Football to return to KY military high schools during government shutdown
Friday night lights are back on for Kentucky’s two military high schools at Fort Knox and Fort Campbell.
The Department of Defense is allowing athletics and extracurricular activities to resume at military high schools during the government shutdown.
Fort Knox and Fort Campbell high schools were forced to postpone football games on Oct. 3.
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell had written a letter marked “urgent” to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth last Friday, Oct. 3, asking the Defense Department to make an exception and allow sports and other extracurriculars to continue.
McConnell thanked Hegseth for the exception in a statement Tuesday evening.
“This decision provides welcome relief to the Fort Campbell and Fort Knox schools and their students, student-athletes, parents, and everyone who supports their school programs,” McConnell said. “Our servicemembers and their children shouldn’t pay the price for Washington’s failure to fund the government. I’m so grateful they’ll now be able to suit up and get back in the game.”
A statement posted at the top of the website of the Department of Defense Education Activity, which operates the schools, said, “DoDEA has received updated direction allowing extracurricular activities, including athletics and afterschool clubs, to be considered excepted activities during the current lapse in appropriations.”
Fort Knox High School’s football team will play Owensboro Catholic High School Friday night.
Fort Knox had been scheduled to play McClean County High School last Friday, but the game was rescheduled for Oct. 18 because of the government shutdown that started Oct. 1.
That game was to have been McClean County’s homecoming. The school’s Facebook page said the homecoming and dance were continuing without the football game.
Fort Campbell High School’s football team had been scheduled to play its homecoming game against Trigg County last Friday, but that game was pushed back until Oct. 30.
Fort Campbell is to play White Station Friday night.
In his statement Tuesday night, McConnell said, “Democrats need to end the shutdown.”
“As I have warned every time Congress faced this threat: No one wins in a shutdown,” he said.
“Shutting down the government is harmful to the country, and it never produces positive outcomes – on policy or politics. And what happened at Fort Campbell and Fort Knox is just one example of the impact it’s having on our constituents.”
