ROCKFORD, Mich — The Rockford Public School District announced Wednesday that school will not be in session for kindergarten through 12th grade on Friday, March 18.
The reason for the closure is to accommodate students and families to travel to watch Rockford High School's girls basketball team, the Lady Rams, play in the MSHAA Semi-Finals game.
The Lady Rams defeated East Lansing High School in the MSHAA State Quarterfinals and punched their ticket to the Breslin Center for the semi-finals game.
The game will take place on Friday at 12 p.m. in East Lansing.
In 2003, the district also cancelled classes when the Rockford High School boy's basketball team played in the MSHAA State Semi-Finals game in East Lansing. The boy's team eventually went on to win the State Championship that year.
Rockford Public Schools says that in addition to supporting the team in this year's semi-final game on Friday, they expect that they could not adequately staff their schools or meet the 75% district attendance threshold.
Childcare will remain open at all elementary buildings on Friday.
"We understand that this may be disruptive to some families and we want you to know that we've looked at our staffing levels, student attendance projections and even reached out to the MHSAA to request a later game time such that we could safely have school and then attend the important game as a community," said Rockford Superintendent, Korie Wilson-Crawford.
"All that said, this is a major point of pride and we're excited to be able to support our students in this way. We've had a long 24 months and events like this are one way we reignite our sense of community. I want to encourage your family consider a trip to East Lansing along with the rest of our school community to show support for our student-athletes. General Admission tickets can be purchased at the Box Office at the Breslin Center. I'll be in the stands cheering our Lady Rams and I hope to see you there as well," added Wilson-Crawford.
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