Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction (OPI), Elsie Arntzen, and Montana High School Association (MHSA) Executive Director, Mark Beckman, have each sent letters to the Association of Montana Public Health Officials (AMPHO) in regards to allowing parents or guardians to attend school sporting events.
“We are pushing to allow two parents per player for both home teams and visiting teams,” stated Executive Director Beckman. “This will largely be in case of player injuries or medical emergencies, so that there can a parent or guardian on site.”
Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction, Elsie Arntzen’s letter is as follows:
“I am writing in support of the Montana High School Association’s (MHSA) letter regarding allowing school sports team players to be allowed to have certain spectators at games. The Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) and MHSA have a long-standing partnership to support Montana students in school-sponsored extracurricular activities.
Montana families are seeking a sense of normalcy as school doors reopen this fall. For many families and students, that includes sports and extracurricular activities. Students interacting with their peers through sports and activities is crucial to their social-emotional and mental health. For families, not only is it an opportunity to support their child, it can be necessary for a parent to be present due to an unforeseen medical emergency.
We must all take safety precautions in light of COVID, and I fully support the local control of our county health departments and school districts. However, I do believe that parents or guardians should be able to be present during their child’s extracurricular activities.
I want to thank Montana’s county health officers for their dedication to the health and safety of our communities in these unprecedented times, as well as their strong collaboration with Montana’s schools.”
Elsie Arntzen will also be speaking at the protest in front of the Yellowstone County Courthouse this Friday, Aug. 28th at 5:00 PM to show support of players and their families.
