LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Weekly COVID-19 tests will be mandatory for student athletes and others beginning Nov. 1.
Academy at Shawnee athletic director Michael Jolly hopes his winter teams won’t have to forfeit games because too many healthy students are stuck at home due to contact tracing. This scenario has impacted schools across Kentucky this academic year.
"You know we’ve lost games in every sport," Jolly told Spectrum News 1. We last visited Jolly as Shawnee's football team was searching for a last minute opponent due to a forfeiture. “We lost two football games, one because we were quarantined. One because the other team was. We have lost a volleyball game, same thing," Jolly explains.
Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio reports the vast majority of students who’ve had to quarantine do not test positive for COVID-19. Pollio suggested Thursday only 2% of students who are sent home due to contact tracing protocol eventually test positive for COVID-19. On Thursday the Jefferson County School Board approved a plan requiring students to take a weekly COVID-19 test in order to participate in after school activities. Basically all activities sports and otherwise are bound by the new requirement.
Jolly says regular testing will keep healthy students in competition and involved even if exposed to COVID-19.
“Like I said earlier, 'Why is my kid staying home when he doesn’t have or she doesn’t have COVID-19?' Now, you know, hopefully those parents won’t have those worries. I mean if you can get tested and show that you don’t have it, my understanding is you’ll be able to stay in school, which is, that’s what we want.”
The Academy at Shawnee has been undergoing a yearslong renovations which has seen a return to it's swimming program and soon a theater department.
“I’d say 75% of our kids are involved in something and you know we’re looking for something for the other 25 (%) to do. We want our kids to be active. This is the place we want them to be. It’s the place we want to be.”