USD 333 board discusses spectator guidelines

Spectator guidelines for high school and junior high school athletic events were discussed during the Concordia Unified School District 333 board of education meeting Monday night at Concordia Junior-Senior High School.
The Kansas High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) board of directors voted on November 24 to not allow spectators at athletic events and activities because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After receiving pushback on the no spectator policy, the KSHSAA board voted 54-24 to allow up to two parents/guardians per participant(s) family, as allowed by local board of education or health department restrictions, through January 28, 2021.
Participants include the players, coaches, student managers, cheer squads, dance teams, pep bands and student managers.
USD 333 superintendent of schools Quentin Breese informed the board of education members that the revised spectator guidelines created some challenges for the district.
“The challenge is, and what we are seeing across the state is, that certain districts and certain towns have different resources than what we do,” Breese said.
Breese used Smoky Valley, which the Concordia High School boys’ and girls’ basketball teams played against last Friday night, as a example.
Smoky Valley has two large gymnasiums which have a capacity of over 1,500 people each.
“We don’t have that here,” Breese said.
Breese said that the district’s auxiliary gymnasium, where the junior varsity games are played, will seat about 25 to 27 people under social distancing guidelines.
A diagram of the varsity gymnasium was provided for the board members showing the setup for an athletic event including areas for the pep band, cheerleaders and dance squad members.
“When we plug all of those places in with masks and six feet of social distancing, get everybody into the right spot, it really limits the number of fans we can have,” Breese said.
With space limited, the USD 333 administrative team proposed not allowing fans from the visiting team to attend the events.
“It is not popular, because across our league and across the state there are going to be different variables, and some parents are going to be allowed to go to away games,” Breese said. “What we have identified is that this is the way our kids can play and this is the way we can at least get two parents to the game, two guardians, so that is kind of our plan.”
Parents, or guardians, will be required to leave the facility once their child’s game is over.
The two parents/guardians of each participant will be seated together at the events, and will be six feet away from other parents/guardians.
“In this proposal there is really no room for families to co-mingle. You sit social distanced in the gym with the family group and then you leave upon conclusion of the contest your student is participating in. And we believe there will be adequate space to watch your child perform as long as we clear the gym in between contests,” Concordia Junior-Senior athletic director Steen Danielsen said.
Danielsen said that the district will use the same ticketing process it used for the fall activities. Student codes will be used to redeem two tickets and there will be a pass list at the gate to verify that those using the tickets are the students’ parents/guardians. The tickets are not transferrable.
There will be just one pass gate for the events, and that will be on the 11th Street side of the building.
The pass list created by the district will be shared with other schools against whom  Concordia teams will have road contests.
The only action item on the agenda, December 2020 Kansas Association of School Board policy updates, was approved by the board.
The board met in three separate executive sessions, totaling an hour and 20 minutes, for the purpose of discussing non-elected personnel and for the evaluation of the superintendent.