Calais school board vote reveals student access issues

A vote and then a decision to rescind the vote by the Calais School Committee over remote student access to in person extracurricular activities is an example of the unprecedented challenges school boards, school staff, students and parents are encountering as they navigate the pandemic and try to keep students safe.
On December 16 the Calais School Committee had held a heated meeting to discuss whether remote learners should be allowed to participate in winter sports. During the fall, no remote learners had wanted to participate in athletics, so the subject had not been on its radar. With basketball season coming up and about 40% of students learning remotely, a handful of remote students had been interested in participating in sports. Their request led to concerns for student safety and proposed restrictions that Superintendent Ron Jenkins suggested were "problematic." Vice Chair Robert Greenlaw stated that a way to solve the problem would be to "bring everybody back to school five days a week." Chair Joseph Footer replied, "I'd vote for that." After nearly an hour of sometimes rancorous debate, the result was a vote "to have extracurricular activities done by in school students with a virtual option for virtual students." Those in favor were committee members Greenlaw, Footer and James Macdonald. Members Celia Geel and Michael Chadwick abstained.

Access to extracurricular activities
Extracurricular activities, such as athletics, are not considered compulsory, explains Maine Principals' Association Assistant Executive Director Michael Bissan. He knows of some schools in the state "that have banned remote learners from sports," which surprised him when he first heard of it, but then understood that it was a strategy employed "to try to keep cohorts very tight and safe." However, he adds, schools can't regulate what happens out of school when it comes to student life and exposure to COVID 19, and that could nullify any efforts by the school to keep an extracurricular group safe.
"It's a choice, not a right," adds Bissan about athletics and other extracurricular activities. However, because federal and state laws protect certain categories of students, "it's murky." For instance, he points out, Maine state law protects access to extracurricular activities such as athletics by home schooled students. Federal laws such as the Equal Access Act, Students with Disabilities Act and Title IX offer similar types of protections to specific categories of students in federally funded public schools. Should the pandemic continue to throw a monkey wrench into how Maine's public schools conduct business, Bissan says, "I would think that someone would [legally] challenge" the decision to bar remote students from in person extracurricular activities.
On December 31 Jenkins reported that a straw poll vote of the Calais School Committee prior to its regular January 20 meeting will lead to rescinding the committee's previous vote to bar remote students from in person extracurricular activities. The school committee "is going to follow Maine Principals' Association guidelines and recommendations," he explains. Remote students "will have access starting now, but we'll be watching very closely to monitor conditions," in the weeks before the January 20 vote in case COVID 19 cases start escalating.
"We can't get away from the fact that this is tough on kids," says Jenkins. "They're younger than 17, many quite a bit younger than that. We're trying to keep this as sane for them as we can, and I think this decision helps."