LAUSD announces online-only start for 2020-21 school year, making athletic activity look unlikely
Blog July 14, 2020
Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now.
Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner announced Monday that all of the LAUSD schools will begin the 2020-21 school year on Aug. 18 with online-only instruction due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.
“Unfortunately, COVID-19 continues to spread in the Los Angeles area and the virus is going to impact how we start the school year,” Beutner said in a statement. “While the new school year will begin on August 18th as scheduled, it will not begin with students at school facilities. The health and safety of all in the community is not something we can compromise.”
Beutner’s announcement was followed later in the day by Los Angeles County public health officials informing the county’s school districts that they may reopen their campuses to students in the fall. The announcement included guidelines for containment and response plans.
The decision to reopen is being left up to school districts individually.
The Los Angeles County Health Department’s announcement Monday included a recommendation that K-12 sports activities should not be allowed unless they can done with physical distancing.
If school districts follow those guidelines, most of the fall sports, including football, will probably be rescheduled to start later in the school year, perhaps after Jan. 1.
It has been four months since City schools closed their campuses on March 13. Beutner said Monday the campuses will be remain closed indefinitely.
LAUSD administrators and coaches have said that all high school sports activities are unlikely to be allowed if students aren’t on campus for classes.
The CIF State will announce its plans for the 2020-21 sports calendar on Monday, July 20, which will determine if any sports, including football, will be played this fall.
If Southern Section member schools are given the green light to compete, it doesn’t mean City schools will be able to do the same as long as LAUSD orders its campuses to be closed.
Some area coaches are concerned that there could be a number of transfers from City Section to Southern Section schools if the return to LAUSD campuses remains unknown.
On Friday, the Pac-12 and Big Ten announced conference-only play this season, while the Patriot and Ivy leagues canceled their fall sports and looked into possibly playing in the spring. Other college conferences are reportedly considering altering or canceling competition this fall, too, and that could make it more likely that high school sports will follow suit and might push back all of its sports until 2021.
