The Moscow School District Board of Trustees held a special meeting Tuesday to discuss reinstating high school sports. Board members voted 4-1 in favor of reinstating interscholastic competition.
The vote overruled their previous decision, made Aug. 13, to cancel high school sports which was originally put in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New safety stipulations were established to reinstate high school sports. The stipulations include all spectators must wear masks or face shields, games will not be held at schools with high risk of infection, concessions will not be sold at home games, student athletes will be allowed four guest tickets that can only be used by immediate family and parents will be asked to take their student athletes to away games.
Moscow School District superintendent Greg Bailey stated in the meeting, Moscow had done a great job preventing the spread of COVID-19 and didn’t want the reinstatement of high school sports to change that.
“Our requirements are stiffer than what the mayor has put on our community, we should follow these requirements,” Bailey said. “Let’s give these kids a chance.”
The Board’s decision was heavily impacted by a survey taken by parents of fall, winter and spring athletes. According to the survey, 300 parents were in strong majority favor to return to interscholastic competition rather than intramural.
Football’s earliest start date is set to Sept. 18. Board members will continue to monitor the situation and will cancel the season if spikes in COVID-19 cases arise.
Vandal Nation will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.
Armin Mesinovic can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @arminmesinovic