Indiana Area School District Community:
Yesterday, a federal court denied Governor Wolf’s request for a stay of action on a previous judge’s ruling which declared the Governor’s limits on spectators at events unconstitutional. This means that the number of spectators allowed at events is now a local decision. Social distancing and mask orders were found to be constitutional, and remain in place in schools and at school events.
The Athletics and Extracurricular Health and Safety Plan Oversight Team has worked diligently to ensure that our students can have the opportunity to participate in the activities they love, by establishing and monitoring specific safety protocols for each club, sport, or organization. We credit the players’, coaches’, students’, and staff’s compliance with the established health and safety protocols for the success so far, and now must ask our community to do the same. Please keep in mind that our primary goal is to keep our schools open, and the community’s efforts to stop the spread of the virus are critical in maintaining that goal.
When designing our spectator plans for school venues we established the following priorities:
We cannot, and will not advise the board to adopt any plan that will place anyone at risk. Social distancing will guide our decision regarding capacity limits, and masks will be required for all spectators at all home events, indoor and outdoor alike.
The Student Experience
We want our students to have the best experience possible while attending our schools, and will do all that we can to ensure that students have the opportunity to attend these home events and cheer on their friends.
Families should have the ability to attend their student’s home events to enjoy watching them compete and grow, and to be available in case of emergency. The families of all student participants will be offered the opportunity to attend each home event.
We value our loyal fan base! Alum, boosters, local sports-lovers, and anyone else who bleeds red and black will have access to any remaining tickets or space at home events after our student and family sales.
With these priorities in mind, the Athletics and Extracurricular Health and Safety Plan is being amended to allow for spectators to attend home events in accordance with all relevant recommendations, guidelines and mandates of the Department of Health, the Department of Education, the PIAA, and the WPIAL.
Ticket sale guidelines for the home Varsity Football game on Friday, September 25th will be shared with IASD students and student participant families. We apologize that we are not able to offer community tickets for this event.
The following guidelines are for home Varsity Football games after September 27, 2020:
- Due to the social distancing guidelines and the size of our venues, no visiting (away) fans will be admitted to Varsity Football home games. We ask that all IASD fans respect this arrangement with our partners in the WPIAL by adhering to the host schools’ safety plan for their venues.
- All tickets to Varsity Football home games will be pre-sale only. No tickets will be available at the gate.
- IAHS students will have the opportunity to purchase tickets for the student section for certain home events. These tickets will be on a first-come-first-serve basis, and only one ticket will be sold to each student. Any unsold student tickets will be made available to the public for purchase. Students who attend school on Monday-Tuesday will be able to purchase tickets on Tuesdays in school. Students who attend Thursday-Friday will be able to purchase tickets on Thursdays in school.
- The families of participants will be provided the opportunity to purchase 2 tickets to each home event. Families will receive specific information about how they can purchase tickets. Unsold tickets will be made available to students, and then the community.
- Community members will have the opportunity to purchase any unsold tickets. Please understand that many events could be sold out before the community will have the opportunity to purchase tickets. We apologize for this situation and ask for everyone’s understanding and cooperation.
- All games will be streamed so fans who are unable to attend will have the opportunity to watch the event live. Please visit this link to watch the home football games: https://www.facebook.com/indiana.area.1/
Guidelines for other events will be posted on our athletic website as they become available.
The Indiana Area School District has always made the safety of our students, staff, and community the top priority, and will continue to do so when making decisions about spectators at events. We are happy to be able to welcome our families and students to our home events. We ask that all spectators help us in continuing to have this opportunity by following all of our health and safety guidelines.
Go Indiana!