Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

September 2007 Board Meeting Summary

Chris Graham Joins Board; Severe Weather Policy Adopted

BLOOMINGTON - The Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) Board of Directors seated St. Joseph Middle School principal Chris Graham as the new member from Division K, adopted a severe weather policy, finalized Board committee assignments and approved the format for the 2007 required division meetings, at its regular quarterly meeting Sept. 7 in the IESA Office.

Graham was appointed to the Board to complete the term in Division K. He replaces Gary Lewis, who left Westville to become superintendent of the Shiloh schools. Shiloh is not in Division K. The term expires in 2011. There are a total of 15 Board members elected from different geographic regions throughout the state. Graham will be the Board member on the Baseball Advisory Committee.

The Association will conduct the second 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 19 meetings within the 15 geographic areas between Oct. 15 and Nov. 13. 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. 15 in the Peoria Civic Center.

The schedule of the meetings is posted on the IESA Web Site at www.iesa.org. The agenda for the meetings is still to be finalized. One item on the agenda will be a survey of those attending regarding the feasibility of implementing interscholastic competition in soccer, boys volleyball, football and chess.

Severe Weather Policy: The Board approved a severe weather policy beginning with the start of the 2007-08 school term. The new severe weather policy will provide schools and state series managers with easier to follow guidelines for making a determination to suspend play when conditions warrant. The policy will be published in IESA sport specific manuals and will be available online. The new policy calls for play in state series competition to be suspended whenever "cloud to ground" strikes of lightning are observed or thunder is heard. Play can then be resumed 30 minutes after the last observation of either thunder or lightning.

Advisory Committee Assignments: The Board also finalized its advisory committee liaison assignments, and approved dates for the annual advisory committee meetings. Assignments for 2007-08 (and the date of the meeting) will be: Baseball - Chris Graham, Oct. 26; Basketball - Ron Ervin, Feb. 28; Cheerleading - Dana Isackson, Jan. 8; Cross Country - Craig Carr, Nov. 9; Music - Taunya Jenkins, May 27; Scholastic Bowl - Jim Hochstatter, workshop Oct. 26 and meeting May 30; Softball - Chris Collins, Oct. 24; Speech - James Bunting, workshop Sept. 14 and meeting Jan. 7; Sportsmanship - Dan Vaughan, TBA; Track and Field - Tony Ingold, June 4; Volleyball - Scott Cameron, March 31 and Wrestling - Scott Herrmann, March 19.

Board of Directors Meeting Dates: The Board set the dates for the other quarterly meetings for the 2007-08 school term. They will be Jan. 18, April 4 and June 13.

Board Committee Meeting Dates: The Board set dates for its Board Committee meetings. The Committees are: By-laws (10:00 a.m., June 10, 2008) - James Bunting of Watseka Glenn Raymond, Scott Cameron of Assumption Central A&M, Chris Collins of Glendale Heights Glenside and Tony Ingold of East Peoria Central; Finance (10:00 a.m., June 5, 2008) - Jerry Birkey of Mt. Zion, Ron Ervin of Auburn JHS at Divernon, James Hochstatter of Galva and Dana Isackson of Macomb; Staff Relations (10:00 a.m., Nov. 13, 2007)- Craig Carr of Montrose Grove, Taunya Jenkins of Peoria Roosevelt Magnet, Scott Herrmann of Niles Gemini and Dan Vaughan of Forrest Prairie Central.

Scholar Attitude Luncheon: The Board set Friday, April 18 as the date for the tenth annual IESA Scholar Attitude Award presented by State Farm Luncheon. 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 2008.

Treasurer's Report: The Board accepted the treasurer's report recapping income and expenditures for fiscal year 2007. 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 2007-08 school term. Anticipated receipts are budgeted at $1,202,860.00. Anticipated expenses are budgeted at $1,235,181.00. According to Executive Director Steve Endsley, income from the expanded classes in baseball, girls basketball, boys basketball and girls volleyball was budgeted conservatively. Likewise, the expansion of classes in those four state series has created increases in expenditures for trophies and medals, officials fees, and other state final site administrative costs. 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.

Standardized Calendar: The Board approved the Standardized Calendar dates for the school terms of 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11. 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. 16. Royce Elliott, a Peoria Woodruff High School graduate who bills himself as America's Funniest Clean Comic, and who has opened for some of the biggest acts in Las Vegas, will be the guest speaker.

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: A request from Hardin St. Norbert for an exception to the quarter limitation in girls basketball for the 2007-08 season failed for lack of a motion. The requested exception to the quarter rule would allow 6th and 7th grade students at the school to participate in more than four (4) quarters per night in regular season contests; however, it would not allow the St. Norbert students to participate in more total quarters for the season than any other IESA team. Assistant Executive Director's Report: The Board was informed of the status of the upcoming second year of the Association's five-year contract with Cubby Hole as the provider of IESA official apparel; of the change in the Wilson official ball for volleyball to the i-COR High Performance ball beginning with the current (2007-08) school term; and of the status of research regarding two coaches education programs, the ASEP Coaching Essentials Course and the NFHS Fundamentals of Coaching Course. Chicago School Membership Request: The Board discussed the research into IESA membership that has been explored by a member of the coaching staff of Chicago Hawthorne Scholastic Academy. Differences in the IESA sport seasons and those of the Chicago Public League (CPL) create problems regarding membership for CPL schools. The Board directed the Executive Director to communicate at the administrative staff level with CPL schools regarding IESA membership.

State Final Track Site: The Board approved moving the timeline for announcing the site of the annual State Final Track and Field Meets to the January meeting, and authorized the IESA staff to inform the membership regarding the change. The sites for the other state finals are approved usually at the April meeting prior to the upcoming new school year.

Appeals Panel Report: The Board received the report from the Appeals Panel regarding two baseball players at Morton Junior High who played in a "Wooden Bat" league game while being members of the school's baseball team. The school self reported the players' violation of By-law 3.043 and withheld them from five games on the school team while its appeal of the Executive Director's ruling was being processed. The Executive Director ruled the two players ineligible for the remainder of the IESA baseball season. The Appeals Panel modified the Executive Director's decision and determined that the players be ineligible for six (6) contests.

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 - Board member Joe Spezio informed the Board about questions regarding IESA by-laws and/or NFHS softball rules concerning players participating with stitches. A student in the division received stitches in her head and the school was seeking clarification. IESA by-law 3.062 stipulates that "no student shall be allowed to participate following disabling illness of injury without a physician's release". NFHS rules do not address the issue of stitches. The decision to allow this student to participate in softball games with stitches rests with the student's school. Division H - Board member Tony Ingold informed the Board of his discussions with the administration at Morton Junior High regarding the IESA appeal process involving two students from the school who were ruled ineligible for violation of By-law 3.043.