January 8, 2004
BLOOMINGTON - All nine proposals on the ballot in the annual Illinois High School Association (IHSA) member school referendum were approved in voting by the membership. The mail ballots were counted in the IHSA Office Thursday (Jan. 8).
By a vote of 500-35, a proposal to change Article 1.470 of the IHSA Constitution was approved. The change establishes a procedure to fill a vacancy on the Board of Directors in one of the At Large seats.
Member schools approved a change in Article 1.920 of the Constitution by a vote of 520-21. The change will move the annual referendum election from paper ballots to electronic ballots beginning next school term.
By-law 3.047 was changed by a vote of 509-32. Member schools receiving transfer students will enforce any period of ineligibility imposed or that would have been imposed upon the student by the school from which the student transfers.
By a vote of 430-111, member schools voted to change By-law 3.106 and to reduce the amount of time for non-school competition by students on member school teams. The old by-law allowed students to compete in non-school competition until the day before their school's first contest in a given sport. The new by-law reduces that amount of time to five days following the school's first practice or tryout.
Students will be allowed to compete in three all-star contests in basketball, football, soccer and volleyball after completing their high school eligibility in the respective sports. The old rule limited them to one all-star contest. By-law 3.121 was changed by a vote of 357-184.
A new By-law 3.132 was approved by a vote of 415-126. It stipulates that only bona fide students of a member school may participate in a practice session for any interscholastic team sponsored by a member school.
The basketball sport season by-laws for boys and girls basketball were changed by a vote of 436-104. Member schools no longer are restricted to playing non-varsity games after the date of the first varsity contest. Member schools may now play non-varsity games before the first varsity contest.
The Scholastic Bowl season was changed to allow each member school to practice for and participate in one Scholastic Bowl tournament during the dates following the conclusion of the regular season and state series and the start of the regular season. By-law 5.341 was approved by a vote of 395-142.
Member schools voted 375-161 to adopt By-law 5.753 that establishes an individual limitation to the Competitive Cheerleading sport season. No individual shall be permitted to participate on a member school's competitive cheerleading team unless he/she is a rostered participant on the member school's winter (basketball) sideline cheerleading team.
The complete listing of proposals can be found by clicking here