State decision likely ends prep sports season

The spring high school sports season in Idaho is likely over, after it barely began.

The Idaho State Board of Education voted Monday at a special board meeting in Boise to extend its “soft closure” of schools statewide to the end of the 2019-20 school year, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

That likely means the end of the spring high school sports season in Idaho, and the Idaho High School Activities Association, which last week suspended all games and practices through April 20, has said it will likely follow what the state board of education does.

The IHSAA has a regularly scheduled board of directors meeting on Wednesday.

On March 16, the IHSAA originally suspended spring sports activities, effective March 17, through April 5. Only a handful of events involving North Idaho teams had been played prior to the original suspension.

The Idaho State Board of Education recently recommended a “soft closure” of schools through April 20, and the IHSAA extended its suspension to that date.

State tournaments in all spring sports are scheduled the week of May 11-16. IHSAA executive director Ty Jones said last week the board would consider extending the spring sports season past then, if that’s what the schools wanted.

However, that was before the state board of education extended its soft closure through the end of the school year. The decision leaves the option for local school districts to open before the end of the school year, if “local and state social distancing orders have been lifted and re-entry criteria established by the Board have been met,” the board said.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Monday announced the closure of Washington schools through the end of the school year, and the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association followed by issuing a statement late Monday pulling the plug on the spring high school sports season in that state. Spring sports games and practices were recently postponed through May 4.