A delay in the return of reconditioned football helmets has prompted the Warren County School District to cancel a Sheffield scrimmage set for this weekend.

Superintendent Amy Stewart outlined the scope of the problem during Monday night’s school board meeting.

“It wasn’t anything we did wrong,” she said. “The folks that recondition our helmets, we have a limited supply of where to go to get that done.”

Stewart said, given the difficulty of getting the helmets back on time, some athletes were unable to complete the heat acclimatization requirements that are in place prior to competition.

“Sheffield did not get their helmets in time,” she said. “They have not been through all their heat acclimatization yet.”

Stewart said that students turn in equipment after the season and then the companies come to pick up the helmets.

“(We are) at their mercy to come and get them,” she said. “They were not picked up at the time we thought they were going to get picked up.”

She said there were also companies relaying concerns about supply chain issues impacting the ability to get parts for the helmets.

“I think they’re doing the best that they can,” she said, stressing that the district will “continue to strive” to improve this in future years.

Stewart said the district is “frustrated to say the least. The kids want to get out there. We want to have these scrimmages and these games. The safety of our kids comes first.”

There have been rumblings on social media that this district decision – canceling the scrimmage – was not one that PIAA required the district to make.

“We follow PIAA guidelines,” Gary Weber, the district’s director of administrative support services, explained.

He acknowledged that one area of the guidelines makes it seems like helmets are optional during the heat acclimatization period but cited an additional section states “that a team can’t have the first practice with contact without doing 5 consecutive days of heat acclimatization with helmets, shoulder pads, shorts, prior to their first legal practice with contact. A team also cannot participate in a scrimmage without five days of full contact.”

Weber said that district officials consulted PIAA, which “reinforced the guidelines” but “ultimately said it was a school district decision.

“We felt uncomfortable with scrimmaging this Saturday, not having completed the heat acclimatization as written by PIAA,” he explained. “There have been far too many athletes who fall victim to heat exhaustion to ignore the necessity for acclimatization. So, from a student safety and a district liability standpoint, we decided to cancel the scrimmage.”

Weber provided additional details on how this process unfolds, one that has proven to be a challenge in recent years.

“We rely on two companies for this, Riddell and Demands,” he said. “Riddell manages their helmets and Demands manages the Schutt helmets. After last year we attempted to send them all through Riddell since we get them back much quicker, but the rep was concerned that they may not be able to source the parts for Schutt helmets due to supply chain issues.”

The district’s response was to split the order between the two companies.

“WAHS got their Riddells back in time,” Weber said. “Sheffield and EHS use Schutt helmets and unfortunately did not get theirs back in time for heat acclimatization week.”

He explained that Eisenhower kept rejected helmets from last year and “between those helmets and new helmets they were able to put athletes in helmets during heat acclimatization week. It’s non-contact so it’s really about getting used to wearing the helmet under those conditions.”