IHSA Announcements

February 28, 2000

Board Sustains Chicago (Providence-St. Mel) Ruling

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors Monday (Feb. 28) heard an appeal from Chicago (Providence-St. Mel) regarding its status in the 2000 Class A Boys State Basketball Tournament series during its regular February meeting Monday (Feb. 28).

After reviewing all information provided in the appeal, the Board ruled that a student was a transfer student from Chicago (DeLaSalle) to Chicago (Providence-St. Mel) for whom the transfer approvals required in IHSA By-laws 3.043.4 and 3.041 to determine his eligibility were not obtained by Providence-St. Mel before Evans was permitted to participate in interscholastic basketball contests. This caused the student to remain ineligible under the provisions of IHSA By-law 3.041. By permitting the student to then participate in interscholastic contests, Providence-St. Mel used an ineligible player in violation of By-law 3.041. Under provisions of IHSA By-law 6.021, Providence-St. Mel is required to forfeit all basketball games it has won and in which Evans played during the 1999-2000 season, including the Regional Tournament game played against Chicago (F. W. Parker) on Wednesday, February 23.

Providence-St. Mel has been required to forfeit its regional tournament win over Chicago (Francis Parker). Francis Parker is scheduled to play Chicago (The Latin School) at 7:30 Monday in the championship game of the Chicago (St. Benedict) Regional.

In other action, the Board:
  1. Voted not to assess membership dues for the 2000-2001 school term.

  2. Approved increasing the mileage reimbursement allowance to 32.5 cents per mile to conform with IRS regulations.

  3. Approved use of the yellow cork Wilson softball for use in the 2000 girls state softball tournament series provided both competing schools in the game concur with its use prior to the start of the game. Otherwise, the yellow polycore Wilson softball must be used in the state series games.

Eligibility Rulings

  1. Modified the Executive Director's ruling to grant Emily Barrett eligibility at Flossmoor (Homewood-F.) under the provisions of by-law 4.022 until April 30.

Discussion Items

At each meeting of the Board of Directors, there are certain agenda items which the Board discusses but upon which it takes no action. Following is a report of those on the February, 2000, agenda:

New By-Law Interpretations: The Board received a draft of suggested definitions and illustrations pertaining to a series of amendments to Student Eligibility by-laws which go into effect May 1, 2000.

Girls Volleyball Site: The Board received proposals submitted by the two communities seeking to host the girls state final volleyball tournament for the next five years. One proposal was submitted by the Bloomington-Normal Convention and Visitor's Bureau and Illinois State University. The other proposal was submitted by the Peoria Area Convention and Visitor's Bureau and the Peoria Civic Center. The Board will determine which proposal it will accept at its next regular meeting scheduled for March 18.

Home School Legislation: The Board heard a report of the status of HB3288, which would prohibit IHSA schools from being members if their local board of education (public schools) or board of control (private schools) could not determine home school students to be eligible.