Dear Pine Bush Community,

Over the past two weeks, the Pine Bush Central School District has been discussing “Back to Play” because we feel strongly that participating in athletics allows students to develop positive relationships with peers and coaches. Athletics also develops team building, improves communication skills, develops resilience and a strong work ethic, while improving physical fitness. Since COVID-19 has created many restrictions that require safety protocols and social distancing that require additional district financial support, we have had many challenging conversations about how to bring our athletes “Back to Play.”

Please know that the district remains committed to providing interscholastic athletics for our student athletes. We have been waiting for additional information from Governor Cuomo’s office regarding the ability to offer winter sports opportunities for this upcoming season.  The last correspondence from his office has identified the following winter sports as high-risk which have yet to be cleared for participation: basketball, competitive cheerleading, and wrestling.  At this time, it is unclear if these sports will be permitted to officially begin on Nov. 30, 2020.    

In order to be prepared for the possibility that winter sports will occur, we are opening our online registration platform, FamilyID, to include winter sports registration for the following varsity and JV teams: boys’ swimming, boys’ and girls’ basketball, competitive cheerleading and wrestling.

Although indoor track is a popular sport, there are many logistical issues with offering the program in the current environment.  In addition, West Point will not be able to host indoor track events as done in the past.  Therefore, this sport will unfortunately not be offered.  We are hopeful that our track and field athletes will have the opportunity to participate in the spring as many do on a regular basis.

Proceeding with winter sports provides many challenges due to COVID-19 protocols.  Please be aware of the following unusual limitations that cannot be overcome due to safety and/or budgetary issues: 

• The district will not be offering modified (middle school) sports during the winter season.
• The district will only provide transportation to athletic contests.
• There will be  no transportation to and from practice; this includes late buses and shuttles.
• Practice times may need to be staggered due to the number of athletes being allowed to use athletic spaces at the same time. 
• There will be limited access to the Athletic Placement Process (APP) which allows 7th and 8th graders to participate at the high school level. Only those students that successfully completed the APP last year will be able to compete on high school teams again this season.
• Rosters may be limited due to social distancing rules and space limitations.   

We are asking our community to be patient about these restrictions as we attempt to get student-athletes “Back to Play.”  Since the health and safety protocols and planning processes are complex, we would like to concentrate our current efforts on starting high school winter athletics.  If these efforts are successful, we will consider adding off-season and/or conditioning workouts for other sports in the future.

The district will also be providing our registered athletes with a “Back to Play” safety plan for students and parents to review prior to the start of the season as it will include the following important topics: New York Department of Health (NYDOH), New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) and Section IX Athletics guidance.  District safety protocols and training will be provided to coaches and athletes. Specific information about practice times, tryout locations and specific doors to enter/exit the buildings will also be shared with registered athletes.

Thank you for your support and patience during this process and we look forward to the upcoming 2020-2021 season.

Sincerely, 

 

Donna M. Geidel

Acting Superintendent of Schools