IHSA Announcements

October 11, 2005

Board Reviews Class Expansion Proposal, Elects Officers for the 2005-06 School Term

The Illinois High School Association’s Board of Directors reviewed a proposal to expand the number of classes in selected sports at its regular meeting today.  The proposal, presented by members of the IHSA staff, will be presented to the membership as a part of this school term’s Town Meetings, which are scheduled for the month of November at various sites across the state.  The Board had directed staff to develop a model for class expansion during the 2004-05 school term, and the proposal presented today displayed a model for three classes in boys track and field, girls track and field, and boys golf, and four classes in girls volleyball, boys baseball, girls softball, boys basketball and girls basketball. 

"The question of class expansion is one that our membership has repeatedly brought forward over the years," said IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman.  "It’s quite likely that this model will generate a lot of discussion and feedback at our Town Meetings this year.  It’s that kind of feedback, coupled with the Advisory Referendum we’ll hold in December, that our Board will use in determining whether or not we move forward with an expansion plan for those sports/activities that meet our expansion criteria."

Member schools will be able to participate in an Advisory Referendum on the expansion model later this school term.  The proposal will be available to member schools on-line in the IHSA School Center in November for their review.

The Board also elected its officers for the 2005-06 school term.  Jim Woodward from Anna-Jonesboro High School was elected president, Ron Conner from Clinton High School was elected vice-president, and Dr. Jim Quaid from Oak Park (Fenwick) High School was elected secretary.

Terms and Conditions Recommendations

The Board approved a series of Terms and Conditions recommendations from a number of IHSA Sport and Activity Advisory Committees.  Below is a list of those approved recommendations.

Journalism

1. Approved the Terms and Conditions for the 2005-06 Journalism state series.

Competitive Cheerleading

1. Approved a recommendation to make the IHSA State Meet a two-day event with preliminary rounds starting on Friday and the finals on Saturday.
2. Approved a recommendation to adopt the score sheet and accompanying scoring rubric for judges.
3. Approved the Terms and Conditions for the 2005-06 Competitive Cheerleading state series.

Baseball

1. Approved a recommendation to move the starting time of the second semifinal contest at the Class A and AA state tournaments to 11:30 a.m.

Badminton

1. Approved a recommendation to hold a second seeding meeting at the sectional seeding meeting for the purposes of seeding each team assigned to a regional.

Softball

1. Approved a recommendation to allow conferences and regular season tournaments that choose to do so the ability to use the International Tie-Breaking procedure after the 10th inning of tie games in the 2005-06 season. 

Track and Field

1. Approved a recommendation to change the qualifying standards in the girls Class A 4x800m relay, the boys Class AA 3200m run, and the boys Class AA discus.
2. Approved a recommendation to require coaches to use the Pole Vault Weigh Verification Form during the regular season to verify their pole vaulter’s weight meets the NFHS Pole Vault Pole Standard.
3. Approved a recommendation to eliminate semifinals in meets where the FAT is used, thereby advancing qualifiers from preliminaries to finals based on the basis of heat winner and remaining times.
4. Approved a recommendation to incorporate the new 34.92-degree throwing sector for both the shot put and discus.

Water Polo

1. Approved a recommendation to require those post-season sites that have three games scheduled for one night to play those games at 5:45 p.m., 7:00 p.m., and 8:15 p.m.
2. Approved a recommendation to adjust the playing schedule at the state finals so that in even numbered years the boys will play on Thursday and Saturday and the girls will play on Friday and Saturday.  In odd numbered years, the schedule will have the girls play on Thursday and Saturday and the boys on Friday and Saturday.
3. Approved a recommendation to allow schools to substitute persons on their team rosters for any reason and at any time between games during the state tournament series, provided the substitutes meet all IHSA eligibility requirements.
4. Approved a recommendation to change the number of officials assigned to the state finals from 10 to eight.

News Media

1. Approved a recommendation to allow approved IHSA media outlets to use highlights on their website in accordance with the IHSA Media Policy.

Sports Medicine

1. No recommendations brought forward.

Officials

1. Approved a recommendation to approve a series of grants from officials associations across the state to aid in the recruiting, retaining, and mentoring of officials.
2. Approved a recommendation to require officials to enter their post-season availability on-line through the IHSA Officials Center, beginning with the 2006-07 school term.
3. Approved a recommendation to add another component of Clinic Attendance to the official’s power rating.
4. Approved a recommendation to allow officials to use the NFHS online Officials Education Program as a method to meet their Level One Clinic requirement.
5. Approved a recommendation to require that all recognized official’s associations to have an Observers Program in place by the 2007-08 school term.

Other Action

1. The Board approved the following recommendations from the Executive Director to fill the vacancies on the Legislative Commission for the following districts:
   1. District 5: David Oleson, Burlington (Central) High School
   2. District 14: Rich Well, Vandalia High School
   3. District 16: Mike Sartore, Macomb High School
   4. District 7 (Minority or Underrepresented Gender): Larry Houston, Tamms (Egyptian) High School
2. The Board approved its Trademark Use and Royalty Policy for the 2005-06 school term.  The Royalty Policy had been suspended by the Board at their June 2005 meeting. This revision modified the Royalty Policy to include provisions for the use of the IHSA trademark by approved vendors and member schools.
3. The Board approved criteria to be used in granting schools approved school status.  Previously, there had been no clear guidelines for the Executive Director to use in granting such status.  Schools already granted approved status for the current school term will keep that designation.  Criteria to be used in making such a determination includes:
   1. The school must be registered or recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education, or the school must be accredited by an organization that evaluates public and/or private schools.  The accrediting organization must be acceptable to the IHSA Board of Directors.
   2. In addition, schools must certify that they substantially comply with the Association’s rules regarding:

             i.   Scholastic Standing

             ii.  Age Limitations

             iii. Contest Limitations

             iv. Participation Limitations

Eligibility Rulings

1. The Board modified the Executive Director’s ruling that a student is ineligible at Moweaqua (Central A&M) High School for the remainder of the 2005-06 school term for non-compliance with IHSA By-Law 3.043.  The student transferred to Moweaqua (Central A & M) High School from Herrin High School and is living with his aunt and uncle.  The Board ruled that the student is eligible effective immediately based on new information submitted by the school.

Discussion Items

At each meeting of the Board of Directors, there are certain agenda items that the Board discusses, but upon which it takes no action.  Following is a report of those on the October 11, agenda.

IHSA/IESA Luncheon: The Board heard a report from the Executive Director that outlined plans for the annual IHSA/IESA luncheon scheduled for October 18, 2005.  The luncheon will be held at the Prairie Capitol Convention Center during the Illinois Principals Association Conference.

Eight States Meeting: The Board heard a report from the Executive Director concerning the up-coming Eight States Meeting.  The Executive Director, Mr. Woodward, and selected staff will attend this year’s meeting, which will be held on December 5th and 6th in Rosemont, Illinois.

Section IV Meeting:  The Board heard a report from the Executive Director on the Section IV Meeting, which was held last month in Des Moines, Iowa.

Travel Policy: The Board heard a report from the Executive Director on the proposed Travel Policy that will be discussed next month during the Town Meetings/Principals Rules Meetings.  The policy, on which the staff will be gathering feedback to bring to the Board, will focus more on the amount of school time missed than the distance a school travels to participate in a contest.

NFHS Hall of Fame Nominations: The Board heard a report from the Executive Director on the status of nominations this year from Illinois to the NFHS Hall of Fame. 

By-Law Proposals: The Board heard a report from the Executive Director on the submitted by-law proposals from member schools that will be considered by the Legislative Commission and presented at the Town Meetings/Principals Rules Meetings.  To date, 13 proposals have been submitted.  The deadline for schools wishing to submit any additional proposals is October 24, 2005.  A complete list of the proposals will be available on-line through the IHSA website after the deadline date.