Word on the Street

Facilitron partners with hundreds of school districts in 25 states across the U.S. "Word On The Street" is an aggregation of up-to-the-moment trends and best practices from districts across the country—a look at what school districts are doing right now.

Published July 21, 2020

Many Districts across the country are slowly starting to release their back-to-school plans; which in many cases has full distance learning on top of the list. With k12 students attending school from home, what does that mean for high school athletics?

July 10th the Arizona Interscholastic Association announced preliminary plans to introduce fall sports with modifications as early as September 7th. Districts that cannot meet the safety requirements can postpone seasons if necessary.

• AIA sets preliminary fall sports plans to finish high school seasons on time

July 15th, New Mexico provided seasons for 13 sports sanctioned by the New Mexico Activities Association. Cross country and golf begin September 14 with volleyball following on October 5th. Basketball and swimming will take place in early January with soccer and football starting in February. Baseball, softball, wrestling, and tennis will round the year out beginning in April.

• NMAA Sets New Mexico High School Wrestling Season from April through June

On July 20th, In California, high school athletics announced going from three seasons to two, beginning football, cross country, field hockey, water polo, and volleyball practice on December 14, 2020.

• BREAKING: CIF postpones fall sports, moves start of California high school sports season to December 2020
• CIF Southern Section releases adjusted 2020-2021 high school sports calendar; football practice starts Dec. 14

Georgia also jumped in on July 20th and announced the fall football season would be delayed by two weeks, but other sports will stay on schedule.

• GHSA Postpones Football

Houston, Texas, is starting football a month late due to the pandemic and staggering schedules for other sports.

• Here's when high school football starts in Texas amid pandemic

How Facilitron Can Help

The Facilitron platform can streamline the process of having high school athletics and activities on campus. Here's how:

1. Attendee Management: Now available to both facility administrators and event organizers across the Facilitron platform, attendee management allows users to register participants or "attendees" for events scheduled in the system. Meetings, practices, and even games, for example, might include lists of coaches, players, referees, event management personnel, or fans attending the event. Actual attendees at the event would be checked into the system for tracking and managing capacity limits.
2. Integration of event calendar and work order system: Centralize communications and ensure CDC cleaning guidelines before and after sporting events are followed and documented. Make data accessible to administrative and operational staff.
3. Reservation guideline attachments: Bring transparency and visibility into facility use through our centralized platform and data control center. As state and local officials update and change guidelines, Facilitron can assist by keeping the latest information, policy, and procedures tied to reservations. The terms and conditions attached to each registration can be updated to keep all attendees informed as well.

For a closer look at how the Facilitron platform can be used to help your high school athletics department streamline the management of ever-changing federal, state, and local guidelines, reach out to schedule a demo.

Please share your best practices with Facilitron, and we will continue to update our District partners!