The Illinois High School Association’s bylaws do allow for football teams to practice during a teachers strike.
The practices must be approved by the local board of education, in this case Chicago Public Schools, as well as school administrators. The practices must be conducted by coaches that meet the IHSA’s qualification of coaches bylaw, which is below.
Several of the 19 teams, including Phillips, Taft, Payton and Kenwood have non-Chicago Teachers Union coaches that meet that criteria. It’s possible not all the teams have coaches that could step in.
Payton football coach George Klupchak began drawing attention to the possibility on Twitter on Tuesday night.
At 9:18 you mention Simeon. Practices are cancelled for the duration of the strike. However, If Simeon cannot officially practice Wed, Th, and Fri, they are ineligible to compete in the playoffs. They COULD practice Wed with non-CTU coaches, BUT it requires school board approval https://t.co/Fe3E2LiqQH pic.twitter.com/lLZPJnqj2P
— Payton Prep Football (@PaytonPrepFtbl) October 30, 2019
“If the strike is going to end Friday and the Board of Education didn’t give us a chance to practice the last three days that would be a shame,” Klupchak said. “We are planning to meet at 7:30 tonight, hoping the strike is over or the Board of Education realizes that they can let us practice.”
The IHSA’s bylaws require a football team to have three practices before playing a game if the team hasn’t practiced in seven days. CPS teams have now missed 11 days of practice due to the strike, so the rule kicks in. Unless the teams practice on Wednesday they will not have enough days to get three practices in before the playoff games on Saturday.
IHSA spokesperson Matt Troha said Tuesday afternoon that it would be possible for football teams to practice on Wednesday even though classes were canceled due to the strike.
“If [the CPS and CTU] settle late [Tuesday] or at a reasonable time [Wednesday] for the teams to gather and practice, that would meet our policy,” Troha said.
The IHSA is expected to release what that “reasonable time” is later today.
CPS teams in state playoff games
Class 8A
Taft at Huntley
Curie at Homewood-Flossmoor
Class 7A
Lincoln-Way West at Phillips
Lincoln Park at Rolling Meadows
Class 6A
Lakes at Simeon
Mather at Antioch
Riverside-Brookfield at Kenwood
Morgan Park at East St. Louis
Class 5A
Fenwick at Payton
Hyde Park at Rockford Boylan
Marmion at Amundsen
Class 4A
Phoenix at Coal City
Kewanee at Ag. Science
Clark at St. Francis
Sullivan at IC Catholic
Class 3A
Carver at Paxton-Buckley-Loda
Harlan at Durand
Dunbar at Eureka
Class 2A
Orr at St. Edward
