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Blue Springs school district sues over rule limiting crowd to 100 at football games

The Blue Springs School District has asked a judge to strike down the Jackson County Health Department’s order limiting outdoor gatherings to crowds of no more than 100 spectators because of the coronavirus pandemic.

County officials threatened sanctions against the district on Sept. 1 after the school system defied the county’s health order by allowing 430 people to attend the football season home opener on Aug. 28 between Blue Springs High School and Liberty High School.

Despite being warned that the district’s game attendance policy was in violation of county rules, Blue Springs acknowledged in court documents that it still went ahead and issued four tickets for each of the home team’s football players, cheerleaders and dance team members and two for each member of the visiting school’s football team and accompanying groups.

“As a result of this new ticket policy, the attendance at the game was substantially lower than the stadium’s capacity crowd of approximately 5,000,” the Blue Springs district said in its request that a judge restrain the county from enforcing its 100-spectator limit rule at future contests.

Video highlights of the game, in which the Liberty Blue Jays beat the Blue Springs Wildcats 46-28, show glimpses of a crowd where it appears fans were spread out but it is hard to tell how many were wearing masks.

In a Sept. 1 letter to district superintendent Paul Kinder, county health director Bridgette Shaffer and county administrator Troy Schulte said the district would be punished if it continued to defy the county health order. They threatened to revoke the licenses for all school concessions stands for the remainder of the season, order that athletes be quarantined for 14 days after each such event and ban all spectators at district fields for the remainder of the season.

A Zoom meeting followed, but the two sides did not come to a compromise and the school district filed suit.

District officials argue in court documents that the county’s crowd limits are out of step with neighboring jurisdictions. Kansas City, for instance, is allowing the Chiefs to host 17,000 fans for its home opener on Thursday night, the district said.

The district said its policy on outdoor gatherings was reasonable because Clay County is permitting 25 percent capacity at high school football games, according to the lawsuit, and there are no limits in Platte and Cass counties.

School officials further state that the county’s policies are conflicting.

One provision states that “adult and youth sporting tournaments are permitted to take place, provided that adequate social distancing and mask wearing provisions are observed as is possible.” But it doesn’t say how big the crowd can be.

Indoor venues are allowed to have up to 50 percent capacity, provided six feet of separation can be guaranteed.

Transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 is less likely at outdoor events than indoors, the district argued, so why set the limit at 100 for outdoor events when conceivably more than that many people could gather inside under the same set of rules.

County Executive Frank White called the lawsuit “troubling for many reasons,”

saying that federal health officials and the World Health Organization have recommended limiting the the size of gatherings in areas where the spread of the virus is high.

“Yet, despite the apparent universal agreement that large public gatherings pose a substantial risk to the health and safety of our community, the Blue Springs School District has decided to sue the County in the hopes a court will allow them to have more spectators at their football games,” White said.

The district is asking for the case to be expedited. The Wildcats’ next home game is Friday against the Staley Falcons, and that same night Blue Springs South plays its first home game of the season against Park Hill High School. District spokeswoman Katie Woolf said up to 550 tickets will be handed out for each game.