More than a week before the recent incidents at two high school basketball games — the shooting of North Lawndale star Jermaine Winfield in a parking lot after the Phoenix played ACT Charter at Collins on Tuesday, a gym-clearing fight at Bogan, which hosted Simeon the same day, and another brawl Thursday at the North Lawndale-Marshall game — Calvin Davis, the director of sports administration for the Chicago Public Schools, sent a letter to every principal and athletic director about sportsmanship and security.
Davis noted that ‘‘each individual sporting event is required to have a security plan in place.’’
Among the points in Davis’ sample plan:
- Athletic-event staff members should wear bright-colored jackets or shirts that say ‘‘Security’’ or ‘‘Crowd Control.’’
- Entrances and exits must be manned and monitored.
- Crowd-control staff must be positioned to cover all four corners around the event.
- Only students of the host school are allowed to attend.
- Uniformed cheerleaders from visiting schools must have an adult chaperone.
- Parents should be allowed to attend at the principal’s discretion.
- Outside students should not be allowed to attend.
- Host school staff must have access to a telephone at the event.
- Washrooms and concession areas must be monitored.
- Limit spectator attendance so it does not exceed the capacity of the facility.
- Restricted areas should be locked and visibly monitored by staff.
- Visiting teams must be escorted to their buses at the end of the contest.
- Make sure students exit the facility in an orderly manner.
- Security gates, metal detectors and hand wands, which are not mandatory, are necessary and should be used at all events if possible.
‘‘The response from principals before Wednesday’s deadline has been overwhelming,’’ Davis said. ‘‘For incidents that happen outside of the schools [like the one at Collins], we will keep working with the Chicago Police Department, and we’ll send extra security to high-alert games.’’
Davis and Simeon coach Robert Smith were quick to commend the security at Bogan for acting swiftly after fans started fighting.
‘‘I have to really commend the security at Bogan,’’ Smith said. ‘‘They made sure the players and our fans were OK, and they walked us out to the bus. I’ve been in worse. It really wasn’t that bad, and the Bogan people had it squashed.
‘‘Coach [Bob] Hambric [who preceded Smith at Simeon] used to say that if kids were in school until 3:30 at other schools, they wouldn’t be able to get to Simeon for a 4 o’clock game. That’s why he always had the varsity play first. I still do that.’’
While there is no question that the enormous success of the athletic teams at Simeon could cause some jealousy on the South Side, there is a plan in place.
‘‘Every student who is not from Simeon has to be accompanied by an adult,’’ Smith said. ‘‘We even screen our former students. When [Vocational] played here, they brought 80 kids, but they had their own security and two principals.’’
Davis pointed out that the CPS allocates $500,000 for security at athletic contests.
Last fall, incidents at both Schurz and Foreman resulted in fans not being allowed at football games.
‘‘There were things going on in the Foreman building that resulted in us not allowing fans at a game,’’ Davis said.
‘‘At Schurz, there was fighting after their homecoming game that spilled over to a McDonald’s and included football players. So for their last game, students were not permitted.’’
Davis said administrators are serious about these issues.
‘‘If it means no fans will be allowed at some of these games, then that’s what will happen,’’ Davis said.
‘‘I had a meeting in the fall with [Chicago Police Chief] Jody Weis and the district commanders. We need a police presence to make sure the kids are safe.’’
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