Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Scholastic Bowl Finals Moving to Peoria; New Severe Weather Safety Guidelines Approved

The Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) Board of Directors approved a recommendation to move the state scholastic bowl finals to the Peoria Civic Center and adopted severe weather safety guidelines at its regular meeting that was held on Friday, June 17. In addition to these two changes, the Board acted on the recommendations of several advisory committees as well as the general business of the Association.

"I am excited to announce that the 2012 IESA scholastic bowl state finals will be held at the Civic Center in Peoria," said IESA Executive Director Steve Endsley. "The facility will provide an excellent venue for the schools, students, and fans who attend the state finals." In addition to the facility change, the Board also approved a time change to the start of the finals. First round matches will now begin at 1:00 p.m. All schools that advance to the finals play a minimum of three matches. The 2012 finals will be held on Friday, May 4. The Board also approved new severe weather safety guidelines which mirror the guidelines recently adopted by the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) for their member schools. "It makes perfect sense for the two organizations to have the same severe weather guidelines especially since many of the officials who officiate interscholastic contests work contests at both levels of play," said Endsley. "Safety is at the forefront of all that we do in interscholastic activities." The new guidelines are located on the IESA home page, www.iesa.org, under the Activities section.

At the conclusion of the regular June meeting, the Board accepted the resignation of Mr. James Bunting, Division G Representative. Mr. Bunting was serving as the junior high principal in Watseka and has recently accepted the position of principal at Watseka High School. President Graham will appoint an administrator from Division G to fill the remaining term.

Advisory, Board Committee Action

The Board acted on activity advisory committee recommendations in Music, Scholastic Bowl, Track and Field, Golf, and Bowling; on recommendations from the Board of Directors Staff Relations Committee; on staff recommendations; and the Officials Advisory Committee. Advisory committees are generally composed of one IESA Board of Directors member, coaches, administrators, and officials with expertise in the respective sport or activity. Each sport/activity has an advisory committee and it 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. The Board committees are composed of IESA Board members and meet once a year.

Music:

1) A recommendation to exempt students who participate in IESA music contests from the weekly grade check did not receive a motion and therefore never came before the Board for a vote. "The fact that this recommendation did not even receive a motion from any member of the Board should send a strong message to our member schools that all students who participate in any IESA activity, must abide by the Association's weekly grade check eligibility policy," said Endsley. Some of other fine arts committees have made a similar recommendation in past years and the Board of Directors has always remained steadfast in their belief that all students must be passing all subjects each week in order to be eligible to participate in IESA activities."

2) The Board approved Wednesday of week 32 in the standardized calendar as a Contest Directors Meeting date. The purpose of the date is for schools assigned to a given contest area to meet with the host school prior to the actual contest date to discuss ways in which all schools can assist with the actual hosting of the contest.

Scholastic Bowl:

1) Approved that the moderators, scorers and timers will now be placed in between the two competing teams facing the audience members. Prior to the change the Official's Table was placed in front of the competing teams with the backs of the officials to the audience.

2) Several changes were approved to the regional assignment procedure, seeding procedures, and rule book changes. Most notably amongst the rule changes is that the match questions will now consist of 24 toss-up questions and 20 bonus questions which will all be 4 part bonus questions. Prior to the change a match consisted of 30 toss-up questions and 20 bonus questions which could have been 3, 4, or 5 part answers. A complete listing of changes will be available in the Scholastic Bowl manual mailed to all participating schools each year.

3) Approved a $5 increase to the Scholastic Bowl entry fee beginning with the 2012-13 school year. The cost to participate in Scholastic Bowl in 2013 will now be $65.

Track and Field:

1) New qualifying standards in some events were approved as were changes to the sectional and state starting heights for girls pole vault. For a complete listing of 2012 qualifying standards, go to the IESA home page www.iesa.org.

Golf:

1) The Board approved a recommendation for a Circle 14 policy at the state competition. Golfers have the option to pick-up up their ball after 14 strokes on a given hole. Those who do pick-up their ball will not be eligible for any type of official score.

2) Spectators with a documented disability will have to complete a registration form to use a golf cart at the state competition.

Bowling:

1) The Board did not approve a recommendation that bowlers may not wear blue jeans, shorts, warm-up suits, or similar appear at the state competition. The Bowling Terms and Conditions will list the apparel that is acceptable.

2) Approved a change to the format of the state competition. A school will now be allowed to enter up to 4 boys and 4 girls in the competition. Preliminary qualification will consist of 4 rounds all bowled on Friday. The finals will be held on Saturday. Competitors will now know on Friday whether or not they will advance to the finals on Saturday. Prior to the change, preliminaries were held on Friday and Saturday morning with the finals Saturday afternoon.

Officials:

1) The Board approved a series of recommendations related to the required use of licensed officials in all IESA contests.

Staff Relations Committee:

1) The Board approved salaries for the 2011-12 school year for all employees.

Other Business

State Final Sites - The Board finalized the remaining state final sites for the 2011-12 school term. The lineup of state final sites is posted on the IESA Web Site www.iesa.org. Click on State Hosts and Dates under Activities.

Asst. Executive Director Report -- The Board was informed of the schools who won the Commerce Bank Division Sportsmanship Award. The listing of schools winning the award in 2010-11 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 home page. The Board received an update on the number of schools who have indicated they plan to enter the boys volleyball state series beginning in 2013. The Board has previously approved that a minimum of 40 schools must indicate they plan to enter the state series by September 1, 2011 in order to move forward with the state series. As of June 17, a total of 31 schools have indicated they plan to enter the state series. Information was given to the Board on the selling prices of merchandise for the 2011-12 school year. The CubbyHole, Carlinville, IL, is the official merchandise vendor for IESA sectional and state final athletic apparel.

Associate Executive Director Report -- The Board received a report about a workshop that IESA will host in conjunction with the Illinois Athletic Director's summer retreat on July 7.

Executive Director Report -- The board was provided with an update on the NFHS Summer Meeting, which will be held in Philadelphia from June 28-July 2. Due to the lack of participating schools, the Board approved a recommendation to drop the IESA art workshops. Two recommendations concerning wrestling were approved by the Board-- 1) Family members will no longer be allowed to sit matside for the championship matches and 2) the number of regular season matches was changed to a maximum of 25.

State Series Finances - The Board received financial reports for boys wrestling, music, girls volleyball, and bowling.

Treasurer's Report - The Board received and accepted the treasurer's report.

Forfeiture of Contest - The Board changed By-Law 5.073 so that all games shall be forfeited if a team fails to appear 45 minutes after the contest was scheduled to be played regardless of the circumstances involved.

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. Following is a report of those from the June 17 meeting:

Division D -- Mrs. Lind informed the Board of a letter she received from a parent in her division requesting the Board change By-Law 3.042. No action was taken.

Division E -- Mrs. Pozzi indicated that the school who had previously contacted her about the start times for the state track meet was pleased the meet time in 2011 was adjusted.

Division H -- Mr. Ingold received a question about boys volleyball that Mrs. Cochran from the IESA staff answered for him.