My name is Nicolas Lepine, and I am the creator of Montessori Physical Education. I am also the athletic director and PE instructor of Rogers Park Montessori school, located in Northside Chicago. We have roughly 375 students coming to school this year (no remote learning), ages ranging from toddler all the way to 8th grade. The school has asked that every adult working here to be vaccinated and masked, and that the children at every age will be wearing masks too. Almost all of our older students who are eligible for vaccination are, as well as their parents.
I am writing to all of you today because I would love to hear what your school's policies or thought processes regarding athletics / after school sports will be for this 2021-22 school year. How are you running PE? Are you offering sports this year? Will it be in-school only, or will you compete against other schools (or play in an organized league)? If you are playing outside of your school, what Covid mitigation steps will you be taking (or the league)? Will you have a vaccine mandate to participate in sports against other schools for those who are eligible?
To get the ball rolling, I will start. Physical Education will be in-person this year. Class sizes, while bigger than last year, are still pretty small compared to the relatively large size of the gym and outside play areas. PE will be almost back to normal, with the obvious difference that everyone will be wearing masks the whole time (inside and out).
Athletics is a whole different ball game (pun intended). My program director started off the set-up weeks by saying we were cancelling all afterschool activities for the fall, which included cross country. My counter proposal is that we have a "running club," with the greatest point of emphasis that I meet with the students by pod, not by age or gender. Since cross country is an outdoor sport, there is far less risk than being indoors, and if we wear masks as well, I believe it is even safer than being in the classroom. While I have not gotten a reply yet, I believe my admin will agree to these terms. They definitely have ruled out running with any other schools or competing in a league.
For basketball, only time will tell. The two biggest "what ifs" will be the positivity rate in Chicago, as well as the age of students who can receive vaccination. Mentally, I am prepared for my school to say only vaccinated students can participate in outside leagues, which would only guarantee my middle school would have a competitive season. My younger students may have to have some type of in-house season if they are not eligible for vaccination by the time our bball season rolls out. I reached out to the league we have been playing in the past 12 years, and they are still undecided on if there will be a season. I do have one backup league just in case, but would be willing to switch to a new league if necessary.
I imagine our track and field will look almost identical to cross country, and I am hoping that we can get some volleyball in, maybe by trying to take advantage of the outdoors and partnering with one or two schools. I had really wished to branch out and try and offer more sports and join some other leagues, but this is not the year to do so. Right now it feels like an uphill battle to do anything athletic after school. I am hopeful for this year however, especially revolving around basketball, which has been our most popular sport for the past decade, and will have the most parent support as well.
Thank you to all for taking the time to share your thoughts and perspective. I have heard from some of my colleagues from LMAIS (Lake Michigan Association of Independent Schools), and it seems like my school is certainly functioning more on the conservative end of the spectrum. It seems like many schools are resuming full sports activities after school, with mitigations like mask wearing, limited indoor spectators, spacing on benches, etc. i would love to hear how other schools (especially outside of Chicago) are planning for this year. I hope by hearing other's stories, we can all feel reassured in our practices.
Thanks again!