Time to Return our Youth to Activities
It is time to get our youth back playing, NOW!
No more June 10th rule, not more June 15th rule, no more five-day plan, no more ten-day plan, no more fifteen-day plan, no more thirty-day plan but end those restrictions now and get our youth back on the field playing. This charade needs to end now.
It is time to stop the abuse of our youth and get them back to living life. Remember that statement from the documents during the foundation of this nation- life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Now is the time for our communities to take action and put those ideals back into the lives of our youth.
The facilities that have been chained up in recent weeks, the sports equipment that has been chained up, the park benches that have been chained up now need to be unchained. For those school districts that have taken this action, be reminded that you do not own those facilities but are the caretakers of the facilities for the communities that pay for those sites with their tax dollars and approved the referendums to pay the bond bills to support those facilities. Remember that during the selling of the referendums to the public, the constant promise of ‘community use’ was part of the sales pitch for approval by the voters. Now it is the time for these districts to deliver on those promises and honor the use of facilities by local community groups. If the administrators of the districts are unwilling to take this action, the local school boards must step in and forcefully indicate that the facilities will be reopened now. At the state level it is time for the legislators and senators to get back into session and forcefully indicate to the administration that the restrictive rules must end now. Stop the abuse of our youth and our citizens.
Yes we have been dealing with a disease that has severe repercussions to a segment of our population and will continue to affect the health of our population for a time to come but remember that as of May 31st the non-infection rate in this state was 98.8243 (100-1.1757)% and the living rate was 99.8905 (100-.1095)%. Based on the census of 2010 and based on population with many untested individuals.
The return to play should be based on a longtime educational principle called ‘least restrictive environment’ and not on some inane statements coming from some national groups lately. A volleyballer can only hit the ball to themselves and not to anyone else, no one can pick up a ball touched by another person, no one can be in the same area as another athlete: all defy sanity. Yes it makes sense that after play, equipment should be cleaned and readied for another day of play, yes it makes sense to have some social spacing before and after an event, yes it make sense to use face masks if social distancing cannot be maintained in certain situations but let the ‘least restrictive environment’ be the guiding principle competition as the rules are already designed for a sport. If the national control organizations cannot get the message, then our state and local legislatures need to step in and remove their charters and reestablish organizations that have a clear sense of ‘least restrictive environment’ for the athletes they will work with in the future.
It is time to end this abuse of our youth and get them back to living life.
