As we prepare for the kickoff of the high school football season, Superintendent of Education Mitchell Guice wants to remind fans that masks are highly recommended at all Cherokee County venues. Guice also said that family members are asked to sit together as a group and social distance from other families.

This is in compliance with a memo issued by the Alabama High School Athletic Association that stated that schools are “strongly encouraged to establish and follow policies for limiting event attendance in order to comply” with the current public health order, and to require fans to wear facial coverings while entering and exiting the gates, while in the stands, and elsewhere.”

The state’s current Safer at Home public health order states:

“Players, coaches, officials and spectators may not congregate within 6 feet of a person from another household except to the extent necessary, and only to the extent necessary, for players, coaches, and officials to directly participate in the athletic activity.”

The hope is that everyone working together will help ensure a complete and safe high school football season not only in Cherokee County but across the entire state.