DeKalb Schools delay all high school sports through the end of September
The DeKalb County School District announced on Friday they are delaying all athletics through the end of September. The decision was made after evaluating the latest COVID-19 data from the county's board of health, according to a release from the district.
"After evaluating the data and the cases since July 1, the District feels that this decision is in the best interest of our student-athletes, coaches, their families, and the community," said Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris in a statement. "The concerns created by coronavirus place our student-athletes at an unacceptable level of risk, even after safety measures were implemented during practices. As a mother of a former high school football player and competitive cheerleader, I understand the role sports play in galvanizing the local community and instilling the values of teamwork, leadership, self-discipline and perseverance among our scholars. However, the current health risk is too great.”
The district will allow teams to continue conditioning until competition starts. Other school systems have made similar decisions regarding their own fall high school sports recently: Fulton County announced a delay to all of their fall sports on Thursday, while Rockdale County recently announced they are moving all fall sports to the spring.