Public Health Guidance

August 23, 2021

This guidance takes effect immediately, replacing all prior guidance. UIL recommends that public school systems consult with their local public health authorities and local legal counsel before making final decisions regarding the implementation of this guidance. This guidance is subject to change as new information becomes available.

Required Actions if Individuals with Test-Confirmed Cases Have Been in areas where UIL Activities are being conducted

1. If an individual who has been in areas where UIL activities are being conducted is test-confirmed to have COVID-19, the school must notify its local health department, in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations, including confidentiality requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

2. Upon receipt of information that any teacher, staff member, student, or visitor in an area where UIL activities are being conducted is test-confirmed to have COVID-19, the school must submit a report to the Texas Department of State Health Services via an online form. The report must be submitted each Monday for the prior seven days (Monday-Sunday).

3. Consistent with school notification requirements for other communicable diseases, and consistent with legal confidentiality requirements, schools must notify all teachers, staff, and families of all students in a classroom or extracurricular or after-school program cohort if a test-confirmed COVID-19 case is identified among students, teachers or staff who participated in those classrooms or cohorts.

4. If a test-confirmed COVID-19 case is identified among students, teachers, or staff who participated in a UIL competition against another school, the school must notify the opposing school and the officials/contest judges who also participated in the competition.

Face Coverings and Masks

Schools should follow TEA Public Health Guidance for the most up-to-date information regarding GA-38. School systems must allow individuals to wear a mask if they choose to do so.

Students Who Have COVID-19

As provided in this Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Rule, school systems must exclude students from attending school in person who are actively sick with COVID-19, who are suspected of being actively sick with COVID-19,  or who have received a positive test result for COVID-19, and must immediately notify parents if this is determined while on campus.

• Parents must ensure they do not send a child to school on campus if the child has COVID-19 symptoms or is test-confirmed with COVID-19, until the conditions for re-entry are met.  See the DSHS rule for more details, including the conditions for ending the exclusion period and returning to school.

• In addition to the criteria and processes described above, a student who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 must receive clearance from a physician, or a physician-approved delegate prior to returning to participation in UIL marching band or athletic activities.

Students & Staff Who Are Close Contacts

• Schools must follow TEA Public Health Guidance related to students and staff who have been identified as close contacts.

Spectators:  Capacity and Visiting Spectators Attendance

UIL is not currently limiting capacity for specators at UIL events. If a school is limiting capacity as a local decision, the following applies:

• Schools must allow visiting school fans to attend district contests if home school fans are allowed to attend, unless the schools involved in the district contest mutually agree to only allow home school fans.

• The number of tickets or percentage of allowed spectator space provided to the visiting team should be determined by the DEC. If the DEC has not made such determination, the hosting school shall make a reasonable effort to accommodate visiting fans. 

• For non-district contests, the two schools involved must mutually agree on home and visiting school fans attendance.

• For football, the UIL Constitution and Contest Rules, Section 1250(g)(1) states: “The visiting team has the right to demand one-half of the stadium seats in relation to the 50-yard line in all UIL football contests, whether district games, non-district games or playoff games, unless mutually agreed otherwise by the two schools involved. A visiting team can demand one-half of the reserved seats. A visiting team has a right to split the stadium in relation to the 50-yard line, subject to the end zone situation being equal, unless mutually agreeable otherwise.”

• If a visiting team requests, the home school must provide the visiting school with 50% of the available tickets/seating for the facility. Schools may mutually agree otherwise; however, without mutual agreement from both schools in the game, this rule applies. This applies to both district and non-district football games.

Saturday, October 2

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