Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Minutes of Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors

January 26, 2024

The regular winter meeting of the Board of Directors was held in a hybrid format on January 26, 2024.

The meeting was called to order by President Ingold at 10:02 a.m. The following members were present in person: Haupt, Marski, Yoder, Chavers, Ingold, Marquardt, Vanausdoll, Davis, Drees, and Duncan. Present via Zoom were Hogue, McAlister, Kerr, Isenhower. Also present were Nicole Schaefbauer, Chris Frasco, Charlie Shempf, and Jackie Litwiller from the IESA staff. Not present was Johnson.

President Ingold appointed Allen Duncan, Renee Marski, and Michelle Chavers to canvass the votes cast for the Board of Director elections. All three members agreed the vote tallies were accurate.

Motion by Davis/Yoder to approve the September 11, 2023, regular meeting minutes as presented. CARRIED.

Motion by Drees/Marquardt to approve the November Special Meeting minutes as presented. CARRIED.

Mrs. Schaefbauer presented the Treasurer's report. Motion by Marski/Drees to approve the Treasurer's report as of December 31, 2023. CARRIED.

Division Reports

Division B- Dr. Hogue indicated he had been in communication with Morrison JHS regarding their wrestling appeal. Additional information was presented by Dr. Hogue during the appeal hearing.

Division D- Mrs. Marski was contacted by a member within her division with host concerns. The member indicated that schools within their area where not willing to undertake host responsibilities. The staff is that host responsibilities often fall to the same schools and will be working on solutions to this issue.

Division E- Mr. Yoder was contacted by a member regarding the wording that had been adopted regarding ISBE tuition waivers. While schools can adopt a policy for tuition waivers, fulltime status for the parent/guardian is required for a student to be eligible to participate in IESA activities.

Division E- Mr. Isenhower received feedback regarding participation on the Calendar Action team that he shared with the Board. Administrative Reports

Charlie Shempf- Reported on the IESA Baseball State Finals. Shared with the Board his discussions with the representatives of Pitch Protect. The IESA will be piloting their mobile app during the 2024 season with approximately 3040 baseball schools. The app is designed to assist coaches in tracking pitches thrown during their regular season contests. An update was given on the upcoming IESA Wrestling State Finals. Current chess and bowling deadlines were shared with the Board. Shared information regarding the Scholar Attitude program and the upcoming IESA Celebration of Excellence planned for April 23rd.

Jackie Litwiller- Reviewed the State Softball tournament. Updated the Board on the keynote presenters for the 2024 AD Workshop. Reported on the progress of the upcoming Cheerleading State Competition. It was shared that the change to a weekday competition had not resulted in fewer participating schools. Entries this year are the largest we have had to date. Updated the Board on the various partnerships in place this year to assist with the competition Bradley cheer and Washington HS cheer programs. Volleyball season status was shared. An update on Music was given. There are a tremendous number of National Anthem and Pep Bands assigned this year.

Chris Frasco- Reported on the Girls Basketball state series. Current ejection numbers were presented to the Board. Ejections are above previous years at this same time. The increased player ejections was noted as troubling. A review of the Sportsmanship School of the Month was given. Updated the Board on a meeting that was held with Play Vs an ESports company. Recommended that the Scholastic Bowl State Moderator pay be changed beginning with the upcoming season to 3 matches at $225.00 and 4 matches at $300.00. Motion by Haupt/Drees to accept the proposed pay rate changes. CARRIED.

Nicole Schaefbauer- Reported on her attendance at the recent NFHS 11 States meeting; the addition of Jonathan Hauter to the IESA staff; and the success of CIS and our streaming debut during the Girls Basketball Season. Updated the Board on the past strategic planning meetings that were conducted in 2005 and 2011. A review of the work that came from those two meetings was presented. Mrs. Schaefbauer asked for the direction of the Board on future strategic work. The Board directed the staff to look into conducting a strategic planning meeting this summer.

Matt Hawkins- Provided an introduction of himself to the Board. Updated the Board on the proposals that have been pitched and the timeline for responses.

Old Business

The Board reviewed the NFHS Summer Meeting attendance for the upcoming Boston, MA meeting.

The Board reviewed the updated Transgender Policy wording that was tabled in September. The policy will be in congruence with the IHSA policy currently in place. Motion by McAlister/Duncan to approve the Transgender Policy. CARRIED.

New Business

The Board reviewed the Geographic Principle document that would be added to the Policy section of the IESA Handbook. The principle is an explanation of the process by which IESA assignments are made. This is not a new principle; however, it is not currently included in the IESA Handbook. Motion by Vanausdoll/Marquardt to approve the inclusion of the Geographic Principle in the IESA Handbook. CARRIED.

The Board reviewed the minutes of the Calendar Action Team. The Action Team recommended several changes to season length for various activities. The goal of the Action Team was to minimize the overlap of girls fall seasons while addressing parity concerns. The Board tabled the recommendation and asked the Action Team to revisit the changes suggested for baseball and girls volleyball. The administrative staff will be conducting a survey sent to volleyball schools to assist the Action Team in addressing the concerns of the Board.

The Board heard an appeal from Morrison JHS regarding the eligibility status of a wrestling studentathlete. After the presentation of the appeal from the Morrison principal, the Board asked questions and closed their meeting for discussion. Motion by Yoder/Vanausdoll to sustain the ruling of the Executive Director. CARRIED with two dissenting.

President Ingold recessed the meeting for lunch at 12:20 p.m. and reconvened the meeting at 12:50 p.m.

Board Committee Reports

Finance Committee- The Finance Committee met on January 12, 2024. Motion by Haupt/Marski to approve the reduction in membership fees to $275. CARRIED. Motion by Yoder/Duncan to approve an increase in activity fees for Wrestling ($75), Cheerleading ($80), Golf ($45), and Scholastic Bowl ($75). CARRIED.

Staff Relations Committee- The Staff Relations Committee met in January. Motion by Drees/Hogue to approve the recommendations of the Committee presented in Executive Session. CARRIED.

Advisory Committee Reports

Baseball- The Baseball Advisory Committee met on November 1, 2023. Motion by Yoder/Vanausdoll to approve recommendation #1 (condensing of postseason play). CARRIED. Motion by Yoder/Marquardt to approve recommendation #2 (postseason penalty for failure to enter regular season pitch count). CARRIED. Recommendation #3 and recommendation #4 did not receive any support. Complete Baseball Advisory minutes may be found here.

Cross Country- The Cross Country Advisory Committee met on November 15, 2023 via Zoom. Motion by Marksi/Drees to approve recommendation #2 (increase host stipend to $1200 and increase activity fee to $120 per team). CARRIED. Motion by Vanausdoll/Marquardt to approve recommendation #3 (state meet race order to be set and no longer rotate). CARRIED. Motion by Yoder/Marski to approve recommendation #4 (increase the staging clerks/umpire pay at the state meet to $40). CARRIED. Recommendation #1 did not receive any support. Complete Cross Country Advisory minutes may be found here.

Golf- The Golf Advisory Committee met on October 25, 2023 via Zoom. Motion by Yoder/Marski to approve recommendation #1 (move the final entry deadline to August 1). CARRIED. Complete Golf Advisory minutes may be found here.

Softball- The Softball Advisory Committee met on October 26, 2023 and made no recommendations. Complete Softball Advisory minutes may be found here.

Speech- The Speech Advisory Committee met on January 11, 2024. Motion by Yoder/Davis to approve recommendation #1 (pilot a rubric adjudication form for full implementation in future years). CARRIED. Motion by Vanausdoll/Haupt to approve recommendation #2 (change to contest manager allowance). CARRIED. Motion by Vanausdoll/Duncan to approve recommendation #3 (increase in judge pay). CARRIED. Complete Speech Advisory minutes may be found here.

Motion by Yoder/Davis to enter Executive Session. CARRIED. Motion by Drees/Haupt to return to regular session. CARRIED.

The dates of the remaining meetings for 202324 were announced April 12 and June 6.

Motion by Drees/Marski to approve the expenses of the meeting. CARRIED.

Motion by Vanausdoll/Marquardt to adjourn the regular meeting sine die at 1:42 p.m. CARRIED.

Mrs. Schaefbauer seated the following members: Tim Haupt, Brian Yoder, Jared Vanausdoll, Tod Davis, and Pat Drees. Motion to seat by Marski/Chavers. CARRIED.

The floor was opened for nominations for the office of President. Pat Drees nominated Tony Ingold. Nominations were closed. Motion by Drees/Haupt to approve Tony Ingold as President. CARRIED. The floor was opened for nominations for the office of VicePresident. Mr. Ingold nominated Pat Drees. Nominations were closed. Motion by Ingold/Haupt to approve Pat Drees as VicePresident. CARRIED. The floor was opened for nominations for the office of Secretary Treasurer. Mr. Ingold nominated Darryl Hogue. Motion by Ingold/Marquardt to approve Darryl Hogue as SecretaryTreasurer. CARRIED.

After Officers were elected, President Ingold asked for a motion to ratify all previous legal affairs of the Association. Motion by Hogue/Yoder to ratify all previous legal affairs. CARRIED.

New Business for Board

The Board was given an updated IESA Board of Directors seniority list.

There being no further business, motion by Marquardt/Davis to adjourn the meeting. CARRIED. President Ingold adjourned the meeting at 2:03 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Nicole Schaefbauer