Will we see football in Albuquerque? The drama builds

As high schools around the state of New Mexico begin preparations for the spring football season, we’re still not sure if public schools in the city of Albuquerque will be involved. Monday, the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education (APS) sent a letter to the governor expressing the Board’s support for decoupling of playing athletics with the “required implementation of the return to school Hybrid Model” as mandated by the state’s Public Education Department. The APS voted last week to stay in virtual learning for the time being, prohibiting them from engaging in athletics. As noted by the APS, “athletes are more focused on succeeding in their education when they are allowed to play their sport.” In short, athletes have an incentive to succeed in school when they can play sports at the same time. The governor’s office has yet to provide a response. What happens if they deny the APS’s request to decouple athletics and the hybrid education model? It might be time to lawyer up. Multiple media entities reported Monday night that an GoFundMe account has been established to play for possible litigation against the state in the event athletics within the Albuquerque School District are denied without the hybrid model. James Yodice of the Albuquerque Journal reported the name on the GoFundMe account page is the parent of a La Cueva football player. According to the GoFundMe page, the objective is to file an action in United State District Court requesting an injunction allowing athletics to go forward without the hybrid model. “(Parents and coaches) have already secured Attorneys who will be filing pleadings this week on behalf of Students who have been left on the sidelines,” the GoFundMe page states. “This initiative is being done for all students across the city and we welcome everyone to get involved and hoping to get our neighbors in Valencia County and any other area that is being impacted by this order from the STATE. . . “Students in the Albuquerque Public Schools district, and others around the state, have been held hostage by the decisions of NMPED and the State of New Mexico.” By mid-afternoon on Tuesday, $4,120 has been raised for the possible litigation. A huge protect attended by coaches, players and parents was held Sunday in front of the APS building in Albuquerque. Will it have any effect? We’ll see. While the drama builds in the Duke City, other school districts are preparing to play football. Some began hybrid learning last week, while many others such as Las Cruces, Clovis and Santa Fe began Monday. “We’re joyful and happy, for sure,” Clovis coach Cal Fullerton told KOB4 TV on Tuesday. “The hardest thing to deal with the last couple of weeks has been the expectation side of it. Our seniors have generally done a good job with it. Some of them thought their year was lost.  It’s bene hard for them to get back into the groove.” The NMAA is expected to release football schedules this week with games perhaps starting as early as March 11-12. It appears most schools will have their openers on March 18 or 19. NMAA executive director Sally Marquez said Tuesday in an interview  posted on the organization’s website that 105 of the 160 member schools have committed to fall (football) sports. Albuquerque, Belen, Los Lunas and Las Vegas are four of the larger districts that have to this point opted out, although things could change quickly. A ‘mass exodus’ of athletes moving from districts unable to play football (or any oteh rfall sports) into districts that are playing sports is a concern, Marquez said. A few left the state in the fall to go to Texas or Colorado, where they played football. “The schools that are in remote learning right now aren’t able to play,” Marquez said. “We are concerned that we are going to have a mass exit of those kids in remote going to a district that are hybrid.” Spectators will not be allowed at any football games, Marquez added. https://twitter.com/Brandega/status/1364080027013242881 https://twitter.com/cfully17/status/1362199210347520005 https://twitter.com/Brandega/status/1364333248646537217   https://twitter.com/Brandega/status/1363906666358444033 https://twitter.com/JamesDYodice/status/1363986974156025857