Pleasant Valley’s loss at Bettendorf made a disappointing night for the once undefeated team, but it was not the only abnormality. From police officers to restricted areas, our school’s first Friday night lights saw a drastic increase in security and safety measures.
Both Bulldogs and Spartans were prohibited from traveling across the field to the other student sections. Bettendorf High School senior, Ainsley Kraft, expressed confusion about her interactions with security that night. “I was trying to get my portable charger from the car, but I wasn’t allowed to leave the stadium. And then I wasn’t even allowed to see my friends from PV that I used to go to school with,” she explained.
Kraft is not the only one that experienced this that night. Similarly, PV senior Skylar Tewkesbury recalls being stopped by security twice. “My friends and I were planning on leaving right at half-time, but we were stopped twice by security on our way out. They didn’t believe we were trying to leave so the guy continued to ask us questions and gave doubtful looks,” she continued.
Several other fans were stopped from wandering around the stadium or walking to specific areas. Thus the question must be asked: Why has there been such an increase in the number of safety measures and what does that mean for other PV events?
Lately, Bulldogs and Spartans have been kicked out of sports events due to being under the influence; our school’s frontline included this. On the Bettendorf side, according to Kraft, there had been knife threats within the student body at Bettendorf High School. The question still remains if the threats were between Bettendorf students themselves or between the two schools.
Other PV events have not seen such an increase in safety measures yet. Junior Grace Boleyn discussed her experiences at cross country meets. “When I’m running or just a spectator I don’t really think or worry about security or anything. I always feel safe no matter what,” she said.
It appears to be that only football games have extensive security. It is evident that these measures were put in place to prevent drinking, smoking, and violence, for football games have their fair share of history with them. Other sporting events have limited spectators, whilst football brings together almost all the student population.
Consequently, limitations are being put in place to suppress these actions by students. These concerns do not only pertain to PV football, for Bettendorf also placed these measures. The atmosphere of football games is changing.
Emma Decker • Sep 13, 2023 at 11:47 am
I think this is really interesting because I think that security has always been really high alert at football games. Also, from what I know high schooler´s drinking before football games is not uncommon. While it is not right or legal it is something that has always happened at every single school since I can remember. This has happened almost every year I have been in high school.
Molly • Sep 12, 2023 at 1:51 pm
I think this write up is very interesting, and I’ve also noticed increased security during games, and I wondered why that was happening. This is very informative!