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The PIAA Board of Directors heard from a District 2 sports official on Wednesday who voiced his concerns about how the mask policy is being enforced.
Jim Elliott, who officiates basketball and other sports, said he contacted PIAA and District 2 asking for interruption of the mask policy, which is in place for athletes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but has received no response.
“Several schools throughout the state are using exceptions for mask wearing so they don’t have to wear a mask,” Elliott said. “But in our league and many leagues throughout the state, masks are required. The question is mask enforcement. How do we approach it and how do we deal with it?
“I was instructed by my District 2 interpreter that the PIAA has instructed him that officials are supposed to ignore obvious violations of the state. I didn’t think that was possible the PIAA would instruct its officials to ignore state laws or mandate.”
Elliott said masks should be treated the same way untucked jerseys are, allowing officials to warn the players and then eventually remove them if they don’t comply. He added he was told the officials have no authority to enforce the mask policy. That duty is with the game manager, who is usually the home team’s athletic director.
Elliott added that game managers often have been lax with the mask policy, not only in games he has officiated but elsewhere.
“My question is, if the officials can’t enforce it and game management doesn’t enforce it what are officials to do since we accepted the game under the assumption the state law would be adhered to and we’d be able to enforce the mask or game management would be able to enforce the mask,” Elliott said.
Elliott said there is no procedure in place for game management to enforce the mask policy.
District 2 is allowing the home school to determine mask policies. The entire Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association has required masks. Three Wyoming Valley Conference schools — Holy Redeemer, Wyoming Area and Wyoming Seminary — require masks. If two teams can’t agree on a mask policy for a game, then it’s considered a no-contest.
PIAA assistant executive director Pat Gebhart said the PIAA didn’t give game officials the power to enforce the mask policy and any issues should be addressed with the game manager.
Elliott has a lawsuit pending against PIAA and District 2 regarding the election process to select the District 2 male officials representative in 2019. He was recently voted into the position, unseating Bill Schoen by 27 votes, and will assume duties on July 1.
“I think the only thing I want to say is the litigation is still pending,” said attorney Alan Boynton Jr., the PIAA’s legal counsel.
Board president Frank Majikes, who is also the District 2 chairman, said the issue will be taken into consideration by the board and thanked Elliott for his comments.
In other items addressed during the meeting:
• The board approved unanimously to move the state swimming and diving championships from Bucknell University to Cumberland Valley High School. The change is pending a written agreement from Bucknell.
PIAA associate executive director Melissa Mertz said after conversations with Bucknell officials there were concerns about occupancy limitations of 110 at the university’s pool. Also, Bucknell won’t be on spring break, which would limit the facilities outside the pool area. She said athletes waiting to compete would have to be located in a heated tent outside.
Mertz said Cumberland Valley can provide space outside the pool such as the auditorium, the cafeteria and an auxiliary gym.
“That would certainly help us where we can keep officials between sessions as well as staging athletes,” Mertz said.
State diving will take place March 13. Swimming will be March 19-20. The board also decided the diving state championship would include only district champs.
The district swimming deadline was also moved from March 6 to March 7, with March 8 also available in the event of inclement weather, because some districts were having issues with pool usage.
• The deadline for team wrestling at the district level will be March 20, which is a week after the individual state championships. The date hasn’t been set for the team wrestling state championships.
The PIAA is still searching for sites for its regional and super regional tournaments. It’s doubtful that spectators will be allowed because of capacity limitations.
• The PIAA will meet with officials from Hershey’s Giant Center concerning spectator limitations for the state basketball championships.
The teams at the top of a bracket pairings will host state games unless their districts aren’t contiguous. In those cases, the PIAA will look for a midway point for the games.
• Like in the fall, the PIAA will allow teams to continue to play until March 27 in order to get in as many games as possible but with a new twist.
Teams can continue to schedule games even if they haven’t been eliminated from the postseason. For example, a team could win a district basketball playoff game and schedule another game between its next district game.
• There were no actions for the board to take in the minutes from the football steering committee meeting. However, PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said the board will address several items presented, including starting the season earlier and ending it by Thanksgiving. Many of the points made by the steer committee were spawned from changes made during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lombardi added that it’s too soon to determine if any changes will be made in time for the 2021 season.
“That’s all discussion,” Lombardi said. “You’re asking me to look into a crystal ball, and I don’t have the answers.”