Sandy Creek Central School District

Important information regarding Fall Sports

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Important information regarding Fall Sports

Dear Students, Staff, Families, and Community Members,

I am writing to announce that the Sandy Creek Central School District has decided to pause the Fall 2020 sport season with the plan of rescheduling the season in the Spring of 2021. You have probably seen that not all districts in New York State or even in the North Country are in agreement on what is best for our students, families, and communities at this time. To be clear, the District is not saying "no" to our fall sports, but is instead saying "not yet".

Currently, as per NYS State Education Guidelines, students are not allowed to be within 6 feet (12 feet in the case of running, singing, or playing an instrument) of each other during the school day. It just does not make sense at this time to begin the athletic season where we would clearly be going against these social distancing regulations that we are following within our schools and in every place of business in New York State. Simply stated, soccer and cross country which are the only fall sports allowable at this time at SCCS, clearly cannot be played while maintaining social distancing. This District is not willing to use your children to see what happens. Additionally, if an athlete were to be diagnosed with COVID-19, our entire district would be subject to closure, not just our high school as we are a one building campus.

We are very much interested in seeing our District return to normal. The ability for the entire SCCS Community to attend music concerts, athletic competitions, Veterans Day celebrations and most importantly having ALL of our students return back to the traditional classroom is what we are striving for.

For the above reasons, our district will be postponing the Fall 2020 sport season. We look forward to the continued positive progress in our school and community that will hopefully lead to our creating athletic and extra-curricular activities later in the winter for our students. Assuming that COVID-19 is contained by spring, we will develop similar length sports seasons with the other districts in the Frontier League (including all Jefferson County School Districts) who are making the same postponement decision.

Lastly, please understand, we know this decision will not be agreed with by all and we recognize there is a chance any decision could be the wrong one. We are choosing not to rush into this when we have the ability to create the same experiences for our students at a later date.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support of the Sandy Creek Central School District.

Sincerely,

Kyle L. Faulkner
Superintendent of Schools