The future of fall sports once again will be the No. 1 topic of discussion Thursday when the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s Board of Control meets.

The meeting is set for 10:30 a.m. and will be livestreamed at youtube.com/khsaatv.

At issue will be the plan the KHSAA approved July 28 for the fall sports of cross country, field hockey, football, soccer and volleyball. Starting Aug. 24, practices can begin for up to 7 ½ hours during the week. Full weekly practices can begin Aug. 31. Competition can begin Sept. 7 for all fall sports except football, which will start Sept. 11.

When that plan was approved in July, board member Jerry Wyman abstained from the vote and encouraged the board to meet again before the start of Aug. 24 practices, leading to the scheduling of Thursday’s meeting.

“I didn’t vote ‘no’ because I didn’t want fall sports,” said Wyman, who also is the director of athletics for Jefferson County Public Schools. “I abstained because I can’t vote ‘yes’ right now. I think we need more time and need to meet again. We have to meet again before we get to that point.”

Related: Five questions you might have about future of fall sports

One key event the KHSAA board likely must consider is last week’s recommendation by Gov. Andy Beshear that Kentucky schools wait until Sept. 28 to start in-person learning in an attempt to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

JCPS superintendent Marty Pollio said Monday the district’s board will monitor Thursday’s KHSAA meeting before deciding the future of fall sports for the county’s high schools. During Tuesday’s JCPS Board of Education meeting, Pollio said he’s “a proponent” of moving fall sports to the spring. 

Asked whether JCPS might postpone or cancel fall sports while the rest of the state plays, Pollio said, “There is a possibility of that. Our board is going to make the decision that is best for our children, our athletes, and I have to recommend to them what I think is best for us.”

On Tuesday, the Kentucky Football Coaches Association reported results of its own survey to which 190 of 221 football-playing schools in the state responded. According to the survey, 96 of 10,962 football players (0.875%) have tested positive for COVID-19. The report stated none of the positive cases had been traced back to football workouts but did not indicate how many of the more than 10,000 athletes on football rosters actually had been tested.

According to JCPS officials, 11 athletes in all sports have tested positive since limited practices began in late June — four from Manual, two from Butler, two from Male and one each from Atherton, Fern Creek and Seneca. JCPS is not tracking the number of athletes who are tested and is not releasing information on which sports were involved in the positive tests or where athletes were suspected of catching the virus.

Other items on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting:

• Review of the NCAA fall recruiting calendar.
• Review of enrollment figures that could affect football classification for 2021.
• Review of the number of contests allowed for fall sports.
• Setting of dates for the 2020-21 dance and competitive cheer state championships.

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @kyhighs. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/jasonf.