I hope this email finds you well, healthy and safe! To say we are in unprecedented times, would certainly be the understatement of the century!

The purpose of this email is to update you on the status of your organization and spring sports.

First, the section office staff is currently working remotely with the exception of having one administrator/management person and one support staff person in the office through Friday, April 3, 2020 (for appointment only-not open to public); at which time we will reassess and make arrangements as necessary. We are trying to provide updates on our website related to the office and what our member schools are doing; the link below will provide you access to both (the list of schools is a live works in progress document; as schools inform us we are updating the form).

http://www.cifsjs.org/announcements/COVIDUpdate

As many of you know, the 10 Section Commissioners met with the State CIF office staff on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 via teleconference; the bulk of this meeting centered on discussions related to CIF spring sports (Section & State) and CIF governance meetings (Sections & State).

(I have attached, for your review, the Press Release that went out after our State Meeting)

SPRING SPORTS

It was unanimous by the Section Commissioners and State Office that it is too early to make a call on the status of spring sports for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year; things are changing rapidly day-to day. All parties felt that it would be in the best interest of our student-athletes across California to not close the door immediately, leaving hope for some form of participation should we have schools reopen and get back to some form of normalcy. The group will meet again on Friday, April 3, 2020 to reassess. Just as an FYI, if schools aren’t ordered to close permanently before that date, I would anticipate the group pushing any decision out another couple weeks.

Our office is contemplating different scenarios ranging from adjusted league play only to some type of Section championship (bracketed sports would look completely different then how we currently operate); if we are able to resume some form of participation, the time in which we start playing again would dictate what we can do. Anyways, please know that we will do anything and everything we can to offer our student-athletes some type of experience, if time permits.

MEETINGS     

The Sac-Joaquin Section Board of Managers meeting that was scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, 2020 has, obviously, been postponed. We are in the process of looking at different options for conducting our BOM meeting, ranging from an in-person meeting (if the situation allows) to some form of an online video conference meeting; again, only time will tell what we will be able to do. Our BOM meeting needs to occur before the State CIF Federated Council meeting which the State office has said will not happen before Friday, May 8, 2020; we will not have our meeting before Monday, May 4, 2020 - when we have a date firmed up we will get that information out to our BOM representatives and member schools.

DALE LACKY SCHOLARSHIP CELEBRATION

This was originally scheduled for Tuesday, April 21, 2020 @ Hutchins Street Square in Lodi – it is currently postponed; we are looking at possible options and of course this event will only be held if restrictions surrounding social distancing are lifted. The Scholarship Committee will be meeting by conference call to review applicants/nominees and pick the two (2) $1500 winners and six (6) $1000 winners. If we are not able to hold the event the Section office will work with the schools to get the students their certificates, awards and scholarship money.     

Please stay healthy and safe and we will update you as we get more information and solidify things!

All the Best,

Mike