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It has no reason to believe it will be alone.

Rockwood superintendent Mark Miles announced Friday he has authorized the district’s high school athletic directors at Eureka, Lafayette, Marquette and Summit to begin the process of scheduling games for football, boys soccer, field hockey, girls volleyball and softball outside of St. Louis County.

St. Louis County Department of Public Health guidelines for youth sports related to the coronavirus pandemic prohibit these specific fall sports, and others, from being played within St. Louis County by high school-aged students.

“We’ve been in contact with a number of school districts to utilize their fields and some of their facilities to explore some of those opportunities for our student athletes,� Miles said at news conference at Rockwood’s district office.

Rockwood’s announcement follows on the heels of Incarnate Word opting to play softball at Lutheran St. Charles on Tuesday. Miles said he smiled when he saw Incarnate Word take the field outside of St. Louis County, but that did not push the school district to take action.

“We’ve been having this discussion for quite some time,� Miles said.

The St. Louis County Department of Public Health responded to Rockwood’s action with a statement from Spring Schmidt, acting co-director of the county health department .

“The health and safety of St. Louis County residents is our primary mission," Schmidt said. "Moving games involving high-contact youth sports into another county does not make them any safer for our students. We therefore do not approve of schools moving such games to other areas. Games like softball, volleyball and football involve frequent, close contact, offering the opportunity for the virus that causes COVID-19 to spread.�

Miles said after consulting with Rockwood’s attorneys he is not aware of any legal ramifications that can come from crossing the county line to play games and competitions.

“Not that we are aware of. We worked with our legal team throughout this process,� Miles said. “They are very supportive of the decision that we’ve made.�

Miles went on to say he does not believe Rockwood will be the only school district to make the move outside St. Louis County for games. He has been in conversation with other St. Louis County superintendents and believes at least some will follow suit.

“It wouldn’t surprise me within the next week or two that you’ll see other announcements from fellow superintendents and other school districts that they’re planning on similar games and competitions beyond St. Louis County,� Miles said.

Eureka athletics director Gregg Cleveland said he and his staff have been reaching out in the area outside of St. Louis County to try to see about availability to potentially rent fields and facilities.

“We’ve put our heads together and contacted as many districts and facilities outside of St. Louis County that we feel could facilitate our needs,� Cleveland said. “We’ve been in contact with schools in from Franklin County, Jefferson County and St. Charles County to find out what dates would be available and anything we would need to know to set up an activity or event out there.�

At this time, Miles said the plan is for Rockwood high schools to honor previously scheduled games with opponents that are outside of St. Louis County and schedule new competitions with St. Louis County opponents at a venue beyond the county border. Rockwood would have to rent a facility to accommodate games outside of St. Louis County.

“There is a financial consideration as we consider this alternative,� Miles said.

Miles insists returning to play outside of St. Louis County is following the St. Louis County guidelines.

He downplayed the very act of playing beyond the borders is dismissing one of the Department of Public Health’s orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are confident with the decision we are making today. We are mindful of the health and safety of all our student athletes,� Miles said. “We want to keep everyone safe, without a doubt. We remain optimistic we’ll be able to participate in a number of games and competitions, unfortunately those will be outside the boundaries of St. Louis County. By all means, we’d love to bring games and competitions back to St. Louis County when the county determines it’s safe to do so.�

Summit athletics director Mitch Lefkowitz said he does not know how Friday’s announcement and subsequent execution of Rockwood’s plan will affect the Missouri State High School Activities Association’s state series.

Rockwood’s four high schools intend to participate in the postseason. Where those games will be played has not been determined.

“The four Rockwood high schools will be participating in the MSHSAA postseason,� Lefkowitz said. “As far as a venue or location that is not something we have discussed with the state high school activities association yet.�

Cleveland said the hope was for all the Rockwood schools to play four football games before the district tournaments would begin in the latter part of October.

Miles said he doesn’t believe playing in counties that have different health regulations than St. Louis County will pose a problem for Rockwood athletes and coaches. Currently St. Louis City and St. Louis County have a mask mandate while Franklin County, Jefferson County and St. Charles County do not.

“I think we’ll be role models for some of those other counties because we will follow the expectations we have for our Rockwood student athletes and coaches,� Miles said. “If we feel there is significant risk to our students, staff, spectators and there are certain guidelines that are not in place in a certain venue, we might choose not to play in that facility.�

Cleveland said Rockwood has not yet addressed how it would handle spectators at events. That remains to be determined.

Should there be potential COVID-19 exposure or even an outbreak due to moving games outside of the county, Miles said Rockwood is prepared to do what is necessary to handle it.

“We would likely shut down by sport,� Miles said. “There are at least 50 contact tracers that have been trained through Johns Hopkins training. We have several still in process as we begin the transition back to our academic environment.�

Miles does not believe Rockwood’s current course of action will slow its return to in-person learning. Rockwood currently does not offer an in-person learning option for any of its high school students.

“We are actively discussing ways in which to get our secondary students, grades 6-12, back into our schools five days a week,� Miles said. “In my mind it doesn’t limit our ability to get our students back into our academic environment at all.�