House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Centre/Mifflin) sent a letter to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, urging the body to make an independent stand from Gov. Tom Wolf’s “strong recommendation” that interscholastic sports do not resume until January 2021 and stay the course with allowing fall sports to safely continue as previously planned.
“Like you, I was tremendously disappointed in Gov Wolf’s intimidating ‘recommendation’ to cancel all recreational and interscholastic athletics until January of 2021. I am writing to remind you that this is not a mandate, and I am asking you to stand firm on your previous decision to continue with PIAA-sanctioned events during the fall athletic season. In taking this stand for our young people, you would have my support and the support of the majority of the General Assembly,” Benninghoff wrote in part.
“I understand that you feel enormous pressure from Gov. Wolf, who has often been punitive against those who have gone against him, and constrained by his recommendation. However, I want to remind you that what he laid out is, in fact, a recommendation, not a new law or executive mandate. PIAA is an independent association, and I, along with many Pennsylvanians, trust your previous commonsense decision to allow fall activities to safely continue so students can have even a degree of normalcy that they so desperately need and deserve.”
