Louisiana senator calls on schools to cancel fall athletics

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The chairman of the state Senate’s education committee wants Louisiana’s K-12 public schools to cancel student athletics for the fall semester because of the risks of the coronavirus outbreak. Baton Rouge Sen. Cleo Fields sent letters to the heads of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Louisiana School Boards Association. The letters call for the suspension of athletic events as a safety precaution. Fields wants the state’s top school board to issue rules requiring the suspension. If the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education doesn’t do so, he’s asking the school boards association to ask local school boards and superintendents to cancel fall athletic events voluntarily.