A meeting between school officials and concerned community members was held in the WHS commons last Thursday evening, Oct. 22 about a then-recent announcement by the Alaska School Activities Association. The announcement, shared on the Wrangell Public Schools' Facebook page on Oct. 19, made it a requirement for high school athletes to wear face masks during competition. Previously, students were not expected to wear masks during activity. The only exception for this new announcement was for swimmers, who were not expected to wear masks while in the water. This new requirement is in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of ASAA's mitigation efforts. This decision was overturned later on last week, but at the time it caused some stir in the community.
"ASAA is making this a requirement for indoor sports and strongly recommended for outdoor sports until further notice is given," the statement reads. "We will be working with our officials on how to enforce this requirement during competitions and expect school districts to enforce this requirement during practices and competitions."
This announcement was not met positively by several people attending the school meeting on Oct. 22. Several parents voiced concerns that students might have a hard time competing while wearing a mask. It could impair their peripheral vision, or could make it hard for them to catch their breath. Another concern was about possible health risks from wearing masks while breathing heavily, how it might increase the amount of carbon dioxide students breathe in. Penny Allen, at the meeting, said she was upset that there was no implementation period for this new requirement.
"I agree with everything everybody's saying," said Bob Davis, lead teacher/assistant principal. "We can't, we the school, can't do anything about it."
Davis said, several times during the meeting, that the district could not officially do anything about this ASAA requirement, besides stay in communication with ASAA and voice their concerns. He also iterated at several points that the district and the parents seemed to be on the same page regarding their concerns. Activities Director Trisa Rooney added that Wrangell could always pull out of ASAA, but that would impact all sporting activities in the district. If one sport stopped competing with ASAA, she said, all teams would have to be pulled. It was an all-or-nothing situation.
Superintendent Debbe Lancaster said that this new requirement was a hot topic across the state. What might be most effective, she suggested, would be for parents to contact ASAA directly with their concerns. The parents agreed that this would be a good idea, and discussed getting a letter written for community members to sign onto and send to ASAA.
However, all this discussion proved to be a moot point. A revision was sent out from ASAA on Oct. 23, overturning their previous announcement.
"ASAA would like to notify Alaska school districts that the Department of Health and Social Services has clarified their recommendation regarding masks to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) language," the announcement reads. "As a result, ASAA will no longer require masks to be worn while actively participating, but rather recommends a mask be worn 'if feasible'."
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