Millwood Public Schools pulls team from basketball game at Community Christian School due to COVID-19 concerns

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - The superintendent of Millwood Public Schools made the decision to pull their team from a basketball game against Community Christian School on Friday due to COVID-19 concerns. 

Superintendent Cecilia Robinson-Woods says people from the Community Christian School side started sitting near families on the Millwood side without masks.

She went to the principal of the other school with her concerns. 

"[I said] 'I’m worried because my people don’t feel safe.' And she just said, 'we don’t follow those rules.' And I said, 'but it’s an executive order from the governor and it governs youth sports.'"

The governor's executive order says for youth sports, there's a limit of four spectators per athlete or 50 percent of capacity for the venue, whichever is lower. 

"[The principal] said, 'no ma’am, I will not.' And I’m like, 'so you won’t accommodate us keeping our families safe?' She said, 'no, and if you don’t like it, you can leave.'"

Robinson-Woods posted this photo on social media.

Mat McIntosh, the athletic director Community Christian School, sent KFOR this picture of the visitor's side. 

Both acknowledge masks are not part of the law, but disagree about violating capacity. 

"The masks are not part of the governor’s executive order. That is not. But the limiting capacity in a gym is part of the governor’s executive order, and that’s the part that they violated," Robinson-Woods said.

"If you look at that picture, and even compare it to the home side, that it’s pretty clear that we weren’t breaking the 50 percent capacity rule," McIntosh said.

He says he can't speak to the conversation with the principal.

"I do firmly believe if we had asked our patrons to not sit on their side, that could’ve easily been accommodated," McIntosh said. "We definitely regret how things went down Friday night, we wish that the games could’ve been played."

He also say they will do better to communicate about their safety protocols for future games.