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Pittsburgh Public Schools is adopting heightened security measures during its football games starting this weekend.
Student IDs will be required of all high school students prior to entering Cupples Stadium on the South Side — regardless of school district. Younger students must be chaperoned by someone 21 years or older; gates will close at the beginning of the third quarter; and no outside food, drinks, or drinking containers will be allowed except unopened water bottles. These steps are in addition to existing metal detectors and police presence at games.
In a Facebook post this week, PPS said security is being heightened in light of safety concerns at neighboring stadiums.
Shots were fired and a spectator who left was hit, but not killed, outside a Woodland Hills/Penn Hills game on Aug. 30. The game was suspended and the Woodland Hills Wolvarena stadium in Turtle Creek was evacuated. According to school district officials, the incident did not involve students.
“During the fourth quarter of Friday night’s football game between Penn Hills and Woodland Hills at the Wolvarena, an incident occurred in the neighborhood away from the stadium,” Woodland Hill superintendent Daniel Castagna wrote in a statement. “Local law enforcement responded immediately, and to ensure the safety of all in attendance, the game was immediately halted and the stadium was cleared.”
Woodland Hills implemented the following protocols for every ticketed home athletic event moving forward:
- Student tickets will be sold only in school
- Middle school and high school students will be allowed to enter only with a student ticket and a student ID
- Students whose districts are not playing in the game that evening will not be allowed entry to the stadium
- Attendees will be reminded that football games begin promptly at 7 p.m. There will be no entry allowed after the first quarter — strictly enforced
- A new procedure requiring clear bags or no bags (mirroring the NFL’s practice) will be instituted for all athletic events
- All spectators must be seated or moving towards seating areas at all times. Persons congregating in open areas will be asked to move on.
Similar heightened security measures have been adopted in the Penn Hills School District as well as other districts in Allegheny County.
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