For students in places like Fort Campbell and Fort Knox high schools, it means touchdowns, football goals and volleyball plays are back, as their schools disentangle themselves from the shutdown policy.
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“Allowing sports to continue is a small thing for some people, but for students, coaches and parents, it’s huge,” Antonia Kruse, whose son, Levi, plays wide receiver and cornerback on the Fort Campbell High football team, said Tuesday. “They already have a lot of unknowns in their lives being dependent on the military. They can have some kind of stability with their sports and activities.”
Schools remained open for normal educational activities during the government shutdown. But the stalemate in Congress left other school-related activities, including practical ones, in limbo. Fort Knox is located in central Kentucky, while Fort Campbell straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee border. The closure disrupted extracurricular activities at other military schools, including teams at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell welcomed the pardon for military families.
“Our military members and their children should not pay the price for Washington’s failure to fund the government,” McConnell said in a statement Tuesday night. “I’m very grateful that they can now suit up and get back in the game.”
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The Republican senator successfully intervened in the matter. He wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week, asking that athletics and extracurricular activities in schools be designated as permitted activities despite the shutdown. Within a few days, his request was granted.
The Department of Defense Education Activity, known as DoDEA, administers kindergarten through 12th grade educational programs for the Department of Defense. The DoDEA said in a statement that it received instructions from Hegseth that all student extracurricular activities, including sports and extracurricular clubs, be considered “excepted activities during the current gap in appropriations.”
At Fort Campbell High, that means the girls volleyball team’s excellent season won’t be derailed. The team is on pace for the school’s first winning campaign in 15 years in the sport.
Having not practiced for a week, the team bounced back by winning its first game Tuesday since play resumed, mother Sarah Moore said. The senior team’s night game was canceled last week due to the government shutdown.
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“They’ve worked so hard to get better and be competitive this year that they couldn’t wait to get back on the court,” said Moore, whose daughter, Ava, plays on the team.
“We are grateful for the people who stood up for our children and took action,” he added.
The disruption affected much more than sports.
He applied to activities such as Lejeune High School’s Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program, which has been recognized for its superior performance. Cadets in the program have participated in community service projects, leadership training exercises and competitive events, the school said.