Oregon pushes fall high school sports to March

By Staff (OPB)
Portland, Ore. Aug. 6, 2020 12:39 a.m.

Most districts aren't ready to return to in-person classes, so the sports calendar will be quite different.

Lake Oswego players and coaches watch a Central Catholic receiver catch a pass in the OSAA 6A state football championship Dec. 7, 2019.

Lake Oswego players and coaches watch a Central Catholic receiver catch a pass in the OSAA 6A state football championship Dec. 7, 2019.

Bradley W. Parks / OPB

High school sports traditionally played in the fall in Oregon will shift to the spring because of COVID-19.

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The Oregon School Activities Association’s executive board voted Wednesday to have the fall season begin in March.

The association will allow some local school districts to decide for themselves whether fall sports should happen during their typical schedule in the fall. That’s in keeping with Gov. Kate Brown’s guidelines for school re-openings, which allow local districts to decide whether to bring students back to campus if their communities meet a set of health metrics.

Brown rolled out the new guidelines last week, news that was quickly followed by a series of announcements from many of the state’s largest school districts that students would continue remote learning until at least November. When the governor made her announcement, only one county — Wheeler — qualified for students to return to in-person classes. The number of new COVID-19 cases continues to rise across much of the state.

Under the current schedule, the winter high school sports season will be in January and February, fall sports will be played in March and April and the spring season will be in May and June.

State leaders in Washington have moved high school football to the spring, though some other fall sports are still slated to be played at the start of the school year. That may change as the coronavirus spreads and districts continue to work out their fall plans.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday that most of his state’s students should not go back to campus in the fall. It’s not clear yet how that will impact fall sports.

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