Radford, the longtime parent advocate, has been critical of how the district has handled reopening the schools and is among those leading the charge for parent spectators at basketball games, along with his son, Aymanuel, a former assistant coach in the district.
“We’re just asking to have the same rights as every other parent in Section VI has,” Samuel Radford said.
The district explained its rationale in a letter, citing concerns over emerging Covid-19 variants, the size of its school gymnasiums, the ability to keep fans socially distanced and the lack of staffing to enforce safety protocols at the games.
New York State is poised to cancel six Regents exams scheduled for June because of the uneven learning due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Superintendent Kriner Cash addressed the issue this week when he was asked about the no-spectator policy by the Board of Education.
“What we’re doing is we’re streaming the games so these games can be viewed online, but at this point, we’re keeping to a no-spectator policy,” Cash said.
“We need to keep these student-athletes safe,” he added.
Mark DiFilippo, executive director of Section VI, was unsure of how many districts decided not to allow parents to attend basketball games this season, but said the no-spectator policy is common with other high school sports such as bowling and swimming, where the venues are smaller.
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