MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) - Montana high schools will play football in the fall despite state health officials’ concerns.
Health officials from the state’s seven biggest counties had previously asked Montana High School Association officials to consider moving football to the spring. Four superintendents also asked the association to consider postponing football until the spring.
The MHSA considered the issue, but did not vote on it at a board meeting earlier this month.
Missoula City-County Health Officer Ellen Leahy said the MHSA did not consult with public health officials prior to their announcement to play ball come fall.
MHSA executive director Mark Beckman said the board deliberated at length whether to postpone the football season, the Missoulian reported.
State public health officials wanted to postpone fall sports until the spring in order to mitigate spread of the coronavirus, which has affected the cities that house Montana’s largest high schools.
As of Wednesday, Yellowstone County has reported 1,864 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, Gallatin County has reported 1,089, Flathead County has reported 539 and Missoula County has reported 417.
While fall sports will continue as planned, some local health officials are limiting spectators in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, spurring anger from Republican leaders in the state.
Gov. Steve Bullock responded on Thursday to demands to allow spectators at school sporting events, leaving the decision up to local health officials.
“Local health officers understand the needs and circumstances of their communities, and often better positioned to make these decisions, by relying on community data and in consultation with locally elected officials, health experts and community members,” Bullock said during a news conference on Thursday.
The statement came in response to a call from Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen to permit spectators, despite decisions from local health officials to limit spectators in some counties, including Lewis and Clark and Yellowstone. Arntzen has previously advocated for local control, but demanded statewide action on the issue.
“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,” Arntzen wrote in an Aug. 25 letter to the MHSA.
Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines also joined the call for a statewide plan that would allow spectators.
“It’s time for Gov. Bullock to pull together a plan that involved teachers, coaches, officials, as well as healthcare experts so that Montana parents can watch their kids play sports this fall,” Daines said in a video posted on social media on Wednesday.
“Some of the happiest moments I’ve had over these past eight years have been when I was viewed in the stands not as governor but as a proud and supportive parent of a player,” Bullock said. “I know how much these activities mean to our kids and our parents. I, too, have been looking forward to watching my own daughter play … this fall.”
Arntzen, a Republican, is running for reelection this year, while Bullock, a Democrat, is facing Daines in the U.S. Senate race.
The disagreement between the superintendent and the governor was the latest episode in an ongoing feud. Arntzen has claimed that Bullock has left her out of decisions regarding the response to the coronavirus pandemic in Montana’s schools, while Bullock has said that Arntzen has failed to communicate effectively with his staff, despite ample opportunity.
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