Parent urges Yorkville School District officials to bring back extracurricular activities

A Yorkville High School parent pleaded with school board members to bring back extracurricular activities for the sake of students' mental health at a meeting Monday night, Dec. 14.

Parent Tony Jones told the school board that the he has seen how the continuing pandemic has affected his own son, a senior in the district.

"We're beginning to see our good and diligent student start to slip," Jones said, reading from a letter he addressed to district officials. "While his grades are still strong, the structure and fatigue from the current environment are beginning to take their toll."

Jones said even he supported prohibiting extracurricular activities early in the pandemic. He noted one remark stayed with him: "'No one wants a page in the yearbook of all the kids that died from COVID.'"

Jones said that now many school districts in the country may have yearbook pages "of all the kids that died by suicide."

Jones also cited the many universities that have safely implemented organized sports, adding that "the young are by orders of magnitude less susceptible to this deadly virus."

"We are asking the district to reaffirm your leadership in handling all aspects of the pandemic response and begin working with our peers in returning kids to every possible extracurricular activity," Jones told the school board.

In response, board vice-president Dr. Robert Brenart said the district might be able to bring back extracurriculars through state grants for COVID-19 rapid tests, an approach used by professional and college sports.

"A vaccine's great but kids aren't going to get them until the spring at the latest," Brenart said. "We need to have another strategy if we're going to try and get them (students) back."

The district applied last week for a waiver to convert facilities into rapid testing sites - a foot-in-the-door for increasing the district's testing capacity.

Yet Superintendent Tim Shimp emphasized that the district could lose legal liability if it violates state policy toward organized sports.

"We have to protect not only our kids and our staff but our district, and not get ourselves in a position where do lose any of our liability or tort immunity going forward," Shimp said.

On Monday, the IHSA board said it will meet with the state health agency and Governor J.B. Pritzker to develop a timeline for the return of school sports.