Review the implementation of Tier 1 Strategies to ensure the fidelity of the best practices. This audit should identify successes and areas of growth. Asking yourself “is what we are doing working to ensure safe spaces for our students?”

Create marketing materials that support academic-based extra curricular activities and target your community with expectations that align with your district or organizational goals.

Possibility of closing season competition early with steps to shut down a season. If a team, coach, or community is unable to respond to measures set forth, ending the season early is a possibility to explore.

Working with the appropriate stakeholders to create a policy to address the specific need. Could be with the official’s organization in your area or statewide.

The VPA committees are member-based and aim to have a comprehensive makeup based on some of the following: area of the state, size of the school/district, and make up of the school/district.

Should a situation occur that requires additional investigation or pertains to a persistent problem, having a game(s) without fans can occur. For away games, having a guest list for the school who can attend is also a possibility.

Schools can limit the attendance to their events to students and families or limit the number of people admitted to the event.

Being present at school events will help build relationships with the fans, community and teams. These relationships can help create success by building trust. People will feel comfortable bringing forth concerns to you if you’re seen at events and may have witnessed first hand. Strong relationships can also help shift fan behavior.

Along with being seen at events, popping into practices and allowing your student-athletes to have access to you in important. Watching a practice, talking in the hallway, or scheduling 1:1 or team check in opportunities will help strengthen your lines of communication.

When reports of unwanted behaviors are communicated, timely investigation and following up with all stakeholders is important. Often times days get busy, but circling back to the person reporting to close the communication loop is important in building accountability to your communities.

Email your additional best practice with description to: lthomas@vpaonline.org