07/27/21- Bylaw and Policy Reminders During 2021-22 School Year

July 27, 2021 Athletic Department Blog Updates

With the start of the 2021-22 school year, several of the pandemic adjustments approved last year have been allowed to sunset. As such, the following areas and reminders are issued to the membership for clarity.

• Bylaw 2 – Age
  • No student will have the statutory age rule waived unless waiver is already contemplated within KRS 156.070 (2) as detailed at the link highlighted here.
• Bylaw 3 – Maximum Number of Years
  • Students who applied by the deadline for the Supplemental School Year Program as detailed in Senate Bill 128, who remain enrolled in the same school district, whose school district approved the program, and who have been appropriately designated on the online roster system by the Designated Representative of the member school shall receive specific waivers of KHSAA Bylaw 3 as detailed at the link highlighted here.
• Bylaw 4 – Eligibility to participate by being enrolled.
  • State regulations (not just KHSAA rules) set a minimum participation standard. In short, a student who is considered full-time enrolled (as verified through Infinite Campus or comparable system for those that do not use Infinite Campus) is eligible to represent a member school.
  • A district may always place a tougher standard on students, but may not make a more lenient one. As such, the KHSAA is not able to restrict students enrolled in full- or part-time virtual education from participation, but such can be done by the member school through its Board of Education or School-Based Decision Policies.
  • The student must still be full-time (at least four hours of the six-hour school day) but is not excluded from athletics solely because of enrollment in virtual classes.
  • Students who applied by the deadline for the Supplemental School Year Program as detailed in Senate Bill 128, who remain enrolled in the same school district, whose school district approved the program, and who have been appropriately designated on the online roster system by the Designated Representative of the member school shall receive specific waivers of KHSAA Bylaw 4 as detailed at the link highlighted here.
• Bylaw 5 – Minimum Academic Requirement
  • Due to the multitude of situations existing during the 2020 school year shutdown and adjustments made to credits in local districts, as well as considerably challenging circumstances during 2020-21, this requirement is summarily waived as a statewide requirement for the 2021-22 school year.
  • Local schools and districts may use the existing standard as desired or may establish any other means of determining the proper grade level for all students.
  • The student continues to need to be enrolled full-time (at least four hours of the six-hour school day) and passing in four classes for the year to be eligible.
  • The requirement will be fully applicable for the 2022-23 school year at the grade level in which the student is enrolled.
  • Students who applied by the deadline for the Supplemental School Year Program as detailed in Senate Bill 128, who remain enrolled in the same school district, whose school district approved the program, and who have been appropriately designated on the online roster system by the Designated Representative of the member school shall receive specific waivers of KHSAA Bylaw 5 as detailed at the link highlighted here.
• Bylaw 6-7-8 – Transfer Rules – Bylaw 6. Transfer Rule – Citizens Of The U.S. And D.C. And Other Students Previously Enrolled In Member Schools, Bylaw 7. Transfer Rule – Students Having J-1/F-1 Status, Bylaw 8. Transfer Rule – Non-U.S. Students Not Having J-1/F-1 Status
  • There will be no specific waiver for Covid-19 based transfers both from out of state and in-state. The existing exceptions will remain in place.
  • A school or state moving or canceling an athletic season is not determined to be the cessation of a sport as detailed in exception (j) of Bylaw 6.
  • There is no waiver automatically contemplated for students leaving one school and transferring to another due to the chosen path of instructional learning, or decisions relative to SB128 and the SSYP.
• Bylaw 9 – Basketball/Football Contestant On Other Teams, Postseason And All-Star Games
  
  • Bylaw 9 remains fully in force for the 2021-22 school year.
  • Neither the Board of Control nor the staff is empowered to set aside this regulation with the educational emergency no longer in place.
• Bylaw 12 – Physical Examination, Parental Consent, and Insurance
  • There will be no waiver or request for a waiver of the requirement for an annual physical exam. The requirements appear in Bylaw 12 and as stipulated in KRS 156.070(2)(d).
• Bylaw 22 – Contests, Sanctions, Contracts, Rules, Forfeitures, Faculty To Accompany and Bylaw 23 – Limitation of Seasons
  
  • There will be no adjustments to the limitation of seasons planned at this time and absent an Executive Order or action of another body of authority, there will be no alterations.
  • Allowable interscholastic scrimmages will be limited by Bylaw 23, but other specific parameters including the choice of opponents are a matter of local jurisdiction.
  • There will be no restrictions on opponents including out-of-state and NFHS sanctioned events that are not already contained in Bylaws 22 and 23.
  • Seeded District Contests canceled due to COVID (including football district games) unable to be played will be recorded as forfeits in favor of the team not impacted.
  • Only in the event of a mutual COVID cancelation will the required seeded game not have to be played, and the result for seeding purposes will be recorded based on comparative RPI on the date of the last seeded contest in soccer, field hockey and volleyball (after final games on the final weekend for football).
  • There will be no automatic waiver of forfeit fees due to cancelations by COVID.
  • There will be no seeding plan adjustments and local plans will be required to be applied.
  • Schools are reminded that per Bylaw 22, teams entering into a seeded district are by default entering into a contract and are subject to the minimum forfeit fees in Bylaw 22 even if no written contract exists (including first-round football playoff games).
• Bylaw 24 – Summer Sports And Sport-Activities
  
  • The dead period for high and middle schools remains in force.
• Bylaw 25 – Requirement for Coaches and Others Working With High School Teams Including Athletic Directors
  • A waiver was approved allowing for coaches to complete the CPR, First Aid, and AED requirements online beginning immediately. 
  • The requirement of 12 hours of continuous improvement for veteran Athletic Directors and 18 hours of continuous improvement for Athletic Directors in their first three years remains in place for 2021-22.
• Competition Rules
  • Various changes made for 2020-21 will be incorporated as permanent including division of later rounds of play with additional details shared as they are finalized.

The membership will be notified if any of this information is further revised.

-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 285 member schools both public and non-public. The KHSAA awards 215 state championships to 51 teams and 164 individuals in 13 sports and 6 sport-activities, funds catastrophic insurance coverage for its more than 106,000 rostered member school student-athletes, provides coaching education and sports safety programs for more than 12,000 coaches, and licenses and facilitates the distribution of training material for over 4,000 contest officials.