UIL grants eligibility for sports, extracurricular activity to all virtual learners
The University Interscholastic League continues to set out guidelines for the upcoming high school season as the coronavirus impacts the fall.
On Friday, the UIL announced that students who choose virtual learning will be eligible to participate in athletics and any other extracurricular activities - that is if the season is a go.
Sports included in the fall are football, volleyball and cross country.
“Students participating in remote learning offered by their school district, whether synchronous or asynchronous (as defined by the Texas Education Agency), may participate in UIL activities if they meet all other UIL eligibility requirements,” the UIL said on its website. “Students must be enrolled in remote learning options through the school the student will represent. Schools may develop local policies with additional requirements for participation.”
School districts have started to offer options for either in-person instruction or online learning this fall for its students.
The Texas Education Agency released school guidelines on Tuesday stating that students returning to campuses this fall must screen themselves for symptoms for COVID-19 and must wear masks if Gov. Greg Abbott’s order mandating them is still in place.
Schools have been shut down since March due to COVID-19.
For the upcoming school year, the UIL said that eligibility requirements for the first six weeks of school have been modified to allow a student to be eligible for the first six weeks if they accumulated at least two and a half credits since the start of the 2019-2020 school year. Schools may impose additional requirements.
Schools will have to develop policies for remote learning that “outline the criteria for determining if a student is passing all courses at the end of grading and evaluation periods.”
“Days when school is not in session should be treated as school holidays for purposes of determining academic eligibility for both remote and in-person learning. All students are academically eligible when school is not in session for a full calendar week or more,” the UIL stated.
At least three school districts in Texas have pushed back the start of school and sports until early September: El Paso, Socorro and Laredo.
