Service workers’ strike to halt LAUSD sports activities

The Los Angeles Unified School District strike that will shut down public schools Tuesday through Thursday is just a small blip on the radar of high school athletics, but could set up scheduling ramifications for a number of programs in the City Section.

More than 100 games in baseball, softball, volleyball and other spring sports will be canceled over the three-day strike, said Dick Dornan, the City Section’s sports information director. Practices will also be shut down.

Charter schools in the City Section such as Palisades, Granada Hills and Birmingham, however, will still be permitted to play, given their lack of affiliation with the LAUSD. Granada Hills’ boys’ volleyball match with Birmingham on Wednesday, for example, will still proceed as scheduled, Dornan said.

“The strike really only hurts LAUSD schools as far as the league,” said Ahmad Mallard, commissioner of the City Section’s Metro League, which contains primarily charter schools.

The directive was passed down by the LAUSD to the City Section, the governing body that represents every athletic program in the district, Dornan said. The City Section had no say in the matter.

Individual schools will have the responsibility of rescheduling canceled games until the end of regular season in late April and early May. On the surface, the difficulty of adding one or two more games to the schedule “won’t be major,” Mallard said.

Baseball and softball programs will be most effected. With record rainfall in Southern California this season, there’s a growing problem in the number of games to be played because of rainouts. More cancellations because of the strike could influence equity come seeding for playoffs, Dornan said, particularly among smaller programs that don’t have as much latitude in scheduling makeup games.

If leagues report back difficulties in rescheduling before the end of the spring season, the section could consider extending baseball and softball seasons by a week.