WILSONVILLE — The Oregon Schools Activities Association Executive Board has chosen to continue its current suspension of spring sports for high school teams in Oregon. The group agreed on the course of action during an online meeting held Wednesday. 

Following the school closure order of Gov. Kate Brown, the OSAA has postponed the start of the baseball, softball, golf, tennis, track and field, band, orchestra and choir seasons until April 28. The governing board chose to stay with that plan for now, but will re-evaluate it’s stance on April 15 during another Executive Board meeting.

In a press release, the OSAA said the Board is holding off on canceling any more of its spring championship events. The group previously made the decision to cancel the speech and solo music championships due to the timing and locations of the events.

While the Executive Board chose not to cancel the spring season on Wednesday, high school sports are still on life support. Oregon Department of Education released a memo on Monday that said there is a real potential that students will not be back on school campuses this academic year.

The OSAA said if that comes true, the chance of a spring sports season is gone.

A recent online petition started by a Eugene man has suggested that the OSAA consider using some of the summer months to complete a spring season. The petition has nearly 17,000 virtual signatures, but the Executive Board discussed the option at its meeting and decided to not support the idea at this time.

The press release cited increased staffing and personnel costs for school districts already facing uncertain financial impacts, scheduling issues regarding facility availability, plus student/family commitments for jobs and travel as some of the reasons for not pursuing the option right now.

A seven-day aclimazation period was discussed by the Board during Wednesday’s meeting. If a spring season is manageable, the OSAA has determined that teams will hold a seven-day period of practices only before participating in competitions.

Teams would be allowed one practice a day for no more than three hours and for not more than six consecutive days. The OSAA will also put limits on the number of contests allowed in a week, but details were not announced.