After an emergency hearing, the MIAA was granted an interim injunction

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) – A temporary restraining order has been issued against the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association following an emergency hearing.

The Pioneer Valley Regional School District filed for a temporary restraining order on behalf of its football teams Thursday morning.

According to the district, the move is intended to ensure that the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) uses Pioneer's actual win-loss records when classifying teams into statewide tournament brackets.

“As a district, we felt it was important that students pay the price, rather than the penalty, for mistakes that were supposed to be the responsibility of adults. Our school board met last night in an emergency meeting and voted unanimously to take legal action,” Pioneer Valley Regional School District Superintendent Patricia Kinsella told us after a recent scheduling error.

Pioneer Valley is now the fourth school district to file an injunction against the MIAA, joining Northampton, Minnechaug and Monson High Schools.

Kinsella claims this was all because two possible dates for postseason games were not scheduled, which impacted 17 of the 61 schools in the MIAA First District and resulted in lower team rankings ahead of state tournaments.

“It’s not a question of whether they would advance to the state tournament or not. The question is what their seeding would be in the state tournament, and that also impacts whether the game is played at home or away.”

Western Mass News reached out to the MIAA for comment following the injunction.

“We will abide by the court orders and organize the football tournaments based on the court decisions,” they told us.

We will provide further information on this situation as it develops.

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