IHSA Announcements

September 15, 1997

Eligibility Rulings Focus of IHSA Board Meeting

BLOOMINGTON — The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors Monday spent the bulk of its regular September meeting in the IHSA Office hearing a series of eligibility appeals reflecting recent changes in IHSA's rules.

"We had a heavy appeals agenda today because of the changes in the residence and transfer by-laws that went into effect July 1," observed IHSA Executive Director Dave Fry. "With the new rules, the Board has the responsibility to clearly establish the parameters in which eligibility decisions must be made. Today's decisions set the course for the remainder of the current school year."

Following are the eligibility decisions made by the Board Monday:

Eligibility Decisions

  1. Sustained the Executive Director's ruling that a student is ineligible at Freeport (H.S.) for the 1997-98 school year for noncompliance with the residence and transfer by-laws. She is a foreign student who is not under an approved foreign exchange program.
  2. Sustained the Executive Director's ruling that a student is ineligible at Rockford (Boylan) through Nov. 22, 1997 (a period of three sports seasons from the end of her last season of participation), for noncompliance with the transfer rule. She transferred from Rockford (Guilford) to Boylan without an accompanying move by her parents to a different school district.
  3. Sustained the Executive Director's ruling that a student is ineligible at Galesburg for noncompliance with the transfer rule. Legal guardianship was assigned by the court to the student's brother, and the student transferred from Chicago (Carver). The Executive Director determined that the conditions underlying the transfer were not completely beyond the control of the student, parent/guardian or school, but, rather, were conditions which led the student to a choice based upon environmental conditions.
  4. Sustained the Executive Director's ruling that a student is ineligible at Chatham (Glenwood) for noncomplaince with the transfer rule. She transferred from Springfield (Sacred Heart-Griffin) without a move by her parents from the Springfield school district and attends Glenwood as a tuition student.
  5. Sustained the Executive Director's ruling that a student is ineligible at Lincolnshire (Stevenson) until Nov. 29, 1997 (a period of three sports seasons from the end of his last season of participation) for noncompliance with the transfer rule.
  6. Sustained the Executive Director's ruling that a student is ineligible at Nokomis until Nov. 29, 1997 (a period of three sports seasons from the end of his last season of participation) for noncompliance with the transfer rule. The student transferred from Hillsboro while his parents did not move into the new district.
  7. Modified the Executive Director's ruling of ineligibility for a student at Hardin (Calhoun) for noncompliance with the transfer rule. Based upon new information presented at Monday's meeting, the Board ruled him eligible as of Sept. 15, 1997.
  8. Sustained the Executive Director's ruling that two studentS are ineligible at Hardin (Calhoun) for the 1997-98 school year for noncompliance with the residence rule.

Terms and Conditions

Recommendations from the Chess Advisory Committees were acted upon by the Board. Following is a recap of Board action regarding the proposals:
  1. Did not approve a recommendation to expand to two classes. (Current criteria for increasing the number of classes in a state series allows for a one-class series to be increased to a two-class series is at least 300 member schools participate in the sport or activity. Last year, 100 schools entered the series.)
  2. Approved a recommendation to add a seventh round of play to be on Friday of the state final weekend.
  3. Approved 9:50 a.m. as the forfeit time for Round 1 competition on Friday.
  4. Did not approve a recommendation to increase individual awards in the tournament to players on Boards 1 through 4 who remain undefeated through all rounds.

Other Action

The Board took the following action regarding the general business of the Association:
  1. Added "American Secondary Schools for International Students and Teachers (ASSIST) to the list of approved foreign exchange programs.
  2. Approved the firm of Mills-Sweeney as architect to work on the expansion project for the IHSA Office.
  3. Approved a new ticket plan for the girls state final basketball tournaments. All seats in the lower bowl of Redbird Arena will be reserved and priced at $8.00 each. All seats in the upper bowl will be general admission and priced at $6.00 each. Allotments of reserved seats will be made available to each of the schools competing in the respective sessions.
  4. Approved modification of the 1997-98 budget to accommodate changes in personnel and increased cost of medical insurance premiums.

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 September, 1997, agenda:
  1. Add A. Tude™ Sportsmanship Promotion: The Board heard a status report of the new program being co-promoted by Kathryn Beich, Inc., the IHSA and the Illinois Elementary Association (IESA). Kathryn Beich, Inc., a Nestle Company, has produced a special Add A. Tude candy bar which grade and high schools may sell as a fund raiser for their school's activity programs. The candy bar is part of the overall sportsmanship promotion. Special posters produced by Kathryn Beich for use by its sales representatives will be given to school principals beginning the third week of September. The first four-color poster is entitled "Add A. Tude is for Everyone" and will be delivered by the end of September. Then special posters for fall, winter and spring will be developed and distributed later in the school year. A special premium designed for all school principals also will be distributed in late fall. Kathryn Beich staff will be on site at state final events during the school year, too. The Add A. Tude sportsmanship mascot costume has been completed and will make its official IHSA debut during the Statewide Sportsmanship Summit at the Holiday Inn East in Springfield Monday, Sept. 29. The mascot will also appear at both IHSA and IESA state final events.
  2. Eligibility Rulings: It was reported to the Board that 441 individual eligibility rulings had been made by the Executive Director from August 1 to Sept. 15. The Board also discussed the impact of the new residence and transfer request forms and their application. The Board will continue to study the application of the forms and monitor the process of obtaining rulings throughout the current school year, looking to make any necessary future adjustments.
  3. State Series Criteria: The Board received suggestions of criteria for adding and/or deleting athletic and activity state series. The discussion item will become an action item at a subsequent regular Board meeting. The suggested criteria are:
    1. The Board will entertain proposals to add a new state series when ten (10) percent of the member schools engage in regularly scheduled competition in the sport or activity.
    2. When the minimum required participation level is demonstrated and proposals to add a new state series are considered, the Board shall [i] consider the growth potential of the sport or activity, and [ii] consider the equity criteria included in the classification policy in determining whether to add a proposed state series.
    3. The Board will entertain recommendations from staff to consider deletion of an existing state series when no more than five (5) percent of the member schools participate in the series and/or engage in regularly scheduled competition in the sport or activity.