Mid-Prairie to limit attendance for sports

Facing a rising number of positive COVID-19 positive tests and quarantines in the district, Mid-Prairie High School will limit attendance at fall sports activities.

At a special meeting Tuesday night, the school board approved a plan from Activities Director Tyler Hotz to limit attendance at home games for the rest of the fall sports season.

Details of the plan, which were sent out to parents Wednesday morning, include allotting four tickets per participant to give to guests for outdoor activities and three tickets for indoor activities.

Participants include players, band members, coaches, sponsors and directors.

A limited number of student section tickets will be distributed by a lottery.

Hotz told that board that three factors went into last week's decision to cancel activities last week:

' The initial spread of the virus.

' The number of students in quarantine

' Public perception.

Head football coach Pete Cavanagh said the crowd at Mid-Prairie's first game made him uneasy.

'Seeing students shoulder-to-shoulder in the student section made me uneasy,” Cavanagh said.

Board Vice President Jeremy Pickard asked if the decision should be a board decision or an administrative decision.

'Tyler and the coaches need to know the school board is behind them,” Superintendent Mark Schneider responded.

Board member Jeremy Gugel expressed reservations about limiting attendance.

'I have a real hard time tell students ‘this is your school, but you can't come,'” Gugel said. 'How much are we willing to keep taking away?”

Pickard said that the key to slowing the spread of the virus is social distancing.

'Somehow, you've got to figure out how to keep everybody 6 feet apart,” Pickard said.

Board President Marianne Schlabach asked for a motion to approve the attendance limitations, but no board member offered one.

'If I was Tyler and if I was the coaches, and I did not know if the board supported what I would do, I'm not sure I would recommend them doing it,” Schneider said.

Middle School Principal Marc Pennington asked whether the priority is for everyone to have an opportunity to go to games or for everybody to have an opportunity to compete.

'We owe it to the student athletes, even if we have to limit the number of people coming,” board member Denise Chittick said.

Board member Gabby Frederick then offered a motion for the ticket allotments, with Chittick seconding it. The motion passed 6-1, with Mary Allred voting against it.

Earlier in the meeting, Allred expressed reservations about limiting attendance, especially at homecoming.

'I don't think all students should sacrifice homecoming,” Allred said.

Principal Jay Strickland said that he is not prepared to cancel homecoming.

On Wednesday morning, Hotz sent out an announcement that homecoming will be rescheduled to the week of Oct. 5.