No parents, no entry at Gulf Shores football games

GULF SHORES, Ala. ( WKRG ) — A new policy at Gulf Shores High School football games now requires parents to stay and supervise their children during the game.

All students in eighth grade and younger must be accompanied by an adult, or they will not be allowed entry to the game.

The school system made the decision after the first game of the high school football season when the stadium was packed with fans there to cheer on the Dolphins.

“We had tons of kids, and our stadium facility is not the biggest,” GSHS assistant principal Melisa Everett said. “So we thought, what can we do to be more proactive and not just reactive.”

The school is requiring parents to fill out a QR code when they enter the game with their name, phone number and the names of all of the students they are responsible for at the game.

“The kids do not have to sit with the parents. That is not at all what it is,” Everett said. “The kids like to run around and have their great time, and we want to support that as well, but if a kid falls and breaks his pinky, I need to be able to call a mama and be able to tell them, ‘Hey, we have your child down here.'”

According to Everett, most parents are on board with the new policy so far.

“You know, of course there’s always hesitation from other people and other parents,” Ashley Watley, a Gulf Shores parent and teacher, said. “As a parent, I feel safer, especially knowing if I’m not going to be there, then she’s got someone to be there with her, protect her.”

Similar policies are being implemented in other school districts across the state. Both Daphne High School and Robertsdale High School with Baldwin County Public Schools require students in eighth grade and younger to be accompanied by a parent as well.

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