-19 is still in our communities and we’re still not sure how we’re going to open schools safely. For those who have decided to go 100% virtual learning to start the year, how exactly is that going to work effectively? In other words, ‘We’re sorry. We understand how important sports are, but it’s not our top priority.’
Others point to athletics as a valuable part of a school’s curriculum. Sports teach important life lessons, provide potential college opportunities and in many communities are a constructive way to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble.
Maybe for others, they just want to see their kids happy, out of the house, and living life normally again with their friends, playing games that they love.
All are legitimate reasons.
It’s easy to say if your school district votes not to play sports then that’s the final decision and those students just have to live with it. It’s not so easy to live with, however, when neighboring schools and rivals are playing, and those left dealing with it are teenagers.
There’s also the matter of race. In a time when racial justice, division and inequality are front-and-center topics across the nation, it’s difficult not to notice that many of the schools that have opted not to go forward have large Black and minority enrollments.
This is definitely the case with the schools in the Philadelphia Public League, as well as Morrisville, a Class A Bicentennial Athletic League school in Bucks that also opted out of football. It’s true with Cheltenham and Truman, as well as Norristown and Pottstown in the Pioneer Athletic Conference, and Penn Wood, Chester and Academy Park in the DelVal League. And Reading High in District Three.
Those are just a few examples, and it is certainly not the case in every situation.
But given everything that’s going in our nation, it is glaring if predominantly Black and minority schools are not playing and others — no matter where they may fall in terms of the racial makeup of their enrollments and communities — are playing sports.
No matter the reason the decisions were made, it certainly doesn’t look like all students are getting the same opportunities. And that should never happen when talking education — especially public education — in the United States of America.
There are no easy answers for anyone involved, and most can at least see, if not relate, to the opinions of those who may look at scholastic sports differently.
But with all the meetings, indecision and kicking-the-can-down-the-road delays that have surrounded this debate, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where everyone is happy when the final decisions are made.
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