Earlier this year, when the Coffee Trojan football schedule was released, fans and school system employees noticed a peculiarity with this year’s football season: Homecoming was scheduled for the September 4 game against Zephyr Hills Christian Academy (Florida).
The peculiarity? That is the Labor Day holiday weekend, an unusual – and, as it turned out, controversial – choice for Homecoming.
Despite several pleas to change the date, Homecoming remained on Labor Day. Last week, a petition was posted on change.org seeking enough signatures to change the Homecoming date.
Friday morning, DouglasNow reached out to the school system asking for a comment on the issue. Two system personnel responded, saying an announcement regarding Homecoming would be forthcoming on Monday.
The announcement has been made: Homecoming is being moved to the October 23 region game against the Northside – Warner Robins Eagles. The school system cited its attendance initiative as the reason for the change. The system’s entire statement, which was posted to its Facebook page on Monday, is below:
“At Coffee High School, we know that attendance is one of the strongest predictors of student success. Students who attend school consistently are more likely to achieve academically, graduate on time, and be prepared for college, career, and life.
“As part of our commitment to student achievement, eligibility for Homecoming and Prom will now include attendance requirements, along with our existing expectations for behavior and school obligations.
“To support this initiative, the Homecoming game will be held on October 23rd during our home football game against Northside Warner Robins. This later date gives students the opportunity to build strong attendance habits and earn participation in this special event.
“Attendance guidelines will be shared in the coming weeks.”
