Good Saturday morning. We have a couple of news items of interest this morning, locally and around the state.
The continuing push to restart high school sports at Mount Si High School appears to have taken an interesting turn yesterday, after a radio host’s report suggested that may not occur.
KJR Radio’s Ian Furness reported on his show yesterday afternoon (11:20 mark) that Snoqualmie Valley school leaders were exploring not allowing sports unless in-person instruction were to resume. If true, this would put SVSD potentially in line with a decision this week, which we discussed for you on Thursday, by the Kent School District which shut high school sports down in that district temporarily. Teachers, as a lot of you are aware, are opposing returns to in-person instruction amidst the COVID-19 pandemic which forced schools to go into remote learning mode last March. They are demanding to be fully vaccinated against the deadly virus before returning to in-person instruction. This has become a flashpoint issue in one of Mount Si’s Kingco rival districts, Bellevue, and teachers in Issaquah are reportedly being surveyed about their views on a return to in-person instruction, results of which could influence that district’s return to play.
This radio report is likely to be addressed Monday night during the scheduled parent meeting regarding the athletics restart at MSHS. This Zoom-based meeting will feature Mount Si and SVSD officials, including MSHS principal John Belcher, AD Chris Hill and SVSD superintendent Rob Manahan. It starts at 6:00 p.m. and a link to the meeting is on Mount Si’s school website which we have linked at right in our news links.
Incident at Utah high school hoops game involving former Washington athlete
While Washington creeps closer to restarting athletics at the high school level, with it expected to start as early as February 1 in some locations, other states are well under way with their seasons, allowing athletes who left our state last summer amidst the current pandemic and resulting sports shutdown to get a chance to play. One of those players made news last night, but perhaps for not what you might think.
During the game last night between Desert Hills High School and Dixie High School’s boys’ basketball teams from the St. George area in southwestern Utah, there was an incident which took place and was caught on video in which a coach is seen allegedly pushing an opposing player to the ground. That video was taken by the family of Desert Hills star Mason Landdeck, who posted it on Twitter, and we have been told by them this morning that it was the former Zillah High School player from eastern Washington who was the one that was pushed, allegedly by a coach for the opposing Dixie team. Dixie won the game over Desert Hills.
We have been told by the family also that a complaint has been filed over the incident and it is likely Utah state high school athletic officials may also have to review this for possible disciplinary action.
As for Landdeck in the game, the senior finished with 13 points and is leading the team in scoring averaging a little over 21 points a game for a Desert Hills team that suffered its first loss of the season with last night’s defeat.
About Rhett Workman
Rhett Workman is the editor of the Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal. Workman is a veteran sports journalist, having covered Snoqualmie Valley sports for nearly a decade with the Snoqualmie Valley Record newspaper before starting up the SVSJ. Workman’s coverage has earned the support and respect of Valley coaches, players, parents and fans, and the SVSJ continues the standard of coverage that Workman brought to the Valley Record.View all posts by Rhett Workman →