On August 28th, the Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) put marching band on hold for the fall. On the other hand, sports paused for only three weeks starting September 8th. Some people may think that cancelling the art extracurriculars but continuing with sports is unfair.

Santiago Fajardo-Cassab, sophomore, gave his opinion on sports continuing, but art programs being shut down. 

“I don’t think it’s at all fair cancelling marching band but continuing with contact sports, especially if it’s without masks. There are so many more ways to make band safe than contact sports. Currently in band, we use special playing masks that limit the amount of spit droplets that fly out as we play, as well as bell masks to stop droplets from flying out of the instrument. In contact sports, it’s much more difficult but it’s definitely possible to limit the spread of the virus, however masks should absolutely be required during games,” said Fajardo-Cassab.

Fajardo-Cassab also commented on why he thinks the district is making more sports centered decisions. 

“I personally think it ultimately comes down to prestige and revenue. The district can collect more money from sports games and sports [merchandise] rather than band and show choir. Then, there’s the prestige component, having the best sports teams makes the district and schools look better than if they just had the best band and show choir programs. Most people pay more attention to the sports component rather than band and show choir,” said Fajardo-Cassab. 

On the other side of this, Lauren Roman, senior, expressed why it was necessary to continue playing volleyball. 

“Athletes all over the country had to take six months off of playing, which in turn stopped recruiting for six months. I expected to be committed by now, but many 2021 athletes are still frantically touring schools and talking to coaches. My mental health has definitely struggled, as there has been so much uncertainty about our futures,” said Roman

Roman also commented on how she feels safe playing volleyball during this time. 

“I personally feel safe playing volleyball this year. We wear masks for the majority of practice, track our symptoms, socially distance, etc. Many athletes are keeping their social circles incredibly small so we are able to continue our season,” she said. “I believe most student athletes are taking more precautions than they normally would since our seasons are on the line.” 

Scott Kibby, Liberty’s former principal and ICCSD’s Director of Secondary Ed, stated to The Gazette, 

“If we can find opportunities for small ensembles to perform, we will do so, because we know performing is what the kids want to do.”

He also reasoned that their cancellation of show choir was because of “numerous” competitions already being cancelled, and that it would not be a wise use of the district’s resources. Robert Williams, choir department, supported this statement.

“Funding is always a complicated thing in regard to show choir and other extracurricular activities and I’m not sure if I feel comfortable discussing the specifics of this, however, I will say that we made the choice to lower our show choir fee since there was no way to attend competitions which are typically where a large portion of our money is spent. We also didn’t want to be charging families a huge fee to participate during a time when many families are struggling to make ends meet,” said Williams.

Williams then said that all of the show choir competitions they were planning on attending were cancelled and that show choir was forced to come up with their own performance opportunities. He also said that show choir is continuing rehearsal and winter performances if school is still in the hybrid model.

Kibby also commented on how show choir will work this year.