The Sounds of Silence.

An old Simon and Garfunkel song.

The Sound of Silence is also the temporary sound track at the Warren Consolidated Schools.

The Warren Consolidated Schools approved a Return to School Plan that has all students returning to school in a remote learning environment.

School is scheduled to start Tuesday, Sept. 8.

Nobody will be in the classrooms.

That remote learning environment has put at least a temporary halt to fall athletics, band, and other extracurricular activities.

Superintendent Robert Livernois addressed a letter to the WCS Community. It was dated Aug. 20 and published on the Warren Consolidated Schools website.

It stated: “At their meeting last night, the WCS Board of Education approved a Return to School Plan that has all students starting school in a Remote Learning environment on Tuesday, September 8, 2020.

“To provide information and support for our parents, staff, and community, please visit wcskids.net and review A Parent’s Guide to Remote Leaming and also complete our Technology Request Survey regarding access to a laptop computer for use at home.

“In addition, with this letter, I have included the following for your additional information: Frequently Asked Questions – The most common questions that we have been asked in response to this decision. Additional questions can be submitted to info@wcskids.net that will be answered and added to this list.

“SchoologyTraining – A set of training dates for parents to learn about our online platform for your child’s education. Most important, we recognize the challenge this will be for families and will do our very best to provide support as we all work toward a return to in-person learning. I appreciate your understanding and support as the safety and well-being of our students and staff are our highest priority. Please continue to be safe, stay healthy, and visit wcskids.net for updates.”

In that Frequently Asked Questions section, one of the queries was: What about athletics, marching band, and extracurricular activities?

The answer: “In the interest of safety that prompted the district to start school in a Remote Learning environment, athletics, marching band, and extracurricular activities are temporarily suspended and will be reevaluated as part of our return to in-person learning. Many schools and universities in Michigan and across the country have made the difficult decision to suspend activities in the interest of safety.”

While many, if not all, county schools who field teams are participating in cross country, girls golf and boys tennis, the three WCS high schools districts are sidelined.

Those schools are Warren Mott, Cousino and Sterling Heights.

“When summer athletic and marching band activities started, the district was planning to offer both in-person learning and a virtual option, which would have allowed our activities to continue into the school year,” said Livernois.

“However, when the decision was made to start school with remote learning for safety reasons, it was important to suspend all activities.  Also, given there are over 40 different sports, clubs, and activities district-wide, there was concern for fairness if selected activities could proceed and not others,” continued the superintendent.

Extracurriculars involve much more than sports and marching band. There are other activities at the WCS high schools like jazz band, yearbook and newspaper; robotics, science Olympiad and math Olympiad.

Most county schools that field cross country, girls golf and boys tennis programs have decided to compete. Those sports have been given the thumbs up from the MHSAA.