Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

January 2010 Board Meeting Summary

Board Approves First-Ever Bowling, Chess Terms and Conditions

BLOOMINGTON -- Competition in Bowling and Chess will be conducted for the first time in Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) history during the 2010-11 school year, and the IESA Board of Directors approved the Terms and Conditions for those initial state final events, as well as changes recommended by five other advisory committees, at its regular quarterly meeting Friday (January 22).

In addition, the Board heard a report regarding expansion of the IESA Office Building, approved changing the design of the state final trophies and medals, and acted on other business of the Association.

The remodeling of the headquarters building began Sept. 21, 2009. The first phase of the project was construction of the new addition to the building and it was occupied the week of Dec. 16, 2009. The second phase involved a complete remodel of the old building and it is scheduled to be completed the Week of Feb. 22, 2010. The size of the IESA Office was 1,800 square feet and will be 3,500 square feet when completed.

Beginning with the 2010-11 (next) school year, there will be a new look to the state final team trophies and the state final individual medals. There will be no changes to the design of the regional and sectional plaques. No longer will there be figurines on the state final trophies. The new state final trophies will incorporate a unique contemporary look that features a combination of the IESA logo in a three dimensional display and a bold metal plate on wood on top of the wooden base. The IESA staff will be investigating new custom designs for the individual medals, and will submit samples to the Board of Directors for approval at its April meeting.

Co-op Team By-law Change -- The Board changed By-law 2.142 to provide that if a school district has more than six grade, middle and/or junior high schools within it and they form one district team in all activities, the district can enter one cooperative team in a respective IESA state series and pay only a single entry fee. Each school that is used in the cooperative team must be an IESA member schools and pay the appropriate membership dues.

Staff Change -- Special Projects Manager Jim Flynn informed the Board of his plan to retire from the staff at the conclusion of the Class AA State Final Track and Field Meet in May. The Board accepted his resignation.

Advisory Committee Action

Bowling -- The first-ever State Bowling Tournament will be Friday-Saturday, March 25-26, 2011. There will be separate individual scratch competition for boys and for girls. Member schools may enter up to two (2) boys and two (2) girls in the State Tournament. The field will be capped at the first 190 total bowlers entered. Entry fee will be $20 per bowler. The original entry deadline will be October 4, 2010. There will be no levels of competition below the State Tournament. The State Final Tournament will be held at Town and Country Bowl in Joliet. The Board approved the sport's first set of Terms and Conditions.

Chess -- The first-ever State Chess Tournament will be Friday-Saturday, February 18-19, 2011, at the U. S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington. The competition will be individual competition at each board and will use the Board Swiss Format with 5 boards. Competition will be in a 7th grade division and an 8th grade division. Schools may enter one player at each of boards 1-4 and a maximum of 3 players at board 5 in the 7th grade division and in the 8th grade division. There will be 7 rounds of play and each player will compete in all 7 rounds. Awards will be given in both team and individual competition. There will be no levels of competition below the State Tournament. In addition, a Chess Workshop will be conducted in Bloomington on October 29, 2010. Information about the workshop will be available online at the IESA Web site. The tournament format allows for a maximum of 1,500 players. The entry fee will be $15 per player. The Board approved the activity's first set of Terms and Conditions.

Baseball -- The Board approved changes in the starting times of the games in the State Tournament. Games in Class 1A, Class 2A and Class 3A will be scheduled for 10:00 a.m., noon, 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. A penalty was added for players wearing metal cleats. If a player is found wearing metal cleats, the player must be immediately removed from the game without the opportunity to return to the game.

Softball -- The Board voted to keep the pitching distance at 40 feet and not to adopt the new NFHS distance of 43 feet. The Board approved a recommendation to allow teams, upon agreement of both coaches prior to the start of a regular season game or regular season tournament, to use the international tiebreaker rule anytime after the 7th inning. It will not be used in the IESA state series. When the international tiebreaker is in play each team has a chance to bat in each extra inning. The player scheduled to bat ninth in the inning is placed on second base to start a team's at bat in the inning. The game ends when one team is ahead at the end of the inning. The Board also approved a recommendation that during regular season games and regular season tournaments the umpire will declare the contest a "no game" if it is called by weather or darkness before the completion of the required number of innings in NFHS rule 4-2-2. This will not apply in state series games. When a state series game is called before the completion of the required innings, it is a "suspended game" and play is resumed from the spot where the game was called. A penalty was added for players wearing metal cleats. If a player is found wearing metal cleats, the player must be immediately removed from the game without the opportunity to return to the game.

Cross-Country -- A motion to give medals instead of ribbons to the top 10 individual finishers in the boys and girls races in the sectionals did not receive a second.

Speech -- The Board approved these two clarifications. Note cards may not be used in any event with the exception of Impromptu Speaking. A student presenting an oratorical declaration speech is to be entered in Solo Acting. The Board heard a report of the 2010 selections in the Coach award program. Winner of the Class Act Award is Pam Iverson of Mahomet-Seymour. Winner of the Distinguished Service Award is Kathy Litherland, retired coach at Lincoln JHS.

Sportsmanship -- The Board spent considerable time in discussion regarding poor sportsmanship at IESA events, particularly basketball, how the Association can penalize schools found to be consistently lacking in good sportsmanship, and how to educate representatives of those schools in the responsibilities of good sportsmanship. Instances of excessive poor sportsmanship by coaches, staff and/or fans from a member school will require all parties (superintendent, principal, athletic director, coaches, athletes, fans) to appear at a future Board meeting for a thorough review of the circumstances and determination of penalties.

Other Business Items

Wrestler's Record For Seeding: The Board approved a change in By-law 4.057 that goes into effect immediately so that a wrestler's overall win-loss record, regardless of the weight class at which the win-loss record was achieved, is used to determine the wrestler's seed. The change in the use of a wrestler's performance on the mat during the season for the purposes of seeding in the state series is necessary because there is no longer weight certification nor growth allowance.

Selection of Auditor: The Board approved Stiegel, Knobloch & Company, L.L.C. to audit the Association's financial position for the fiscal years ending June 30 in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Track and Field Concerns: The Board heard a report of the meeting held by staff from Class A State Track and Field Meet host, East Peoria Robein, and staff from East Peoria High School.

Art Workshops: The Board authorized an Art Workshop to be held Saturday, April 24, 2010 at Manteno High School in addition to the ones held at Eastern Illinois University (Thursday, April 22, 2010) and Illinois State University (Saturday, April 24, 2010).

Scholar Attitude: This year's 11th annual Scholar Attitude Award luncheon will be Tuesday, April 27, at 11:00 a.m. the DoubleTree Hotel in Bloomington. Fifteen (15) boys and fifteen (15) girls will receive the Scholar Attitude Award. Stephen Bargatze will again be the featured speaker.

The deadline for receipt of nominations in the IESA Office is Feb. 22, 2010. Judges will meet in the IESA Office March 17, 2010, to select the 2010 winners.

Division Meetings: The Board heard a report regarding attendance and an evaluation of the required Division Meetings that were conducted for the fourth time this fall.

The IESA Constitution requires that each member school principal or designee attend the annual division meeting. IESA conducted a total of 22 divisional meetings statewide in 2009 with a total of 638 individuals attending. The first year a school misses attending the required meeting the school is placed on probation. If a school misses a meeting two years in a row it is suspended from participating in all IESA state series competition for a period of one year beginning January 1 following the school's second consecutive non-compliance. Thirty-eight (38) member schools were placed on probation for the 2010-11 school year for failure to attend a 2009 meeting.

Forty-eight (48) member schools were on probation for 2009-10 for failure to attend a 2008-09 meeting, 49 member schools were on probation for the 2008-09 school year, 57 member schools were placed on probation for the 2007-08 school year.

Scholastic Bowl Questions: The Board Questions Galore as the provider of state series questions in the Scholastic Bowl series for three years through the 2012-13 school year.

Treasurer's Report: The Board received and accepted the treasurer's report for the fiscal period ending November 30, 2009.

Financial Reports: The Board accepted the financial reports for the state series in Girls Softball, Boys Baseball and Cross-Country.

Board Meetings: There are two regular meetings remaining in the 2009-10 school year. One is scheduled April 9, 2010, and the other is scheduled June 18, 2010.

Advisory Committee Dates: The dates for the upcoming advisory committee meetings are March 4 for basketball, March 16 for cheerleading, April 1 for wrestling, April 12 for volleyball, June 1 for music, June 4 for scholastic bowl and June 9 for track and field.

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 January 22 meeting:

Division A: Mr. Herrmann has been contacted by schools in his division who would like to participate in the softball state series. They have not because teams from schools in the area cannot play games before school begins in the fall, and these schools are in conferences where games are still being played after the conclusion of the IESA season. Mr. Herrmann asked if there is a way for IESA to accommodate schools in conferences where the sport season is different that the IESA sport season. The Board directed the IESA staff to review all sport seasons, and to determine if there can be exceptions to the sport season by-laws or changes made regarding the start and end of the sport seasons.

Division E: Mrs. Pozzi brought concerns from a member school in her division regarding the use of personnel as coaches who do and who do not meet the criteria of the IESA coaching by-law, and what personnel may be in the dugout (and coaching) during a contest. In baseball and softball, the personnel who are the first base and third base coaches must meet the criteria of the IESA coaching by-law. The Board instructed the staff to include a question and answer addressing the status of the first and third base coaches. The Board also discussed the ramifications of policing the status of coaches in the dugout during regular season and state series contests.

Division H: Mr. Ingold received an inquiry to join the golf advisory committee for the state golf tournament that will be conducted for the first time in the 2011-12 school year.

Division K: Mr. Chris Graham informed the Board of requests by athletic directors in the division to play state series contest involving their school at a site other than the respective assigned regional site. Travel concerns were the basis for the requests to use alternative sites.