School district approves plan on Tuesday

Christmas is coming early for athletes at Sheboygan North and South.

Last night, the Sheboygan Area School District approved plans to begin the winter sports season next week, and the Board of Education’s administrative team discussed preliminary plans to return to in-person learning in a Hybrid model in January.

As a result, the wrestling and boys swim teams will begin on Monday.

Basketball is set to get underway Tuesday and the start date for gymnastics is unknown because the team needs a coach.

The district’s press release stated it is “very appreciative of the opportunity this provides for students. We also want to stress that with this opportunity comes much responsibility. This undertaking is going to require discipline, unselfishness, and teamwork from each of us. Our focus is to control what we can control, in order to maintain the remainder of the winter season we have in front of us.”

SASD is also asking parents to complete an online survey, and the Sheboygan Parents Action Coalition shared thoughts and opinions on its Facebook page without listing names.

One person stated fans should be in the stands as well, but someone else was “a little confused” why the district wants sports to return before in-person school resumes and its priorities “seem to be messed up.”

Another admitted to not knowing what the right answer is to all of this, but for the first time in his/her life there are worries about kids’ mental health.

The Golden Raiders and Redwings have not played sports since last winter because COVID-19 wiped out the spring season and the district decided to hold fall sports in early spring.

However, WIAA rules state teams must have a certain number of practices before playing their first game or meet, which means the earliest the schools can compete is the week of Christmas – which also does not help re-scheduling matters.

The Board of Education will meet again on Tuesday to review community data and survey results. It states in another release the information will guide its recommendation for returning to in-person learning next month as well as future plans for the second semester, which begins Jan. 25.