Huntley High School won’t play basketball this winter

HUNTLEY – The Huntley High School Red Raiders won’t be playing basketball this winter after the District 158 School Board informally agreed Thursday evening to follow state health guidelines and protect the district from possible lawsuits.

The decision by the board was prompted by a disagreement between Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois High School Association, a non-governmental body that schedules and coordinates interscholastic sports for high schools across the state.

In late October, Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health—citing the most recent spike in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the state—labeled contact sports, like basketball and wrestling, as “high risk” for the spread of the coronavirus, canceled winter sports events, and pushed the season to spring. The following day, the IHSA announced it would schedule a winter basketball season anyway and began recruiting member schools to participate.

District 158 Superintendent Scott Rowe asked the school board for a decision of how the district would respond and noted the impact on their decision on student athletes and the district’s legal liability.
Rowe said the district’s legal advisers said following the IHSA guidelines and going ahead with a winter basketball season could impact the district’s funding from the state. They also warned the IHSA doesn’t provide any liability coverage to member schools to protect against any claims related to COVID-19, leaving the district open to damages. School districts across the country, including District 158, have been notified by their insurance carriers that their policies won’t cover any claims related to the virus.

“Obviously, there’s a social and emotional component for our students to be engaged in sports and athletics,” Rowe said. “But there are some serious concerns.”

In scheduling only remote classes for students, he said, the district has followed guidelines recommended by the McHenry County Health Department. Whether to have a winter sports season for students should follow recommendations by health authorities, he said.

School Board President Anthony Quagliano said the district’s lawyers have recommended against holding a winter sports season because the lack of liability coverage. He noted the district has had both basketball and football players test positive for the virus after beginning full-contact practice.
“I would have concerns going forward with that,” he said.

“By willfully saying we’re going to ignore the recommendation of state health officials in playing basketball against their recommendation, we (would be) negligent in our actions,” Rowe said
Quagliano said the district could insist on a waiver from students and their parents but couldn’t get waivers from everyone they come in contact with during a game.

Rowe said the IHSA had conducted a conference call with approximately 300 high schools across the state and found about 30% of the schools planned to participate in the winter season. Schools in the Fox Valley Conference were not planning to participate, he said.

Rowe said the IHSA had outlined a series of changes to the game of basketball in an effort to limit contact among players, such as coaches standing in certain areas, keeping social distancing among players on the bench and at officials’ tables, eliminating the jump ball at the start of games, and continually sanitizing the ball during the game.

“They were attempting to make it as safe an environment as they could,” Rowe said, but noted the nature of the game required players to come into close contact with each other.

With football already moved to the spring season — if the COVID-19 infection rate should slow — some student-athletes will have to choose between football and basketball.

“Put it this way, I hope they have that choice,” Quagliano said.

As the board was meeting as a committee of the whole, no motion was made or vote taken. Quagliano polled board members and none of them expressed interest in opening the district to the liability of a winter basketball season.