We want to welcome everyone back to a new school year! So much has happened in the past year and we have navigated it together with strength and resilience. We may not have liked all that occurred, but have both had a singular focus and priority in mind through it all: the safety and care of our children.

As part of the newly revised COVID-19 guidelines for the 2021-2022 school year previously communicated, certain voluntary activities may require vaccination to participate. In recognizing changing conditions in our community and our ongoing commitment to safety, we have decided to require all student athletes, team managers, and coaches to be vaccinated, in addition to athletic staff assigned to high school sports. Student athletes participating in Fall sports who choose not to register as vaccinated by the September 24 deadline will be ineligible to participate in athletics.

We continue to believe that our haumāna need and will benefit most from in-person learning experiences. As a result, in the classroom and around school we have implemented multiple layers of safety protocols to mitigate the risk of transmission. However, the nature of athletics is different. Some of those layers of protection are not practical for some sports. For example, distancing and mask usage may not work for high contact or water-based sports, or competitions where athletes are frequently running. Quarantines that are required for unvaccinated individuals when identified as close contacts may leave teams short-handed where competing would be unsafe or unrealistic. 

While this adjustment may be difficult for some of our ʻohana, this decision is what we feel is our best pathway to return some normalcy to students and our best pathway to ensuring a season of competition. The emotional ups and downs of preparing for competitions and cancelling competitions is a great burden for athletes. We want to get our athletes back onto their fields, courses and courts, and back in and on the water. But we need to do so safely while allowing for adjustments that take all factors into consideration. With the Hawaiʻi Department of Education’s new change in vaccination requirements for public schools, we anticipate new guidelines from the Big Island Interscholastic Federation (BIIF) will be announced soon. We will share those rules with athletes, coaches and support staff when they are released. Our decision to notify you of this new safety protocol now is so that if you are not vaccinated and choose to be vaccinated, you have time to reach full vaccination before league competition begins.

Fall sport athletes and coaches will have until August 20 to initiate their vaccinations, and should complete their 2nd dose by September 10. Doing so will allow them to reach fully vaccinated status by September 24. Proof of vaccination will be required, with athletes and coaches registering using their designated platform (Students: Moʻomōali Olakino electronic health records; Coaches: KS Employee Vaccination Registry). We encourage athletes considering participation in winter or spring sports, to take the time now to get vaccinated. These requirements also extend to volunteer coaches. 

To assist our athletes and ʻohana, we will be hosting a vaccination clinic on Friday, August 13 during the school day, in partnership with Bay Clinic where the Pfizer vaccine will be administered. A second clinic will be scheduled on Friday, September 3, also during the school day, for the second dose. If interested in participating, please reply to this email or email us at kshawaii@ksbe.edu, with the student’s name and grade level. Vaccinations are also available throughout our community and to find a location convenient for you, please visit the Hawaiʻi County coronavirus portal. There is a vaccination clinic this Saturday from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. at the Afook-Chinen Civic Center in Hilo hosted by KTA as well as one from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. at Hilo Lanes, hosted by Premier Medical Group.   

Vaccinations are a layer of protection, and not a cure. Our layered safety protocols will still be in place throughout our school. Required testing for grades 7-12 will continue to be the method of layered protocol for unvaccinated students. 

Kamehameha Schools has a long and proud history in our athletic programs and a strong kuleana to provide competition responsibly. We will continue to monitor the latest guidance and remain committed to making adjustments as conditions evolve in our community.

E mālama kākou i ko kākou pono. Ola!

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