Rural Colorado high schools are pushing back against the Colorado High School Activities Association.
A group of roughly 90 administrators from across the state who want football back in the fall met with CHSAA executive director Rhonda Blanford-Green early Thursday morning via a Zoom call, The Post has learned. Those administrators discussed their positions with Blanford-Green for roughly a half-hour, two participants on the call confirmed.
“I would not use the word, ‘coup,’ but I would use ‘concern,’” Chris Selle, superintendent with Meeker schools, said of the call. “Rural schools (have a) request, and that request would be for the Governor’s team to give consideration to maybe some different guidelines for our rural schools with regard to extracurricular activities.
“Just an understanding that the conditions in our communities are different than what they are on the Front Range. And I do believe there are ways for us to offer activities to our students that can keep everyone safe but also let those kids engage in the wonderful learning opportunities that come from extracurricular activities.”
Nearly two dozen superintendents from smaller districts in all corners of the state have been discussing those concerns privately in recent days in response to CHSAA’s revised 2020-21 activities calendar Tuesday.
The new schedules featured truncated seasons because of concerns over the coronavirus pandemic and, most significantly, moved football from its traditional autumn slot to a window that runs from roughly late February to May.
“It’s just a discussion,” Wiggins superintendent Trent Kerr said. “Nobody’s starting a coup. It’s a discussion of what we can do.
“In our minds, ‘fair’ has gone out the window a long time ago in this whole crazy environment. We’re just trying to do what’s best — if the rural communities can play 6-man football and they can have football. There are no (COVID-19) outbreaks there, and why not (play)?”
Kerr said Blanford-Green “was just great” on the call and admits that “she’s in a tough spot … it’s not as if the CSHAA membership or Rhonda, as the face of it, can change the Governor’s mind.”
Those administrators are hoping that if she can’t sway Gov. Jared Polis, they might be able to.
“I don’t know,” Selle said. “I think we’re in uncertain territory at this point.
“Part of the challenge we find ourselves in (is), where do we allow personal choice to accept that risks are allowed? For our students and our parents and for our school districts to say, ‘Yes, we know there’s risk. We have thoroughly vetted that risk the best that we possibly can, given the circumstances, and we are OK, or not, with accepting that risk?’ Personal choices will be cherished quite a bit among rural communities.”
