La Grande School District could see traffic and schedule disruptions during 1A-2A Volleyball Championships
By Garrett Christensen on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – Though it may seem far off, La Grande School District, and the city at large, could have some schedule shifts and a fair bit of extra traffic during the 1A-2A State Volleyball Championships this November. In a recent interview, La Grande School District Superintendent Geroge Mendoza commented that the number of out-of-town athletes and spectators could cause disruptions during September 7th and 8th as the 1A and 2A tournaments are hosted at La Grande High School and Eastern Oregon University respectively, remarking:
“So, when you think of hosting these events, it’s around 250 athletes and coaches. Then, everybody brings four to six people to support them. So, you’re going to have in La Grande anywhere near 1,400 to 1,600 people visiting for that weekend…We need a lot of volunteers, whether it’s taking tickets or hospitality rooms or sweeping floors or monitoring, supervising, being ambassadors, running concession stands, there’s a lot of things that we need to get prepared for.”
Aside from the logistical considerations, the additional street traffic and possible parking overflow present a challenge to running a normal school day on November 7, and a potential safety issue. During a board meeting earlier this month, the La Grande School Board discussed the possibility of giving the day off for students and staff. As elaborated by Mendoza:
“So, there’s going to be a need for around 400 to 500 parking spaces. If we run school at the same time while people are trying to park, it’s hard on the kids, it’s hard on the staff, and it’s hard on safety too, with so many visitors at our school. So, we had option one, which would be to close school for kids and then have professional development for staff.
Option two, run school and then have a parking problem and bus people into our schools…And then the other one is close school for kids, close school for staff, and then find a day, could be in May or could be in June, where we actually relocate the calendar a day.”
According to Mendoza, the board was generally more in favor of the third option, canceling school for the day and swapping it out for a calendar day next June. This would allow the district to limit logistical and safety concerns and allow students and families to enjoy the tournament if they choose. As of the time of writing, a decision to cancel/swap school days has not officially been made.
