The Vicksburg Warren School District’s Board of Trustees has called a special board meeting for Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

The meeting is to discuss Gov. Tate Reeves’ recent executive order regulating the size and scope of crowd sizes at high school athletic events. You can view the full order here: https://www.sos.ms.gov/content/executiveorders/ExecutiveOrders/1518.pdf

Reeves’ order limits attendance at all K-12 extracurricular activities such as football games to no more than two spectators per participant. Each extracurricular event must also have a dedicated safety officer to ensure all social distancing measures are followed.

“Sports and these other activities are instrumental in the lives of our young Mississippians. They teach discipline and responsibility in a way that can’t be replicated,” Reeves said at his press briefing on Friday. “That said, we are living through a pandemic. One of my greatest concerns heading into this school season has been sports and those other events which cause the community to come out in crowds. Twenty-two players on a field is not going to overwhelm a local hospital. Two thousand people in a small school’s bleachers might.”

The order went into effect on Monday and will remain in effect until Monday, Aug. 31, at 8 a.m., unless it is extended.

Vicksburg and Warren Central are scheduled to play each other in a season-opening volleyball match on Aug. 25. The two schools also open the football season against each other on Sept. 4, but will play preseason scrimmage games on Aug. 28.