Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

September 2008 Board Meeting Summary

Joe Buresh Joins Board; Unsportsmanlike Conduct Penalties Clarified

BLOOMINGTON - The Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) Board of Directors seated Annawan CUSD 226 superintendent Joe Buresh as the new member from Division B, and clarified the penalty questions and answers regarding ejection of players or coaches from contests for unsportsmanlike conduct, at its regular quarterly meeting Sept. 12 in the IESA Office.

Buresh was appointed to the Board to complete the term in Division B. He replaces James Hochstatter, who retired as superintendent at Galva. The term expires in 2010. There are a total of 15 Board members elected from different geographic regions throughout the state. Buresh will serve as the Board member on the Cross-Country Advisory Committee.

Ejection Questions and Answers:

Changes in questions and answers that apply to by-law 5.101 (player ejections) and by-law 5.102 (coach ejections) were made that clarify when athletes or coaches are ineligible to appear at or participate in contests.

Those who are ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct are ineligible for the next interscholastic contest at that level of competition, and all other interscholastic contests at any level in the interim, in addition to other penalties the IESA or school may assess.

By-laws 5.101 and 5.102 apply to regular season as well as state series contests.

In baseball or softball, or basketball or volleyball tournaments where more than one contest is played in a day, if a player or coach is ejected from the first contest of the day, that person is ineligible for the second contest that day, fulfilling the by-law requirement that the person miss the next contest. In the baseball or softball state final tournaments, a person ejected in the quarterfinals must miss the semifinal game and then is eligible to play in the third place or championship game. If the person is ejected in the semifinal, the person is not eligible for the third place or championship contest.

In the state finals of girls basketball, boys basketball and girls volleyball, a person ejected in the quarterfinals must miss the semifinals and is eligible to participate in the third place or championship contest. A person ejected in the semifinals must miss the third place or championship contest. In regular season tournaments, if a team is playing more than one contest in a day, and a player or coach is ejected, the person must miss the next contest that follows, whether it is in the tournament that day or it is a regularly scheduled contest on another day.

In addition, the Board approved an interpretation of unsportsmanlike conduct ejection by-laws, adopting the following question and answer: Q - When a student is ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct and has to sit out the next contest and also becomes academically ineligible for the next contest, will the student serve both periods of ineligibility at the same time? A - No.

The student will be academically ineligible for the next week and then the student will serve the penalty for the ejection once the student has regained academic eligibility.

Required Division Meetings:

The Association will conduct the third series of Division Meetings this school term. Article 1.041 of the IESA Constitution requires each member of the Board of Directors to call a meeting of the member schools in the member's respective division at least once annually. Board members will chair the meeting and each member school in attendance shall have one vote upon any matter brought before such meeting. Each member school principal or his/her designee is required to attend the meeting. Failure of a member school to attend an annual division meeting shall result in a penalty to the school.

If a member school does not attend the required meeting for two consecutive years the school will be suspended from participation in the state series for one year. Feeder schools which do not enter any IESA sponsored activities are exempt from attending the required division meeting. Feeder schools that enter any IESA sponsored activity (i.e. art workshops, speech, music) are required to attend the division meeting.

There are 15 geographic divisions statewide, each represented by a member of the IESA Board of Directors. There will be a total of 20 meetings within the 15 geographic areas between Oct. 10 and Nov. 18. In addition, there will be a Division Meeting held in conjunction with the annual Illinois Principals Association (IPA) Fall Conference. It will begin at 10:55 a.m. Monday, Oct. 6 in the Peoria Civic Center.

The schedule of the meetings is posted on the IESA Web Site at www.iesa.org. On the home page, under the Information heading, click on Division Meetings. The agenda for the meetings is still to be finalized.

The Board also finalized its committee assignments, approved the budget for fiscal year 2009, organized the annual Division Meetings, and tied up other loose ends.

Advisory Committee Assignments: The Board also finalized its advisory committee liaison assignments, and approved dates for the annual advisory committee meetings.

Assignments for 2008-09 (and the date of the meeting) will be:

• Baseball - Chris Graham, Oct. 31
• Basketball - Ron Ervin, March 5
• Cheerleading - Dana Isackson, Jan. 9
• Cross Country - Joe Buresh, Nov. 14
• Music - Taunya Jenkins, June 2
• Scholastic Bowl - Craig Carr, workshop Oct. 24 and meeting June 5
• Softball - Chris Collins, Oct. 29
• Speech - James Bunting, workshop Sept. 12 and meeting Jan. 14
• Sportsmanship - Dan Vaughan, TBA
• Track and Field - Tony Ingold, June 10
• Volleyball - Scott Cameron, April 6
• Wrestling - Scott Cameron, April 2

Board of Directors Meeting Dates: The Board set the dates for the other quarterly meetings for the 2008-09school term. They will be Jan. 23, April 3 and June 19.

Board Committee Meeting Dates: The Board reviewed its Board Committee assignments. The Committees are: By-laws - Joe Buresh of Annawan, Scott Cameron of Assumption Central A & M, Chris Collins of Glendale Heights Glenside and Chris Graham of St. Joseph; Finance - Jerry Birkey of Mt. Zion, James Bunting, Watseka Glenn Raymond, Ron Ervin of Auburn JHS at Divernon, and Dana Isackson of Macomb; Staff Relations - Craig Carr of Montrose Grove, Taunya Jenkins of Peoria Manual Preparatory, Scott Herrmann of Niles Gemini and Dan Vaughan of Forrest Prairie Central.

Scholar Attitude Luncheon: The Board heard a report of that the date for the 11th annual IESA Scholar Attitude Award presented by State Farm luncheon is Tuesday, April 28, 2009. It will be held at the Doubletree Hotel and Conference Center in Bloomington. Thirty (30) eighth graders - one boy and one girl from each of the 15 Board of Directors divisions - will be selected in the class of 2009.

Treasurer's Report: The Board accepted the treasurer's report recapping income and expenditures for fiscal year 2008. The principal of a member school may request that a copy of the report be mailed to the school.

Budget: The Board approved the budget for the 2008-09 school term.

Anticipated receipts are budgeted at $1,232,970.00. Anticipated expenses are budgeted at $1,322,200.00. According to Executive Director Steve Endsley, income was budgeted reflecting what occurred last fiscal year which included lower anticipated receipts for girls basketball due to weather. Expenditures reflect costs associated with repair of the headquarters office roof, and various office equipment needs this fiscal year. The principal of a member school may request that a copy of the budget be mailed to the school.

Audit: The Board approved the annual audit of the Association by Strigel Knobloch & Company, LLC of Bloomington. The principal of a member school may request that a copy of the audit be mailed to the school.

Retirement: The Board authorized establishment of a 403(b) retirement plan that meets the new federally mandated law for the Association's full-time staff.

Standardized Calendar: The Board approved the Standardized Calendar dates for the school terms of 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. The Board approves the Standardized Calendar dates annually.

Special Projects Report: The Board received an update regarding the status of different sponsorships and projects, including the status of the state final program project.

IPA Luncheon: The Board heard a report of plans for the annual luncheon hosted by IESA and IHSA at the Illinois Principals Association Fall Conference. The luncheon will be Tuesday, Oct. 7. Stephen Bargatze, the nation's magician with a message, will be the guest speaker.

IASB Session: Members of the IESA staff will present a session at the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) Annual Conference on Saturday, November 22. The session is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.

NFHS Citizenship Committee: The Board heard a report that IESA Executive Director Steve Endsley will continue to serve as chairman of the National Federation of State High School Associations Citizenship Committee. His term runs through 2009. The NFHS Citizenship Committee meets annually in late January.

Associate Executive Director's Report: The Board addressed a tabled by-law recommendation from the Track and Field Advisory Committee that makes attendance at the sectional seeding meeting mandatory for each school entered in the state series, and subsequent sanctions for noncompliance. The by-law and penalty provisions go into effect with the 2009-10 (next) school term.

The new by-law makes it mandatory that the head coach (or another school representative) attend the correlated sectional seeding meeting. If the head coach (or representative) from a school is not at the seeding meeting, the sectional manager will seed that school's athletes and contact the IESA Office the next morning. Sectional managers may accept requests from schools to grant an exception for attendance at the seeding meeting but the request for the exception must be in a letter from the requesting school's principal or official representative prior to the beginning of the seeding meeting. If a coach (or other representative) fails to comply with the by-law, the coach and/or competitors from the offending school may be sanctioned.

In the event of an emergency situation that would not allow the coach (or other representative) to get to the seeding meeting it is the responsibility of the coach (or other representative) to call the sectional manager explaining the situation. Sectional managers are encouraged to provide the coaches of the teams assigned to the sectional with a phone number to be used in case of emergency.

The following sanctions will apply for noncompliance with the by-law: First instance of non-compliance will result in the school being placed on probation. Second consecutive instance of non-compliance will result in the school's disqualification from the state series not in that second year, but in following (or third) year. The school may pay a $500 fee for reinstatement to the state series.

Assistant Executive Director's Report: The Board heard details of several concepts and took the following action.

Information Technology Report: The Board heard a report of the technology session conducted at the recent NFHS Summer Conference and how applications discussed at that session impact IESA technology. The report also included discussion of the ongoing development of the IESA Information Technology Handbook.

State Series Forfeit Policy: The Board added the Scholastic Bowl state series to the list of bracketed state series covered by the advancement policy in the event of a forfeit by a team participating in the state series. In addition to scholastic bowl, the policy applies to the state series in girls softball, boys baseball, girls basketball, boys basketball and girls volleyball. If a violation involves only one round of competition in the series, the opponent in that round will be advanced. If a violation involves more than one round of competition in the series, no opponent from the preceding rounds of competition shall be advanced. The IESA Office shall determine advancement of opponents.

Headquarters Building Improvements: The Board accepted a bid for a new roof for the headquarters building at 1015 Maple Hill Road, Bloomington, The Board also approved several general maintenance projects for the headquarters building. The costs for these improvements will be included in the 2008-09 budget.

Guest Coaches: The Board determined that persons who act as a guest coach are not required to have a valid teaching certificate or have successfully completed an approved coach's education program. The Board adopted a policy that such coaches may be used by a member school on a one day, one time only basis.

Division Reports

At each meeting of the Board of Directors time is devoted for each board member to report on communication with and requests from the member schools in the member's division. In addition, Board members also may make observations regarding the operation of the Association. Following is a report of those from the September 7 meeting:

Division D - Mr. Spiezio brought a request for clarification of the fee system in the ASEP Coaches Education testing. He reported that a person who did not pass the test for the coaching education portion of the program was charged an additional fee. Under terms of the IESA agreement with ASEP, persons who register for the IESA coach's education program are to be charged the testing fee for the coaching test only once regardless of the number of times the person takes that test.

Division G: Mr. Bunting reported to the Board that a constituent in the division asked him to request that the Division Meeting by-law be dropped. The Board took no action regarding the request.