Powder River Examiner -

The Broadus School Board Trustees met Monday night for their monthly meeting, with all members in attendance. The board generally meets on the second Monday of the month, but bumped their meeting time up a week in January to cover any issues which may have occurred from the first basketball games of the season as a result of the ongoing COVID pandemic. The first games took place Saturday, and with two more home games scheduled for this week, changes had best be instituted right away.

As it turns out, the games Saturday went smoothly and major changes were not really necessary. The biggest issue was that of crowd attendance.

Seating in the gym is limited due to social distancing guidelines, meaning 120 Broadus fans and 50 visiting fans are allowed in the gym for any one game. This setup worked fine on Saturday, as only Varsity games were played. On nights where JV games are also played is where the limited fan numbers come into play, as each uniformed athlete was allowed five tickets for fans, and if all the JV and Varsity players brought five fans to the gym, the capacity would exceed 120.

Another issue was the matter of whether to allow the band to play at home games. On Saturday, the stage was set up with extra seating for fans, and any games where the band played would require a different seating arrangement. Additionally, those band members who were not also student athletes would potentially want tickets for their families to watch them play. A decision was made to allow the band to play on nights where only two games would be played, where more space for fans would be available.

The board spent around an hour and forty minutes discussing the matter of fans at the games. The board ultimately decided to allow a set number of fans per player, per game. That is, each player will have tickets for fans to watch the game in which the athlete plays. If the ticket holder doesn’t have kids playing in a later game (or doesn’t have a ticket from another group), they will be expected to clear out of the gym after the game, in order to make room for others who hold tickets for that next game. In other words, a ticket is now good for one game, not the whole night. This was thought to be the most equitable decision, in order to allow the largest number of fans in to see their athletes compete.

Discussion about the number of fans allowed at other schools indicated that Lodge Grass is allowing no fans whatsoever at games. Forsyth and Ekalaka are allowing three fans per player, and Colstrip two per player.

For fans who don’t have tickets to a particular game, a screen will be set up in the auditorium, where games will be livestreamed.

A motion was made and approved to allow eight tickets per uniformed athlete, three tickets for each cheerleader, and two tickets for each coach. The band will play on January 26th against Plevna and February 13th against Terry. Band members who aren’t already competing as athletes in the games will be allowed three fan tickets on those two nights. The cost of tickets was set at $5 per night. If someone has a ticket to two different games, for example if they have a daughter playing JV Girls and a son playing Varsity Boys, their cost to attend will be $5 for the evening.

Additionally, any changes that may need to be implemented for the winter season will be approved through a meeting of the board’s activities committee, instead of a full meeting of the board. With a new Governor in Helena and the potential for changes in the COVID mandates, changes could very well be in the works, and a January 11th MHSA meeting may also enact changes to the guidelines.

Tickets will be sent home with the students.

Also during the meeting, the board approved the hiring of Melani Drane as a Classroom Aide at the Elementary, and Lydianne Jurica as a Substitute Teacher.

The next meeting of the board is scheduled for Monday, February 8th at 7 PM.