BATON ROUGE, La. (KTAL) – State Senator Cleo Fields, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, has asked the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to suspend all athletic activities at K through 12 public schools in Louisiana through December because of COVID-19.
Fields made the request in a letter sent to the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) Monday, July 6.
”I am requesting the board to include a suspension of ALL athletic activities for this fall in any rules adopted regarding reopening of schools for the coming year,” Fields wrote. ”This suspension should include all activities of any kind that would include student in-person participation in a group setting, including conditioning, practice and team meetings.”
Fields says the issue is “too critical” to leave up to the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) to decide.
BESE will meet July 14 to adopt emergency rules concerning the reopening of schools in the time of COVID.