McHenry Times

Rep. Steve Reick (R-Woodstock) is urging Illinois residents to add their names to a petition that seeks to force Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s hand in the push to allow larger crowd sizes at high school sporting events.

“As Illinois has made steady progress moving out of COVID-19 mitigations, thousands of students of all ages are back enjoying previously prohibited extracurricular activities,” Reick posted on Facebook in March. “We have learned from conversations with high school officials involved with the planning and execution of hosting activities that there have not been major viral outbreaks. A bipartisan group of legislators agree that grade school, junior high, and high school extracurricular events should be allowed to have attendance at 25% capacity going forward.”

Reick said his motivation for wanting to see the increase in crowd size grow from just 50 individuals is simple.

“These restrictions are causing problems for participants, athletes, cheerleaders, fans and school officials,” he said. “Not to mention students, parents and siblings who have missed out on memories too many to count, and too precious to ignore. Officials from the Illinois High School Association, the Illinois Association of School Boards, the Illinois Association of School Administrators, Illinois Association of Athletic Directors and Illinois Principals Association as well as local school board officials, parents, coaches, players and school administrators from across the state agree.”