CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As students and families the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district prepare to return to school virtually, there's a push to allow students some sense of normalcy through sports.
During a virtual school board meeting Tuesday night parents and school leaders urged Superintendent Earnest Winston to consider allowing team to practice and condition to start the year.
"I feel like we have focused on the wrong things. We can tell in this pandemic most of the spread happens indoors, and we were trying to get kids indoors first," said parent Nadija Golden.
Others spoke to Superintendent Winston about the added benefits of allowing kids to practice including Julie Knafelz, a parent of two Providence High School student-athletes.
"There are so many more benefits than risks of allowing these athletes to return to practice. Not only are sports helping these kids physically, but they're also experiencing amazing mental health benefits through supervised interactions which are critical for healthy adolescent social and emotional growth."
"A lot of us parents, especially with teenagers are really struggling with idle time. It's nerve wracking every day with these teenagers, trying to get them to make the right choices," added Golden.
One dad and community minister said kids are already hanging out together and likely aren't wearing masks. He thinks sports could actually be safer.
"I’ve talked to parents and kids who are in a bad spot. Being in church I’ve talked to these kids and they just want something to grasp a hold to,” said Jeff Taylor.
Some school board members agreed with parents and pushed for safe ways to engage in team sports this fall.
"Mr Winston I urge you to reopen our outdoor facilities and fields for community use and for organized recreational sports. Our county has already reopened park & rec facilities for this. Our kids and our community need these supervised activities," said board member Rhonda Cheek.
Toward the end of last year, schools had worked to organize small training and coaching groups for athletes. Cheek said it's something that could be revisited at the start of this year.
"I urge our staff to consider allowing our sports teams at CMS to practice in the pod structure that they worked so hard to organize in June."
On Wednesday, the state's athletic association outlined a schedule for all sports for the 2020-2021 school year. Under the plan, football would be pushed to the spring semester with practices beginning February 8. The first sports that could begin practice under the NCHSAA guidelines are volleyball and cross country which could start practices on November 4.
CMS Superintendent Earnest Winston hasn't made a final decision about allowing workouts and practices to take place for the district. He didn’t comment on it at the meeting. In the past, he said if sports cannot be held in the fall, he’d like them to happen in the spring.
Union County started team workouts last month.
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