Wake eases COVID-19 ban on spectators at school sports events. Here’s what’s planned.
The Wake County school system is easing its ban on spectators at sporting events to allow a limited number of parents to attend the competitions.
Due to COVID-19 concerns, Wake County told families earlier this month that it wouldn’t allow spectators at athletic events and wouldn’t allow arts groups to give in-person performances. But the district announced Tuesday that schools will open contests to immediate family members of participating athletes starting the week of Nov. 30.
“We understand that there is a strong desire from many families to attend contests to support their student-athletes,” Eric Fitts, Wake’s senior director of middle school programs, said at Tuesday’s school board meeting.
High schools are resuming athletic competitions this week for the first time since stopping on March 13 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Fitts said Wake schools will use the next two weeks to safely restart competitions.
The announcement comes after parents bombarded school leaders with letters, emails and phone calls demanding that the spectator ban be immediately dropped. The parents argued that they should be allowed to see their children perform in person instead of watching them online.
Restrictions on spectators at events
The reopening to fans comes with restrictions.
The N.C. High School Athletics Association is allowing up to 25 people to attend indoor sporting events and up to 100 people at outdoor events, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Fitts said that due to the limited number of indoor seats, tickets for volleyball games would be reserved for immediate family members of the home team. He said people who can’t get tickets can purchase monthly or season subscriptions through the National Federation of High Schools network (www.nfhsnetwork.com/).
For cross country events, Fitts said schools will decide capacity for fans based on the number of participants per team.
Since some sports start later in the school year, Fitts said the decision on how tickets will be given will be decided closer to when those sports start and will be based on state and local restrictions at the time.
“While I’m sure this plan doesn’t fully meet the requests of many people in the community, it’s at least moving forward toward a structure where parents can come and view the competitions,” said school board member Jim Martin.
Masks for band, choral students
Wake also announced Tuesday changes to help performing arts students who’ve been limited so far to virtual performances.
Fitts said that special masks have arrived for band and chorus students and their teachers. He said the masks will be shipped to schools on Wednesday.
Wake hadn’t allowed choral students to sing or bands to play due to coronavirus health concerns. Instead, those students were limited to meeting together on campus at events where they didn’t perform.
Superintendent Cathy Moore said Wake, the state’s largest school district, has been working to put safety protocols in place to bring back sports and the performing arts.
“I’m excited to bring an update that has a runway that leads to the full participation of different kinds of things in arts and athletics, including bringing some spectators back into the building,” Moore said, “because we know that it’s important to our students.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 8:00 AM.
