IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman:
We believe that the Illinois High School Association has been a model of transparency in the great state of Illinois for over 100 years. The Association has nothing to hide and will be fully cooperative with the General Assembly, as we have done on so many other issues before.
We wish Representative Chapa LaVia had provided the courtesy of discussing any issues she believes exist within our organization prior to the introduction of this Resolution, which has unfairly cast the Association in a negative light. While we believe the hearings she proposes will be an unnecessary strain on the time and resources of both the General Assembly and the IHSA, we welcome the opportunity to clear up any misconceptions this Resolution has created.
As we await word from the General Assembly on the next step in this process, it will be business as usual at the IHSA: administering spring sports and activities for the hundreds of thousands of high school students in Illinois who participate in them.
We will also maintain posting our financial information online for the public to review (
www.ihsa.org/Resources/DownloadCenter.aspx click Documents tab), continue to be a national leader in student-athlete safety and offer one of the largest and most inclusive rosters of programs for high school students in the country.