On Tuesday, September 1, a positive gathering was held at Omaha Public School’s TAC building.  

Before the 2020-2021 school year started, meetings to decide a Fall sports plan occurred. “School or sports” was the option given by OPS. OPS declared that the district would go fully remote for the first quarter of the school year. Now, athletes want to play, yet OPS will not allow this. 

 For some senior athletes, this decision is dream crushing.  

“I have spent thousands of hours and my parents have spent thousands of dollars preparing me for the next level,” said Hunter Push, 12, a Defense and Offense line player at Omaha North High.  

While OPS isn’t authorizing sports because of COVID-19, other schools such as Westside, Roncalli, and Bellevue West are. Wearing masks on the sidelines, bringing personal water bottles, and social distancing as much as possible are some precautions that these schools are taking to prevent positive cases of COVID-19. 

 “I just don’t buy that everyone else can do this safely, but we can’t” said Push. 

Sam Scott, 12, a former football player at Omaha North High, decided to transfer to Skutt High as a result of OPS making this claim. Scott was extremely disappointed in OPS and decided it was best to transfer somewhere he could play and make more memories. 

“OPS kids work as hard or even harder than other kids… so why can’t OPS kids get the same opportunity?” said Scott. 

To others, sports isn’t a priority at this time. “I would rather lose a season than lose a member of our team to COVID-19,” said Ms. Gutierrez, assistant coach for Cross Country. 

 Multiple Universities, such as Kansas State, have had to postpone or cancel games and practices, due to the safety of the athletes and coaches. Gutierrez says she would not feel safe coaching with this virus going around, “and for the record, I do not feel safe with students returning in October either.” 

On September 16, OPS declared that they would be going back to their original 3/2 family plan. For high schoolers, this day would be October 19, unless parents and students signed a form to stay home. Because of the return to school and the “school or sports” claim, there isn’t a great chance of Fall sports being allowed this year.