- Dale Duff Reporting ([email protected])
The Maine Principals’ Association and state agencies have agreed to change the color-coding guidelines and allow schools in yellow coded counties to begin to play winter sports activities. It will be up to the local administration to deem it safe to do so in their school.
We all know the key role that education-based activities play in the physical and emotional well-being of our students. We as associations promote any opportunity that we can to find ways to engage kids in these school-based programs, especially when we know that many of them are struggling with their remote learning. When looking at these activities it is important to note that vocal and instrumental music, as well as other performing arts activities, must be included in these conversations. All these activities play an integral role in the lives of many of our children.
After meeting with the state health and education agencies, a change has been made regarding the color coding currently being used by schools. The color coding system will be used as advisory to in-person learning but will no longer apply to school-based activities. If it is deemed safe to do so by the local administration, teams may begin practicing, following the established sport-specific return to play guidelines. Students have been inactive for a considerable amount of time; therefore, each school must establish an acclimatization period in which athletes recondition before playing in competitive games. The MPA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee feels this decision would be best left up to the individual schools to develop their reconditioning plan rather than recommending a mandatory 5 or 10 day period. – MPA Release
Yellow-coded counties at the moment include York, Cumberland, Oxford and Androscoggin.
