11/12/13- November Board of Control Meeting Review

November 13, 2013 Athletic Department Blog Updates

The following is a review of the items discussed at the November KHSAA Board of Control Meeting and the status of those issues. The Board meets six times per year, and each time, the membership will be updated as far as actions by the Board. While many of them attempt to communicate with you on a regular basis, I also want the schools informed of a consistent summary. All documents related to this meeting can be found online at http://portal.ksba.org/public/Agency.aspx?PublicAgencyID=4374&AgencyTypeID=1&BeginDate=11-1-2013&EndDate=11-30-2013

BOARD MEETING – November 11, 2013

Following the normal procedural issues convening the meeting, the Board recessed for the Emerging Sports and Sport Activities, Individual Sports, and Team Sports Committees to meet.

The Emerging Sports and Sport Activities Committee discussed further revisions to the KHSAA Sports and Sport Activity Policy. This policy sets the minimum criteria for a new sport/sport activity to be added, or for the continuation of a sport/sport activity (the current version is on page 4 of http://khsaa.org/handbook/20132014/policies.pdf). Following the discussion, the committee requested that revisions be considered in the draft policy and that the entire policy be brought back at a future meeting for first and second readings prior to adoption. The committee is working on efforts to ensure that while the membership’s wishes about new sports/sport activities are honored, that the events can be successfully managed by the KHSAA staff and that the member schools are aware of all ramifications including cost. This was the only item discussed.

The Individual Sports Committee met and discussed three items related to tennis. The Committee approved a requested move for East and West Jessamine (later approved by the Board of Control) to move to Region 12 in tennis, to match their alignment in the team sports. The committee then deferred a similar request regarding Oneida Baptist and has directed the Commissioner to bring back to the Board of Control a look at a Tennis alignment if all schools were placed in their basketball regions. This will occur later this school year.
The committee also considered and approved a request from Leslie County High School  (later approved by the Board of Control) to be placed in Class 2A in Track and Field/Cross Country. Despite declining enrollment that qualified the school to Class 1A status, the school made a voluntary request to move to Class 2A (which was its alignment prior to the recent realignment). The request was approved with the provision that the move be for a minimum of four competitive seasons.
Lastly, the committee approved a request (later approved by the Board of Control) to allow schools to conduct a Track and Field meet after the regional meet in 2014 only, due to the fact that the normal day of regions will find a large proportion of the KHSAA licensed officials who normally officiate track involved with the SEC Outdoor championships in Lexington. Details will be forward to the member schools.

The Team Sports Committee then met, and considered a request from the seven public school superintendents in basketball Region 15 to move Lawrence County from District 57 to District 60, and Piarist Academy from District 58 to District 59, effective with the 2014-2015 school year. This request, which was unanimously submitted by those superintendents, alleviates an imbalance in terms of the number of teams assigned to the districts in the 15th region. A complete summary regarding this change is at http://goo.gl/Ah9phK
The committee then considered and reviewed the Site Specifications for State Softball, which will be sent to all prospective cities in the coming months, due to the site aware in Owensboro expiring in 2014.

FULL BOARD MEETING – November 11, 2013

The Board as part of its consent agenda, approved the following reports:

• The minutes from the September Board of Control meeting;
• The Transfer Reports from July 1 to October 31;
• The Appeals Report from July 1 to October 31; and
• The report of other school eligibility rulings from July 1 to October 31.

The Board as part of its reports of Board Business, approved the following reports:

• The Cash Disbursements from September 1 to October 31;
• The Income Statement from July 1 to October 31;
• The General Ledger Report from July 1 to October 31;

In other items, the Board considered and approved:

• The external corporate sales report from the KHSAA’s licensed corporate agent,  iHigh, Inc;
• The internal corporate sales report from corporate sales maintained within the KHSAA;

In other items, the Board considered and did not approve:

• A request from Pleasure Ridge Park High School to allow for a waiver of Bylaw 10 (Awards) for those tennis players receiving cash prizes;

The following items were supported without formal action following discussion:

• The Board heard a status report on the staff internal project KHSAA.tv, which is housing the KHSAA web streaming this year;
• Heard a report on the final adoption of 702 KAR 7:065 effective November 1, 2013;
• The Board heard a status report on efforts to seek further clarity and revisions within the Council for Standards on International Education Travel (CSIET), and in particular, athletic abuses involving the F-1 VISA. The Commissioner has been asked to serve as chairman of that group, which will afford Kentucky a unique opportunity for input. Discussion also ensued regarding an influx of students with direct contracts between nations and specific schools, even to the extent in one state where it is viewed as an income source for the school.
• The Board heard a status report regarding disqualification of students and coaches, which included:
  • During the period between October 8 (the issuance date for KHSAA correspondence reminding all of their role in sportsmanship) and the end of the regular season, compared to the exactly corresponding period one year ago, the following observations are noted:
    • 2012 Football ejections, 39; 2013 Football, Ejections, 17; a decrease of 56.41%
    • 2012 Soccer ejections, 42; 2013 Soccer ejections, 34; a decrease of 19.65%
  • Totals for the fall, including all play dates:
    • 2012 Football ejections, 108; 2013 Football, Ejections, 71; a decrease of 34.26%%
    • 2012 Soccer ejections, 189; 2013 Soccer ejections, 203; an increase of 7.4%
• The staff then reviewed the adopted policy from July regarding multiple ejections by the same school in the same sport, and will pursue the required meetings in the coming weeks:
  • On the third ejection in a single sport during three separate contests by representatives of the same school, such school will be required to have an administrative conference with the Supervisor of Officials and the sport contacts for the specific sport. Based on location, the conference may be held at the KHSAA of via phone/video conference. Such will also be accompanied by an additional penalty within Bylaw 27 against the member school, including fines, reprimands or probation. 
  • Following this penalty, any additional ejection in that sport will require a conference and professional development with those individuals at the KHSAA office and additional penalty. 
  • There were to be additional penalties beyond the third separate incident, but such will not be implemented in 2013-2014 until a proper tracking mechanism can be put into place.

The next meeting of the Board of Control is January 27, 2014 at the KHSAA and tentative items to be discussed include:

• Tennis Alignment Changes will have continued discussion
• Track and Field Site Specifications will be discussed and hopefully finalized
• Soccer Site Specifications will be discussed and hopefully finalized
• Review Report of Football Enrollment Options
• Discuss draft football alignment of teams for 2015-2018 seasons for possible distribution
• Results of survey on season limits
• Consider Proposal Specifications, Girls State Basketball
• Discuss philosophical statement on alignments
• Best practices document for entry fees for regions and districts due to concerns from membership