LAUSD cancels outside sporting events because of heat

Triple-digit temperatures caused the Los Angeles Unified School District to cancel all outside sporting events and activities for Monday and Tuesday, according to a district spokesman.

Football teams weren’t allowed to practice outside Monday unless they received special permission from their local school operations administrator to change the practice time to the evening hours.

Tennis and water polo events scheduled for Monday were canceled. There are no sporting events scheduled for Tuesday because it’s a district-wide professional development day. The decision to cancel activities didn’t go over well at least at one school.

Rick Prizant, the athletic director at Lake Balboa Birmingham, called the decision “ridiculous” not to allow a water polo match against Taft.

“We have shade for people outside,” he said of the pool area. “Water polo isn’t football. It’s 78 degrees in the water and probably better than being outside.”

Birmingham, a charter school, would have gone forward with the water polo match, Prizant said, but Taft couldn’t participate because it’s part of LAUSD.

Trent Cornelius, a district administrator for athletics, said the lack of cover on the pool deck area for schools was the reason water polo events also were canceled.