BERKELEY COUNTY, South Carolina (WCIV) — Big changes are coming to extracurricular activities in Berkeley County Schools.
This stems from a chaotic situation that occurred at Friday night's football game between Somerville and Stratford: BCSD announced new safety protocols Thursday for after-school events, including high school football games.
Following the incident that forced the cancellation of the second half of the game, there are some new rules that fans and students will have to follow in order to enjoy future games.
“Our safety measures are going to be very similar across all of our high schools,” said Katie Tanner, public information officer for Berkeley County Schools.
Read more | “Stratford vs. Somerville High School football game canceled.”
Until now, safety measures have been left to each school.
“Our approach is that what happens in the district becomes the procedures and expectations across the school,” Tanner said.
Elementary and junior high school students must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to enter the venue. Students must remain seated during the event, except when using the restroom or concession stand. Re-entry is not permitted under any circumstances.
Officials said those guidelines were already in place at Goose Creek High School and Philip Simmons High School, but will now apply countywide.
“You'll hear the announcer reminding you to take your seats,” Tanner said, “unless you're going to the restroom or concession stand. There are anywhere from six to 10 police officers at every game, depending on the size of the crowd, so it doesn't change too much. But what you'll see is adults actively moving around throughout the game reminding everyone to pay attention.”
Read more | “Minors arrested after Stratford-Somerville football game canceled due to threats, but no guns found.”
One procedure that's not new is the clear bag or no bag policy, which officials said has been in place since 2017.
“We're just clarifying again that if there's a violation of our clear bag, no bag entry procedures, we're not going to allow entry,” Tanner said. “There are times when people start to come in after halftime, but the gates are not fully staffed at that point. We're reminding them that we're going to continue to staff the gates even after we're no longer allowing entry, and how we're going to staff them to prevent this from happening.”
Dorchester and Charleston counties currently have clear bag or no bag policies in place.