GUILDERLAND — In advance of the Guilderland High School’s first home football game, scheduled for Sept. 7, school administrators sent out an email alert — for the third year in a row — reminding parents and students that elementary- and middle-school students are not allowed to attend evening or night games unsupervised by an adult.

Regan Johnson, the district’s athletic director, said the policy was put in place because of problems with parents dropping off young children and leaving them unsupervised. The number of unsupervised children have been in the dozens, he said.

One problem, he said, is that adults do not always arrive back at school to pick up children when a game is over.

“We’re not going to leave a kid in a dark parking lot, so staff have been staying,” he said, waiting with children until adults arrive to get them.

Unsupervised children have had some minor injuries from roughhousing, according to Johnson.

Most district students will listen, Johnson said, when asked by a staff member to stop doing something wrong, but occasionally some don’t. If a misbehaving child is accompanied by an adult, staff members can let the adult know that, if a behavior doesn’t stop, the child — and the adult — will need to leave.

“We don’t have infinite chaperones,” he said.

The district believes this policy is best for everyone’s safety, Johnson said, noting that crowds at football games can be big, up to a few thousand people.

Students will need to enter through a separate, student gate. If they look young, they will be asked if they have an adult with them. If they do not, they will be held at the gate until a parent arrives to supervise or take them home. High schoolers will be allowed to attend without adults, but they will need to provide identification if asked, according to the alert.