04/22/15 – Board of Control Approves Recommended Safety Revisions and Future Championship Schedule for Football, Swimming Alignment

April 22, 2015 2014-2015 News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 22, 2015

The KHSAA Board of Control addressed the NFHS Task Force recommendations on contact restrictions in football during a meeting at the Association’s headquarters on Tuesday, while approving the future order of football championship games and a new swimming alignment beginning in 2015-16.

The Board approved the revised football contact restrictions to be implemented immediately due to health and safety concerns in response to the NFHS Task Force recommendations released in November. The detailed summary of the revisions is located at http://goo.gl/O0nchB. At its meeting Tuesday, the Board approved the draft restrictions that had been sent to the membership in March with one staff recommended revision permitting schools, with local school and school system approval, to utilize helmets from June 1 through June 24, provided all activity is on campus, does not involve other schools, is non-contact, and complies with the heat index restrictions.

The order of football championship games for playoff years 2015 through 2018 was approved by the Board as listed below (with the final time schedule to be set in the fall of each year):

2015 – 1A, 2A, 6A, 3A, 4A, 5A
2016 – 1A, 3A, 5A, 2A, 4A, 6A
2017 – 1A, 2A, 4A, 3A, 5A, 6A
2018 – 3A, 2A, 5A, 1A, 6A, 4A

Following a nearly two year review, a new swimming and diving draft alignment was approved by the Board for the 2015-16 school year through the 2018-19 school year. The Board made one change from the original draft, and honored the requested move of Rockcastle County to region 9. The Board also requested staff continue discussion with the Knox County facility about the possibility of hosting multiple regions. The final alignment is online at http://goo.gl/xL0KVD.

In other action taken Tuesday, the Board:
• Approved proposed changes in the KHSAA’s discrimination and cultural diversity policy.
• Voted Scott Hawkins (Woodford County) president-elect for the 2015-16 academic year, serving under 2015-16 president Jeff Saylor (Bell County).
• Completed a favorable review of Commissioner Tackett through the evaluation process and extended his contract by an additional year.
• Set the first Board of Control meeting for the 2015-16 academic year as August 23-24.

The final Board of Control meeting for 2014-15 will take place May 12-13 in Lexington.

– KHSAA –

About the Kentucky High School Athletic Association
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association was organized in 1917 and is the agency designated by the Kentucky Department of Education to manage high school athletics in the Commonwealth. The Association is a voluntary nonprofit 501(c)3 organization made up of 277 member schools both public and private. The KHSAA sanctions 43 state championships in 13 sports and 4 sport-activities, licenses and trains over 4,000 officials, provides catastrophic insurance for its more than 70,000 member school student-athletes, as well as overseeing coaching education and sports safety programs.