An altercation by supporters of basketball teams playing at Homewood-Flossmoor High School’s North Building Monday night caused H-F Vikings band members to leave the football field where they were practicing and move to the band room in the South Building.
According to Carla Erdey, director of communications at H-F, the altercation happened within the gym and spilled over to the parking lot just as the band was being dismissed around 9 p.m. Team UP Vikings United rented the fieldhouse for its basketball tournament.
Band members were directed to the South Building “for a few minutes to allow the parking lot to clear prior to their dismissal,” according to a letter H-F Principal Clinton Alexander sent to band parents.
He stated “at no time were students or staff in any danger,” but several parents reported to Alexander their students “had emotional responses” to the incident. H-F said it advised band members their counselor or a social worker is available to them for assistance, Alexander said.
According to social media, UP Vikings United is “a grassroots sports and life skills development program for grades 4 – 12 in Chicago’s Southland” and describes itself as the “official feeder basketball program for H-F.” UP Vikings United is not a sanctioned H-F program, but the school does support programs like UP Vikings United by allowing it to use H-F facilities at a cost. The group was organized in 2015.
On social media, UP Vikings United lists two days of tournament events already held, the second was on Monday, Sept. 9. There will be four more events on Sept. 16, 23, 24 and 30. Several of those will overlap with Vikings Marching Band practices.
Alexander and H-F Superintendent Scott Wakeley were expected to meet with the tournament’s organizers “to reiterate H-F’s safety expectations and procedures to ensure they are fully implemented and enforced.”
The information to H-F parents states the spectators will be limited at future events “to mitigate any potential safety concerns” and police and H-F staff will be on hand “as a precaution.”
Flossmoor police were contacted by email Thursday morning and by phone Friday morning with a request for details about the incident. The Chronicle was referred to Director of Police Services Carl Estelle, who was not available to answer questions.
