Friday Night Lights in Alabama should be about the football games, and not about groups of unsupervised youths gathering near the concession stands or bathrooms to create problems, officials say.

A handful of schools are fighting back at the unruly crowds that, in recent years, have swelled near bathrooms, concession stands and parking lots. In recent years, including over the past couple of weeks, some schools are calling on parents to escort their children to the football games.

If not, they said, the kids won’t be allowed to enter.

Similar positions are being taken at school districts in other parts of the country where frustrated officials are trying to clamp down on the unruly students during Friday night games.

“Too often we see more parents dropping off their kids at school sporting events not only for the kids to have fun, but also as a babysitter for parents who leave and take care of other obligations,” said Kenneth Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services.

Recent activities

In recent weeks, some schools in Alabama have posted their policies on social media in a response to incidences occurring in and around the game. Loitering, fights, and mass gatherings of students are among some of the problems. The Tallassee-Elmore County game last Friday was postponed because of a social threat at Burt Haynie Field in Eclectic.

Schools like Gulf Shores are not responding to one singular event but are trying to be proactive as large crowds show up to the games.

“The first home game was a clear example,” Gulf Shores Superintendent Matt Akin said, referring to the Dolphins’ home football game on Aug. 23. “The stands were packed, concession areas were full, and the playing spaces for younger students were crowded. We are taking proactive steps to address increased attendance and ensure that we have a plan in place to provide a safe and orderly environment.”

Procedures requiring adult supervision are occurring at the following schools:

• Daphne and Robertsdale in Baldwin County are requesting all students in grades 8 or lower be accompanied by an adult to gain entry into the football games. Principals at both schools sent out a notice last week alerting parents and residents to the change. In Robertsdale, the change is occurring “due to recent incidents that occurred over the past two weeks,” according to the school’s principal. The Golden Bears have hosted two home games to start the season.
• Oxford City Schools, in a Facebook post on Aug. 29, alerted fans that all students under age 12 “must be accompanied by and in director supervision of a parent or guardian” when going to a football game. The message was aimed at controlling crowd congestion near the football stadium’s stands and restrooms. The message also encourages students to sit in the stands when not visiting concessions or restrooms, and to help generate enthusiasm for the Yellow Jacket student section.
• Madison County Schools – the state’s eighth largest school district – imposed its adult supervision guidelines last fall as part of the Athletic Department’s new Standard Athletics Procedures (SAP) to help campus administrators and School Resource Officers maintain a safe environment during the games.

The SAP guidelines were then sent an email to parents in early August reminding them that elementary and middle school students must be accompanied by an adult to gain entry at the football games. The adult also must remain in attendance for the child to stay at the game. Unaccompanied students who cannot present a driver’s license are denied entry.

Carter Watkins, spokesperson for the Madison County School System, said there was no one specific incident that sparked the new procedure. He said a “major disruption” last August during a football game at Sparkman High School did not drive the creation of the new policy. A large number of students in an open area on the south end of the stadium began running and causing a major disruption during the football game that had to be suspended.

In Gulf Shores, the school district is informing parents that an adult will need to “sign in and take responsibility for the student” while attending a game. At the gate, the adult will use a QR code to register their information, according to a social media post. And if an adult is bringing more than one child to a game – including friends – they will have to register responsibility for all children under their supervision.

“The intent is not to restrict these young children to sit with their parent or accompany adult in the bleachers,” said Kevin Corcoran, the board president with the Gulf Shores City School Board. “It is to discourage parents/guardians from dropping their young children off at the stadium unattended.”

He said that safety is also a factor in the decision.

“We are requesting the accompanying adult register the children for whom they are accepting responsibility so that in case we need to contact them (lightning, other severe weather conditions, injury or unruly behavior for example), we know who to contact on site,” Corcoran said. “It is for the safety and benefit of all.”

In Elmore County, school officials have not released any updated policies or procedures after last Friday’s postponed game.

Adults required

Some school systems have had adult supervision procedures in place for several years.

In Phenix City, schools have had an adult supervision procedure in place since 2021, requiring fans under 14 to be accompanied by an adult during the duration of the games at Garrett-Harrison Stadium. The school system communicates its procedure through stadium signs, emails and social media.

In Butler County – in the heart of Alabama’s Black Belt region south of Montgomery — no 8th grade students or younger are allowed to attend sporting events without an adult. The procedure was put into place last year.

Other school districts in Alabama have similar rules. Tuscaloosa County Schools require students aged 14 and under to be accompanied by an adult at all football games.

In Auburn, students from K-9 and non-school age children “should be accompanied and supervised by an adult at all times” while attending games at Duck Samford Stadium.

Students are also expected to be seated in the stands unless they are utilizing the bathroom facilities or are at the concession stands with an adult, according to stadium guidelines released in 2021. Students found loitering in groups outside he seated areas “will be required to leave the stadium,” according to the school’s ruling.

Not every school system has a procedure requesting adult supervision, and the Alabama High School Association defers to local school boards to determine a district’s policies.

Huntsville City Schools, DeKalb County Schools, and Orange Beach City Schools do not have policies requiring adult supervision.

“The school resource officers and administrators do an excellent job controlling student conduct at extracurricular activities,” said DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Wayne Lyles in Northeast Alabama.

The actions taken at some of the Alabama schools mirror what is going on elsewhere in the U.S. School systems in Pennsylvania and Kentucky, in recent weeks, have alerted parents to procedures requiring adult supervision during football games.

At South Western High School in Hanover, Penn., students attending high school football games are required to have a valid student ID, when coming to a game with an adult supervisor. At Penn Hills High School, media reports suggest that students are wearing wristbands indicating to security they must be accompanied with an adult.

Trump, the school safety expert, said his organization does not often seeing requirements from schools for adult supervision of youths during high school activities.

But he said the procedures being imposed at the Alabama schools and elsewhere “fits into a broader context” of tightening access, ticketing and parameters on who is attending the games.

“I began seeing an uptick in violence at school athletic events since around 2005,” Trump said. “We typically see an uptick at the beginning of the school year with high school football games. High school basketball games are also a concern, but football games have some of the higher profile incidents, some of those involving guns and shooting.”

He added, “The (adult supervision) rule reflects efforts by local school leaders to monitor and control admission to school athletic events. School athletic security planning goes beyond simply hiring off-duty police and security staff. It requires planning of ticket sales, admission to the events, active supervision by staff and security officials, training of personnel working the venue, having spectator behavior conduct rules, and more.”