Opinion

Recent decisions by Montana High School Association schools make a person wonder where the priorities of some school officials are when balancing athletics and academics.

It has been reported that Class B is now going to have all of its football playoff games played on Friday nights instead of Saturday afternoons. Last year, Class A made a similar move and held all its football playoff contests on Friday nights.

There was a good reason that football playoff games were played on Saturday afternoons. Back in the late 1980s, Sidney traveled across the state for Friday night post-season action in Libby (811 miles), Anaconda (519 miles) and Ronan (670 miles). The principal at Sidney High School expressed concern at that time because his students were missing too many classes, considering those trips resulted in leaving the school early on Thursdays. Putting academics in front of athletes was the motivating factor why games were changed to Saturday afternoons.

One could argue that being out of town on Fridays is no longer such a bad deal because more and more schools are going to four-day weeks, but I feel that makes missing even part of the school day on Thursdays even more upsetting for a student’s academic progress.

It was also bothersome that this past year, there seemed to be more and more track meets held during the week, especially on Fridays, than the traditional track day of Saturday. I heard a comment that some track coaches don’t like to give up their weekends for a meet, so they would rather have meets during the week. If that is true, school officials need to remember that these events are for the students. Again, not every school has a fourday week. Student athletes are missing valuable class time. Academics should be a strong factor while laying out sports schedules.

On a different note, I’m pleased that talk about having neutral site championship football games have stopped at least for now. The idea of holding the Class A, B and C titles games at a western Montana site doesn’t serve the loyal fans of eastern Montana well. Nothing beats a small town hosting a title game. The hometown atmosphere is incredible, and the players deserve to have all their families and friends be able to cheer them on in person.