IHSA Board Announces Continuation of Athletes With Disabilities Programs

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IHSA Board Announces Continuation of Athletes With Disabilities Programs

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The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors met at its regularly scheduled meeting at the IHSA office in Bloomington on Monday, June 10, 2013, where the Board approved the continuation of the IHSA’s Athletes With Disabilities Program.

The IHSA’s Athletes With Disabilities Program debuted during the 2012-13 school year and offered state final events in Boys & Girls Cross Country, Boys & Girls Bowling, Boys & Girls Swimming & Diving and Boys & Girls Track & Field. All four sports will continue in 2013-14.

“We believe that the inaugural year of the Athletes With Disabilities Program was successful and will only continue to gain more momentum with time,” said IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman. “We hope that the number of participants will continue to grow, but regardless of whether that occurs or not, we know that we are creating awareness, opportunities and meaningful experiences for high school student-athletes in Illinois.”


ACTION ITEMS
1. The Board approved a recommendation to authorize the enrollment classification cutoffs for all of the IHSA’s sports and activities for the 2013-14 school year.

The cutoffs and school-by-school class listings will be posted on Tuesday, June 11 and can be viewed by clicking here.

2. The Board approved a recommendation to open up the IHSA Official Ball Contract to vendor bids. Baden Sports is the official ball of the IHSA and the current deal with Baden expires after the 2013-14 school year.

IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman
“Based on the feedback of several of the constituents who are directly impacted by the ball contract, including the Illinois Athletic Directors Association (IADA) and various coach associations, the Board felt it was prudent to explore its options as it relates to the ball contract. This does not mean that we are unhappy with Baden Sports in any way and we very much expect Baden to be one of the groups who will present a ball bid during this process.”

3. The Board approved a recommendation to form a committee to review a potential “success factor” formula that could move schools who have experienced success well beyond the median of other schools in their classification up a class. The recommendation came following a presentation from Washington High School Principal/Superintendent Dr. Jim Dunnan on the topic.

IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman
“We are beginning to see ‘success factors’ or ‘tradition factors’ being considered or implemented as a part of the formula to determine school classifications at several state associations around the country. Dr. Dunnan presented the Board with some well thought-out ideas, and ultimately, the Board felt like forming a committee to further explore this subject was worthwhile.”


ADVISORY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
Minutes from all Advisory Committees can be viewed by clicking here.

1. The Board approved the consent items from the Advisory Committees in the following sports & activities: Boys & Girls Basketball, Boys & Girls Bowling, Competitive Cheerleading, Boys & Girls Gymnastics, Boys & Girls Soccer, Boys & Girls Swimming & Diving, Boys Wrestling, Chess, Competitive Dance, Journalism, Solo & Ensemble and Organizational Music, Athletic Officials, Scholastic Bowl, Speech Debate, Speech Individual Events, Speech Drama & Group Interpretation and Sportsmanship Committee.

***Please serve notice that when the Consent items were posted following the Board meeting on Monday, June 10, they contained eight items from four sports (Cheer-3, Soccer-3, Swimming & Diving-1, Wrestling-1) that should not have been included on the Consent list.

By rule, those eight items must be reviewed and voted upon independently by the Board of Directors, which will occur at the August Board Meeting.

The updated Consent items that were passed on Monday and can be viewed by clicking here.

The eight items that were mistakenly listed in the original Consent items, but have not passed, and will be voted on in August can be viewed by clicking here.***


Some items of note from the Consent list include:

Boys & Girls Swimming & Diving
The following State Final qualifying standards were approved for 2013-14:

Boys
200 Medley Relay 1:38.27
200 Free 1:45.12
200 IM 1:58.41
50 Free 21.90
100 Butterfly 52.78
100 Free 48.01
500 Free 4:47.32
200 Free Relay 1:27.98
100 Back 54.04
100 Breast 1:00.61
400 Free Relay 3:14.62

Girls
200 Medley Relay 1:50.16
200 Free 1:55.59
200 IM 2:10.88
50 Free 24.68
100 Butterfly 58.94
100 Free 53.61
500 Free 5:10.69
200 Free Relay 1:39.26
100 Back 59.56
100 Breast 1:07.97
400 Free Relay 3:37.38

Wrestling
1. Saturday’s Grand March at the Individual Wrestling State Finals will begin at 5:30 p.m.


Non-consent items that were approved by the Board included:

Boys Wrestling
1. On Thursday at the Individual Wrestling State Finals, the doors will open one hour earlier at 11:00 a.m. to begin weigh-ins.

Scholastic Bowl
1. The Literature & Language Arts category will be renamed “Literature”, but will continue to include questions from the language arts genre.

Speech Drama/Group Interpretation
1. A Technical Performance Award will now be awarded at the state finals.


APPEALS & ELIGIBILITY RULINGS
1. The Board sustained the Executive Director’s ruling on a student from Rockford (Boylan). The student was ruled ineligible for non-compliance with IHSA By-law 3.040 and its sub-sections.

2. The Board sustained the Executive Director’s ruling on a student from Arlington Heights (St. Viator). The student was ruled ineligible for non-compliance with IHSA By-law 3.040 and its sub-sections.

3. The Board sustained the Executive Director’s ruling on wrestling forfeitures by a student from Chicago (Gordon Tech). The individual forfeited wrestling victories from the 2011-12 season after the school failed to secure an eligibility ruling for the student.


DISCUSSION ITEMS
At each meeting of the Board of Directors, there are certain items the Board discusses, but upon which no action is taken. The following is a report of those items from the June 10, 2013, agenda:

1. The Executive Director is proud to present the 2013 IHSA Distinguished Service Award winners, who will be honored at a banquet on June 10. The 12 honorees are:
Kent Ayers, Pekin
Ann Bagel, Hoffman Estates
George Dyche, Aurora
Owen Fuller, Marseilles
Larry Gassen, Downers Grove
Tom Heniff, Olympia Fields
Perry Korbakis, Crestwood
Chris Long, Sigel
Rick Marsh, Sugar Grove
Nancy Nelson, Bloomington
Jean Rezny, Mt. Prospect
Brad Stearns, Springfield

2. The Board heard an update from the Executive Director on the 2013 NFHS Summer Meeting.

3. The Board heard an update from Assistant Executive Director Scott Johnson on a forthcoming redesign to the IHSA Schools Center.

4. The Board heard a presentation from PlayOn! Sports’ Tim Eichorst on the NFHS TV Network.

5. The Board heard an update from IHSA Associate Executive Director Kurt Gibson and Assistant Executive Director Craig Anderson on the IHSA’s educational efforts on the new football acclimatization policy that will be in place when practice begins in August.

6. The Board discussed the future of lacrosse and boy’s gymnastics and will continue to monitor sports with low participation numbers.
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