Announcements

All 14 proposals on the ballot in the annual Illinois High School Association (IHSA) member school referendum were approved in voting by the membership last month. The online ballots were tabulated and certified in the IHSA Office Thursday (Jan. 5).  All the by-law changes take effect on July 1, 2012. CORRECTION: Proposal 11 takes effect 30 days after passage (February 4, 2012).

Here is a summary of the successful proposals and the vote totals:

• Proposal 1 (passed 261-239) allows private schools with enrollments of 200 or less (before the 1.65 multiplier is applied) to be part of cooperative teams.
• Proposal 2 (passed 496-3) allows the Illinois School for the Deaf to compete against other schools for the deaf, even if they are not a member of their state’s high school association, with the permission of the Executive Director.
• Proposal 3 (passed 422-77) simplifies the language of the by-law regarding the qualifications needed to serve as a head or assistant coach.
• Proposal 4 (passed 447-51) requires any school entering a state tournament to have a member of its coaching staff watch the required rules interpretation presentation, even if the school has only an individual entry or entries.
• Proposal 6 (passed 400-99) allows a certificate of physical fitness to be valid for 395 days from the date it was issued (the current limit is 365 days).
• Proposal 7 (passed 309-189) requires students to be doing passing work in 25 credit hours of high school work per week (the current requirement is 20 hours.) A physical education class may be counted as one of the five courses used to earn 25 credit hours, even if the school does not give credit for P.E.
• Proposal 8 (passed 304-195) requires students, except for incoming freshmen, to have received credit for passing work in 25 credit hours of high school work during the previous semester (the current requirement is 20 hours.) A physical education class may be counted as one of the five courses used to earn 25 credit hours, even if the school does not give credit for P.E.
• Proposal 10 (passed 334-161) expands the exception to non-school participation to include competitions sanctioned by, but not necessarily sponsored or conducted by, the National Governing Body or its official Illinois affiliate, and approved by the IHSA Board of Directors.
• Proposal 11 (passed 302-187) creates the following new rules for summer football drills: (a) Before full pads are allowed during summer camp, teams must practice 2 days with helmet only and 2 days with helmet and shoulder pads only, and (b) Helmets, mouthpieces, and appropriate footwear may be worn during 7-on-7 scrimmages.
• Proposal 12 (passed 428-55) allows a wrestling team to compete in more than five contests in a tournament if that tournament takes place over two consecutive days.
• Proposal 13 (passed 424-75) removes the restriction on the number of quarters a basketball player can participate in during the course of the regular season.
• Proposal 14 (passed 335-138) moves the date of the first contest in boys bowling three days earlier, from Monday of Week 19 to Friday of Week 18.
• Proposal 20 (passed 431-48) adds a limitation on practice in Competitive Dance, running from Monday of Week 18 to Saturday of Week 39.
• Proposal 21 (passed 436-42) restricts Competitive Dance squads to no more than seven competitions, excluding the IHSA state series.

A total of 500 of 794 member schools (63.0%) participated in the amendment vote, the highest turnout since 2005-06.  The 14 by-law amendments passed by the membership were the most since 22 were passed in 1999-2000.
Following is a summary of member school participation in the amendment process since 1996-97.