[BillyMac]

From the NFHS:

Behavior Campaign Planned in High School Sports as Many States Report Increase in Officials

As the 2021-22 school year draws to a close, there is some good news to report on the officiating front, and next steps to take before action begins again this fall.

In a survey by NFHS Director of Officiating Services Dana Pappas, 28 of 36 participating state associations reported an increase in the number of registered officials from 2020-21 to 2021-22. Overall, in these states, there was a six percent increase in the number of registered officials this past year, as compared to a nine percent decrease between 2018-19 and 2020-21.

While some of the participating states reported decreases in officials this past year, four states -- Delaware, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota -- currently have more registered officials than before the pandemic.

We salute the great work done in all these states to address the nationwide shortage of officials; however, as was discussed at the recently completed NFHS Officials Consortium, steps must be taken to improve respect for officials and behavior at high school events if new officials are going to be retained beyond three years.

While I'm sure that some of this increase may be due "campaign(s) ... to improve respect for officials and behavior at high school events", isn't most of the increase simply because perspective officials feel safer attending training classes, testing sessions, scrimmages, and games due to the success of vaccinations in decreasing hospitalizations and death due to COVID?

Or the need for some "breadwinners" to make some extra money due to hyper-inflation? During the Great Recession, between 2007 and 2009, we were turning away many applicants due to a lack of space in our training classes.