Staff-Student Game Controversy

By Wade Winter

The long-anticipated student-staff basketball game was cancelled...or was it?

Mr. Briggs said that the game was never cancelled but that Mr. D is still working with the SLC to hold the student-staff basketball game. He also said that holding the event would be difficult and “suggested” to Mr. D that it should be held after school if they were to do it. This lines up with what I heard from kids in the SLC. "Mr. Briggs told Mr. D that the student-staff game was off unless the SLC wanted to organize it and it would have to be after school," said an unnamed source from SLC. This source also said nothing more has been mentioned since they were told this.

The dodgeball final, which usually held during halftime of the student-staff game, already happened, suggesting further the student-staff game was indeed cancelled. When I asked Mr. Briggs, he said that it happened because students wanted it to happen earlier.

Mr. Dumouchel, the athletic director at EMS, said the original game was cancelled because he was out that whole week. He also said it would be difficult to reschedule because the basketball season is already over and they would have to, get this, hand back all the uniforms and it would be a lot of work for not much of a result. In the past, the ALC (now SLC) organized the student-staff game. This information doesn’t seem to quite go with what Mr. Briggs said, but it confirms that there won’t be a student-staff game for 2019.

Doing something similar is not off the table. Mr. D mentioned that the Unified basketball team is playing Edmunds Middle the Friday before Spring Break. It’s a possibility that they will allow teachers to bring their students down to watch the game.

How do the teachers feel about the loss of the beloved tradition? Mr. Mendenhall said that many students aren’t interested. He thinks that the student-staff game would be best at the end of a jamboree when the kids are already interacting with the teachers. Mrs. Nee and Mrs. Baker both think that it’s always a fun event, and they both love it. Mrs. Baker also said that it’s an opportunity for the teachers to show the students who’s boss.

In conclusion, the reason the student-staff game is (probably) cancelled is still unclear because there does seem to be enough time and it doesn't seem to be too hard to organize an assembly especially since the Unified Sports basketball game is highly probable to happen. Maybe the timing is not quite right, and maybe there isn’t enough interest.

There is some good to come out of this though, the Unified Basketball team will be in the spotlight for the first time. Finally, I hope this isn’t the end of the EMS tradition because I really enjoy watching it and can’t wait to play in it.

If you want to learn more about the student-staff game, go to the original article.