By Patricia Fontejon & Ashley Gilbert

Granada Hills Charter (GHC) has implemented safety precautions for future football games in response to the shooting that occurred near Ralph’s during the GHC football game against Franklin High School on Thursday, August 22. 

In an email sent out by Administrative Director Julia Howelman on September 10, she outlined the new safety proceedings for all football games. The first game that these new rules applied to was the game against Kennedy High School on September 13. 

The email emphasized the importance of safety during highly populated on-campus events such as but not limited to football games. 

These new enhanced safety features include the requirement of a current GHC student ID to purchase a ticket. GHC students and parents will also be required to sit on the home side. Visitors without GHC IDs will be required to be accompanied by a parent and sit on the visiting side. 

Safety has to be our number one priority, and it will, unfortunately, restrict some fun that some students may have had [and] restrict some students from coming to our games that don’t go to our school,” Howelman said.

In her email, Howelman further outlined the guidelines that promote respect for all who are watching, including encouraging everyone to maintain a healthy balance between sportsmanship and safety when attending games. 

“We have to try to balance freedom, opportunity, and enjoyment at all these events along with safety,” Howelman said. “At times, safety can override the enjoyment students may have, which is unfortunate because that’s not what anyone wants to do. However, that’s just what has to happen to maintain student safety. 

Schools have a legal and ethical obligation to ensure the safety of all students and attendees of school-sanctioned events. Implementing these safety measures will help GHC prevent a similar incident to the one during the GHC vs. Franklin game from occurring or stop an incident from escalating. 

“I’m really happy for the safety enhancements that have been implemented at Granada,” senior Daniel Battaglia said. “I get to feel safer playing the game that I love. I want parents to be able to feel safe in a crowd of teenagers and enjoy the game that they paid to go to.”