Decatur City Schools: No COVID restrictions for football games

Aug. 18—Decatur and Austin high schools open the football season this week with halftime band shows planned and no COVID restrictions for spectators despite a rise in coronavirus cases in the school system that resulted in a mask mandate in classrooms.

"We received guidance from the state and the Alabama (High School) Athletic Association last year, but received no guidance this year to place restrictions," Deputy Superintendent Dwight Satterfield said of football games.

Decatur City Schools does plan restrictions for indoor sports, including the volleyball season that also begins this week.

The football season at Decatur and Austin was impacted by COVID restrictions a year ago. The schools sold only a limited number of tickets to each game in 2020 so spectators could spread out in the stadiums, and the bands were limited to a pregame show at home games. The bands could take only 50 members to away games, and they could perform in the stands but not on the field.

Jere Adcock, who begins his 26th season as Decatur High head coach on Thursday at Russellville, said his team had a strong turnout among fans last season for home games at Ogle Stadium even with the limited ticket sales.

"The stadium is so big that even with the restrictions last year, we were able to have a big crowd," Adcock said. "I think we might have a little bit bigger of a crowd this year just because we don't have those previous limitations looming over us."

Decatur City Schools began the academic year Aug. 5 without requiring masks, but Superintendent Michael Douglas announced Friday that masks would be required in schools and on buses effective this week. He said then that the district had recorded 35 students with positive tests for COVID-19 since school began.

Morgan County has averaged 50 new cases of the virus daily in the past week, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health, an upswing that began in early July. The continued spread of the virus locally will have some fans taking precautions when Decatur plays Thursday and Austin plays Friday at home against Hartselle.

"All of those people are going to be in the stands. I'm going to mask up," said Craig Ponter, whose grandson, Max, is an eighth grader playing for Decatur's junior varsity.

Craig Ponter believes vaccinations should be mandatory for both players and coaches. Students 12 and older are eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. He said he hopes teams can stay healthy enough to play their full schedules, but he realizes there are challenges.

"We're in the same place now (with COVID) that we were last Christmas," Ponter said.

Ponter said he wishes people eligible for the vaccine would take it.

"When I was in school, they made us take the smallpox vaccine. There was no questions asked. You just lined up and took it," Ponter said.

Volleyball and band

The Decatur High band plans a normal halftime performance Thursday in Russellville, according to Blake Ferguson, band director.

"They made us do a pre-game show last year because they didn't want us crossing paths with football players (enabling the virus to spread)," he said.

Clay Sloan, band director for Austin High School, said the band will practice indoors when the weather is bad like they usually did last year, but with the same guidelines for school classes.

He said they will wear masks and implement social distancing. The Austin band is able to hold 60 to 65 band members in its auditorium because of the large amount of space.

Lane Barnett, Decatur City Schools' first-year athletic coordinator, said any activities indoors, which includes band practices, volleyball games and physical education classes, will have to wear masks and practice social distancing where possible.

Decatur High's volleyball team plays at home Thursday afternoon in a tri-match against Athens and Randolph. Austin's volleyball team begins competition Friday in a tournament in Hoover.

Two to three Austin band members are currently in quarantine, according to Sloan. He said that around November of last year they were at peak numbers.

"We had about 10 to 12 band members in quarantine last year," he said.

—wesley.tomlinson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438.