Penalty for Coach Ejection Modified; State Sites for 2016-17 Determined; Sectional Level for Bowling Added Beginning in 2018

The IESA Board of Directors summer meeting was held on Friday, June 17 where there were significant changes made to the automatic next game suspension policy when a coach is ejected. In addition, there were numerous advisory committee recommendations that the Board acted upon including the addition of a sectional level for bowling, sites were approved for the majority of the state final contests for the 2016-17 school year, and Joe Buresh, Superintendent at Annawan, was elected to the secretary-treasurer position following the resignation of Dr. Kenny Lee from the Board.

Following up on the results of a survey that was sent to the membership regarding their views on the penalty for when a coach is ejected from a contest, the Board voted unanimously to change the current penalty when a coach is ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct. Prior to the change, a coach who was ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct was required to miss the next contest. The same coach ejected a second time in any sport during the same school year was required to miss the next two contests. The change will now require that a coach has to miss the next two contests after the first ejection and a second ejection will mean that the coach has to miss the next five contests. "The action taken by the IESA Board of Directors should send a loud and clear message to our member schools and to all coaches that sportsmanship at our level is a priority," said Steve Endsley, IESA Executive Director. "Coaches at their very core are role models, especially at our level. A coach who reacts to a given call by a game official to the point of being ejected will now have to miss two games. There simply is never a time for coaches at this level to get ejected. Players will still serve a one game penalty if they are ejected."

In addition to the above change, the Board also acted on recommendations from the advisory committees in Scholastic Bowl, Music, Track and Field, Wrestling, Volleyball, Bowling, Officials, and Staff Relations as well as tied up other loose ends.

Advisory committees are composed of coaches, administrators, and officials with expertise in the respective sport or activity. Each sport/activity has an advisory committee and generally meets once a school year. The advisory committee reviews the Terms and Conditions, administrative procedures and all other aspects of the sport/activity and makes recommendation to the Board of Directors.

Scholastic Bowl: A change was made to the set-up of pool play so the higher seeded teams will meet in the later rounds instead of the earlier rounds. There were several minor administrative rule changes to the state series that were approved. Complete scholastic bowl rules are sent to schools entering the state series in the fall.

Music: The Board approved a recommendation to increase the solo fees from $8 to $10. The fee increase should allow host schools to host contests without incurring a deficit.

Track and Field: The Board approved the changes to the 2017 qualifying standards and to the high jump and pole vault starting heights at sectional and state. Minor changes were made to the Class A qualifying standards and the only changes made to the Class AA qualifying standards were in the high jump. These will soon be posted on the IESA website. They also approved a $1 increase to the adult admission at the sectional meets. Schools will now be required to submit their season schedule to the IESA Office. A form will be available for schools through the IESA website to electronically submit their schedule. All schools entering the state series must schedule at least three meets prior to the sectional meet.

Wrestling: The Board approved two recommendations. One, only the head official can disqualify a team who uses a weight check scale at a state series site and then only when the head official personally verifies that a weight check scale was used. Second, criteria was established to determine an alternate for the sectional meet when a wrestler who qualifies for the sectional has to scratch.

Volleyball: Beginning in 2017, the sectional matches will start at 6:30 p.m. instead of 6:00 p.m. Beginning with the 2018 state finals, the format will be played on a Friday-Saturday schedule instead of the current Saturday-Tuesday schedule. Quarterfinal matches will be played on Friday evening starting at 4:30 p.m. and then the semifinals and finals will be played on Saturday starting at 12 noon. This will eliminate late night travel on a school night given that the finals are now being played on a Tuesday.

Bowling: Several recommendations were approved. Most notably, the Board approved adding a sectional qualifying level beginning with the 2017-18 school year. This is due to the increasing number of participants and that there is a waiting list to enter the state tournament as it is currently set-up. With the approval of this recommendation, beginning in 2018, schools will be assigned to a sectional and bowlers will have to qualify to advance to the state meet. It is anticipated that a total of 144 boys and 144 girls will qualify for the state meet from the sectional competition. There were slight changes made to the current Saturday schedule, to the date that rosters may change, and to the number of bowlers who will be allowed to enter for 2017. In 2017, the field will be limited to the first 176 boys entered and the first 176 girls entered.

Officials: The Board approved an increase to the amounts paid to most state series officials. The official's state series pay scale had not been changed for most sports since 2009-10. Also approved was a recommendation that schools can submit evaluations for officials who work regular season contests. Currently, schools can only evaluate officials who work state series contests.

Staff Relations Committee: The Board approved a recommendation to set the salary for the Assistant Executive Director for the next two school years and approved compensation for all support staff for the 2016-17 school year.

Other Business:

State Final Sites – The Board approved all of the state final sites for the 2016-17 school year. The lineup of state final sites is posted on the IESA Web Site www.iesa.org. Click on State Hosts and Dates under Activities.

Assistant Executive Director Reports - Ms. Alappattu informed the Board of the schools who won the Division Sportsmanship Award. The listing of schools winning the award in 2015-16 can be found on the IESA Web Site at www.iesa.org by clicking on the Division Awards icon in the Sportsmanship Section Section of the IESA home page. A slight change to the criteria to be considered for the award was made. If a report of poor sportsmanship is received from an administrator or an official, that school will be ineligible for the Division Sportsmanship Award. Mrs. Cochran shared figures with the Board concerning merchandise sales for 2015-16.

Executive Director Report - Mr. Endsley informed the Board that he received official notice from Sports Authority that due to their Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that they would not renew their sponsorship agreement. He updated the Board on the status of memberships that have been renewed for 2016-17. The volleyball financial reports received from Sauk Village Rickover were not approved due to their unusually high expenses. He informed the Board that it appears as though Senate Bill 2264 was going to be dropped. Finally, the Board accepted his recommendation that the membership for Algonquin St. Margaret be suspended for three years. The school joined the Association for the first time this year to enter the state track and field series. After participating in the sectional meet, the school dropped all of their qualifiers for the state meet opting to participate in their local conference meet instead of the state meet.

State Series Finances – The Board received financial reports for Scholastic Bowl, Music, Wrestling, Girls and Boys Basketball, Girls Volleyball, and Bowling.

Treasurer’s Report – The Board received and accepted the treasurer’s report ending May 31, 2016.

Pass Cards – The Board approved a staff recommendation that the pass cards which are sent to member schools in the all-school mailing will only be valid for regular season contests. They will no longer be valid for any regional, sectional, or state final contest.

Scholastic Bowl Question Supplier – The Board was informed at their April, 2016 meeting that the contract with the company that supplies the questions used in the state scholastic bowl series would expire at the end of the 2015-16 school year. A contact was made with the current supplier, Questions Galore, to extend the contract but the company indicated they were selling the business to Avery Enterprises. Mr. Endsley and Mrs. Schaefbauer met with Avery Enterprises to gauge their interest in supplying the state scholastic bowl questions. After the meeting, the Board was informed that IESA will enter into a two year agreement with Avery Enterprises to be the question supplier for the state series scholastic bowl questions.

Division G Resignation – The Board accepted the resignation of Dr. Kenny Lee, superintendent at Watseka. Dr. Lee has accepted a new administrative position outside of Division G. A replacement to fill the remaining term will be appointed before the September meeting of the Board. Given that Dr. Lee served the Board as secretary-treasurer, Joe Buresh, superintendent at Annawan and the Division B board member was elected to fill the position vacated by Dr. Lee.

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 constituents 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 June 17 meeting:

Division B - Mr. Buresh informed the Board that several members of the Lincoln Trail Conference have aligned their sport seasons with the IESA calendar and they will be joining IESA in future years.

Division G - Dr. Lee was contacted by a parent in his division complimenting the Association on the way the state track and field meets are conducted.