On Oct. 13, an email was sent out to the Westside community by district administration and Superintendent Mike Lucas regarding updates for fall activities. In the email, Lucas acknowledged the ongoing spread of COVID-19 within Douglas County and mentioned adjustments that will be put into place in order to hopefully allow students to stay in school and successfully finish out the fall activities season. 

“Moving forward, only family/step-family members and a maximum of 100 senior students will be allowed to attend our remaining football games,” Lucas stated in the email. “Each [athlete] will be allowed to have a maximum of four family members attend their events. These family/step-family members must be on the approved pass list to purchase tickets. The voucher system will no longer be used. We can’t make any exceptions. Please plan accordingly.”

Varsity football player Jack Wimmer said he feels attendance at games being increasingly limited won’t impact the performance of the team too much, as they’ve played with limited capacity thus far. 

“Not having a student section takes away from the atmosphere of the game and the energy that surrounds it,” Wimmer said. “Our team does a good job making our own energy so [attendance being limited] won’t make much of an impact.”

Wimmer said he thinks Westside has been taking good protective measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at school events such as games.

“From what I’ve heard, no one has gotten the virus from being at one of our games,” Wimmer said. “Westside needs to do whatever they can to make sure we get to finish our season. [The football teams] are confident they’ll make all the right decisions [to ensure that].”

Varsity Dive Coach Katy Saalfeld said as swim and dive seasons approach, necessary changes due to COVID-19 are being created by administration and the school board.

“Plans and policies are still being formulated regarding COVID-19 as things evolve in our community,” Saalfeld said. “Ultimately, the superintendent will decide what we can or cannot do and if and when we need to change [things]; we as coaches will put those plans into place.”