Kansas City Chiefs fans of all ages will watch Super Bowl LV on February 7, and in some cases, it may mean postponing some academic obligations.
Before Super Bowl LIV last year when the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers, the results of a study by Brainly—an online study group for kids K through 12—showed that Missouri and Kansas ranked No. 1 and 2, respectively, in the U.S. where parents let their kids skip their homework on the night of the Super Bowl.
“A lot of schools were asking for a study sort of like this because they want to know: Should they be assigning big homework assignments around these major social events that are happening?” says Patrick Quinn, an Austin, Texas, based parenting expert for Brainly.
But Quinn recalls from first-hand experience that students aren’t the only ones potentially slacking on Super Bowl night.
“I can tell you 100 percent from a teacher’s perspective, because I was a teacher in New York City for a number of years, teachers are maybe more so ready to not do anything on Super Bowl Sunday and the Monday afterward,” says Quinn.
It happened six years ago when the Kansas City Royals were on their way to a World Series championship.
Shawnee Mission North High School teacher Katie (Melcher) Moorehead caught some flak when she slipped out of town with her father to follow the Royals on the road in the fall of 2015. “Big, big memories and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for sure,” she said at the time.
But her trip was exposed when her poster board with the written words ““Skipping school for the Royals. Don’t tell my students!!” made a splash on social media.
When Rockhurst University chose to keep classes in session last year on the day of the Chiefs parade, its school president, Father Thomas Curran, wasn’t surprised to see lighter attendance that day, not only among the students, but with RU staffers and faculty.
“We made no judgement on that and that’s the way we operate because we don’t force a professor to hold or not hold their classes,” says Father Curran.
As steadfast as Father Curran is about not cancelling classes, he’s still in the esprit de corps about what the Chief are accomplishing.
“I’m happy for the Chiefs, the Chiefs fans, for our community,” said Father Curran. “It’s certainly exciting at this time. It helps us build community at a time when we do need one another.”
On top of all that, he has the satisfaction of winning a friendly wager. John Hurley, Father Curran’s counterpart at Canisius University in Buffalo, has been wearing a face mask with a Chiefs logo after the Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship game on Sunday.
This year Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas has already put the word out there that there likely won’t be a parade of last year’s magnitude. That means schools, which have been struggling to return to pre-pandemic conditions, will remain in session.
But there’s still time to figure out a lesson plan for the night of the Super Bowl.
In the midst of the pandemic, the word is already out that there won’t be a parade celebration like last year if the Chiefs win Super Bowl 55. Which means schools are likely to be in session.
But teachers and students might want to think twice about not completing school work on Super Bowl weekend.
