The IHSA has decided, for now, to go ahead with playing the basketball season during the winter sports schedule starting on November 16th. That has contradicted the Illinois Department of Public Health and Governor JB Pritzker, who have both agreed that basketball should be moved to the spring sports season. Upon learning that the IHSA gave the thumbs up to start the basketball season on November 16th, the Governor said during his daily press conference that playing in the winter could open schools up to possible litigation issues and school funding withholding. The IHSA’s decision to go ahead with the season has put the onus on the school districts themselves to decide if basketball will be held in the winter, or moved to the spring or summer seasons. On Wednesday morning’s AM 1330 WRAM Morning Show, Monmouth-Roseville School District Superintendent Ed Fletcher said he would be delighted to go forth with basketball, but the decision is certainly not an easy one.
Following the regularly scheduled school board meeting last night, Monmouth-Roseville decided to put basketball games on hold, but have allowed the boys and girls teams to practice under the high-risk sport mandate developed by the IDPH.
The IHSA has their regularly scheduled November board meeting on Wednesday afternoon. The information that will come from the meeting is anyone’s guess. Communication between the IHSA and the Governor has been limited, if any at all, since the standoff began on October 28th.
As always stay tuned to the WMOI/WRAM sports reports in the coming days for more news about this situation.
