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The Maine Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Education is recommending that the Maine Principals’ Association delay its proposed starting date for fall high school sports in light of numerous areas of concern about the organization’s proposal for a return to play.
In a four-page letter to Maine Principals’ Association interscholastic division executive director Mike Burnham dated Tuesday, DHHS Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew and DOE Commissioner Pender Makin outlined the state’s concerns about the MPA’s proposed sports guidelines.
“Our review found that several elements in the MPA Guidance do not comport with the State of Maine rules,” the letter said.
Among those areas of concern, the letter noted that the MPA Guidance said that spectators at events should be 3-6 feet apart, but fewer than 6 feet of spacing is prohibited for spectators according to the Department of Economic and Community Development’s community sports guidelines.
The MPA’s guidelines for the wearing of face coverings also drew scrutiny from the state review as being “largely but not fully consistent” with state guidance.”
Burnham said MPA officials are in the process of reviewing the state’s letter and are not ready to issue a response.
The letter also cites the lack of a formal connection between the MPA’s return-to-play recommendations and the plans developed by individual school districts in order to return students to classes this fall.
“The MPA Guidance is silent on the interaction with schools’ plans, despite these activities occurring on school grounds, using school services and supervised by school staff,” the letter said.
It described areas where the MPA guidance did not comply with previously established public health policy related to COVID-19 and points to recommendations in other guidance documents that it is urging the organization to adopt.
Preseason tryouts for fall sports are scheduled to begin Sept. 8 in most of the state, with the first countable games no earlier than Sept. 18 for all fall sports except football. Opening regular-season games in that sport may be held no earlier than Sept. 25-26, according to the current MPA schedule.
While the MPA recommendations adopt much of the language in the state’s community sports guidelines that were last updated on July 16, the MPA document does not include any modifications to the types of play for sports based on risk, and that student-athletes in even the highest-risk sports such as football can compete as they did pre-COVID, including within-team competition, between local teams, between teams statewide regardless of the color classification of counties in the state’s School Health Advisory System, and between teams from out of state that are not exempt from Maine’s requirement for quarantine or testing.
“The Community Sports Guidance document does not permit competitions outside of scrimmages within the team for high-risk sports,” the letter said. “The combination of travel and close contact in certain sports increases the risk of accelerating coronavirus spread.
“This is why colleges and universities in New England have largely cancelled intercollegiate athletic competition this fall.”
The letter asks the MPA for its plans to modify its recommendations and added that “we urge you to consider extending your delayed start date for fall sports as many other interscholastic sports bodies in other states have done to allow for sufficient time to resolve the concerns expressed in this letter and to allow for appropriate time for implementation.
“This would also have the beneficial effect of allowing schools the opportunity to get their academic programs underway, which many school administrators, teachers and communities will likely appreciate.”
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