Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

January 2012 Board Meeting Summary

Ron Graham Re-Elected as IESA Board President; Administrative Vacancy Application Procedures Approved; Division Meeting Format Changed

The IESA Board of Directors selected officers, approved the application procedures for a soon-to-be vacant administrative position, changed the division meeting format, acted on committee recommendations in several activities, seated 3 new members to the Board of Directors, and tied up other loose ends at its regularly scheduled meeting on January 20, 2012.

Mr. Ron Graham, Assistant Superintendent at Girard North Mac, was re-elected as President of the IESA Board Directors. Mr. Graham was the superintendent of the Virden district from 2007 until 2010 when it consolidated with Girard to form the North Mac district. With the consolidation, he is currently serving as the district's assistant superintendent. From 1993-2002, he was principal of Virden Middle School and from 2002-2007 he was principal of the jr./sr. high school. Before joining the Virden system, Graham coached football at Assumption for 5 years and Fairfield for 4. Mr. Jerry R. Birkey, principal at Mt. Zion JHS was elected to the Vice-President position while Dr. Scott Herrmann, principal at Niles Gemini Jr. High School was elected to serve as the Secretary-Treasurer.

Board Committee assignments were approved as follows:

Finance Committee includes Dr. Herrmann, Joe Buresh of Annawan GS, Chris Collins of Glendale Hts. Glenside, and Dana Isackson, Macomb.

Staff Relations Committee includes Tony Ingold, East Peoria Central, Fred Lamkey, Riverton, Tony Frost, Elmwood, and Chris Graham of St. Joseph.

The following is a summary of other action taken during the meeting:

Administrative Vacancy

The Board accepted the resignation of Pat Bodame, Administrative Specialist, effective May 31, 2012. The Board announced it will begin to accept applications for the position of Assistant Executive Director immediately. Application procedures are posted on the IESA home page.

Division Meeting Format

Beginning in the fall of 2012 the division meetings will be held online rather than at various sites across the state. Schools will still be required to watch one of the meetings but will now be able to do so from school or even at home. "The Division Meetings are an important communication tool for our member schools and for the Association," said Steve Endsley, IESA Executive Director. "However, many of our schools requested that we move to online meetings to help reduce their expenses related to mileage and sub pay. We looked into the possibility and believe we have come up with a perfect solution. Additional information will be sent to all member schools in the annual all-school mailing that is sent in August." The Association will continue to offer a division meeting at the IPA conference held in October each year.

Advisory Committee Action

Baseball -- Approved a recommendation to change the online roster and record deadline from Wednesday of week #9 to Tuesday of week #10. Online ranking would then take place Wednesday and Thursday of week #10 with seeds and regional pairings released on Friday of that week. The Board did not approve a recommendation to add a third umpire at the sectional level. Also, they did not approve a recommendation that the home plate umpire shall declare a forfeit when a pitching limitation violation occurs.

Cross-Country -- Approved a recommendation to make an exception to NFHS rule 9-4-4 (a) which will give the starter some flexibility when to recall a race if a runner should fall in the first 100 meters of a race. The Board also approved a line item on the sectional financial report for a trainer, will now require sectional hosts that do not use a chip scoring system to have the finish line at the mouth of a chute, will allow cross country schools to practice on a course prior to a contest (schools must receive permission to practice on a school course) and expanded the definition of jewelry and unapproved adornments which cannot be worn by runners. They did not approve a recommendation that each sectional host receive $100.00 for hosting the sectional meet.

Softball -- The Board approved a recommendation that line-up cards shall include the first and last names of the contestants. Also, approved was a recommendation that regional and sectional host schools shall assign dugouts for the competing teams prior to play.

Speech -- The Board approved a clarification to the number of times a contestant can perform the same selection in an IESA contest and the number of props that can be used in small group acting. They also approved the formation of a new small group acting event that will be called Team Improv. The rules for the event will be posted on the speech page of the IESA website. The Board heard a report of the 2012 selections in the Coach award program. Winner of the Class Act Award is Julie Kallenbach of Mt. Sterling Brown County. Winner of the Distinguished Service Award is Julie Nelson of Braidwood Reed-Custer.

Soccer -- At least 40 schools will have to commit to participating in the state series by September 1, 2012 in order for the soccer state series to be held in the 2013-14 school year. The Board approved the Terms and Conditions. These will be available on the soccer page of the IESA website.

Golf -- The Board approved recommendations related to observers and electronic devices that will be added to the Terms and Conditions. The entry deadline was changed to August 6, 2012. The 2012 IESA golf championship will be held Saturday, September 8 at the St. Andrews Golf Club in West Chicago.

Other Business Items

Appeals Panel Report: Mr. Birkey gave the Appeals Panel report. On September 26, 2011, the Appeals Panel heard an appeal by Glasford Illini Bluffs concerning the decision by the Executive Director to require a forfeit of their sectional game for using an ineligible player who pitched too many innings in one day. The Appeals Panel upheld the ruling of the Executive Director.

Strike Policy: The Board modified the current IESA strike policy as to who can coach a team, when practices can be held, and when a team can participate in the state series if their school is on strike. The policy will now be the same exact policy as the strike policy of the IHSA. Previously, there were slight differences.

Scholar Attitude: This year's 13th annual Scholar Attitude Award luncheon will be Tuesday, April 24, 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, 2012. Judges will meet in the IESA Office March 14, 2012, to select the winners.

Division Meetings: In addition to approving the format change discussed above, the Board heard a report regarding attendance and an evaluation of the required Division Meetings that were conducted for the sixth time this fall. The IESA Constitution requires that each member school principal or designee attend the annual division meeting. There were 21 division meetings held in the fall of 2011 with a total of 657 individuals attending representing 746 member schools. 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 (30) schools were placed on probation for the 2012-13 school year for failure to attend a meeting in 2011. Twenty-seven (27) were placed on probation for the 2011-12 school year for failure to attend a meeting in 2010. Thirty-eight (38) member schools were placed on probation for the 2010-11 school year; Forty-eight (48) member schools were on probation for 2009-10; 49 member schools were on probation for the 2008-09 school year, and 57 member schools were placed on probation for the 2007-08 school year.

Shorewood Troy Request: A letter from Dr. Don White, Superintendent of the Troy CCSD 30C, was presented to the Board. Dr. White requested that the Board delete By-Law 3.042. The By-Law restricts students from participating on school teams and non-school teams in the same sport during the IESA for the sport. The Board did not approve the request. There is a strategic planning action team that will be studying the By-Law. The Board plans to wait for the committee's report before taking any steps toward changing or modifying the By-Law.

Treasurer's Report: The Board received and accepted the treasurer's report for the fiscal period ending December 31, 2011.

Board Meetings: There are two regular meetings remaining in the 2011-12 school year. One is scheduled April 13, 2012, and the other is scheduled June 15, 2012.

Advertising on Warm-ups: The Board approved a staff recommendation to allow commercial advertising on warm-ups. Advertising on uniforms is prohibited by National Federation rules. With this change, if a local business wants to donate warm-ups to a school and place a company logo on the warm-up, that will now be allowed.

IHSA Executive Director: Dr. Marty Hickman, IHSA Executive Director, addressed the Board. He has done this each year for the past several years to keep the IESA Board updated on issues facing the IHSA which may impact the IESA. He reported on legislation being discussed concerning catastrophic insurance, concussion legislation, and the co-sponsorship of the IHSA/IESA session at the IPA Conference.

New Board Members: With the recent elections, three new people have been elected to the IESA Board of Directors, Deb Derby, Principal at Streator Woodland, (Division E); Patrick Drees, Principal at Teutopolis (Division N); and Danette Young, Principal at Paris Crestwood, (Division L) join incumbents Scott Herrmann and Fred Lamkey. All five were seated.

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 20 meeting:

Division B: Mr. Buresh indicated he was contacted by a member school regarding the split in track between Class a and Class AA. No action was taken.

Division H: Mr. Ingold received a question concerning the policy which allows two games in a basketball regional to be played on one day. The basketball advisory committee made this recommendation a couple years ago to allow teams to reduce the number of nights they would travel.

Division I: Mr. Birkey had some comments regarding officiating during the state series.

Division J: Ms. Isackson stressed the need for at least one administrator to be on-site for all activities at contests. A recent incident at her school during a contest required an administrator to handle the incident.

Division K: Mr. Graham was contacted by a school regarding the start date for volleyball in the 2012-13 school year. Because the Association works off of a standardized calendar, no changes were made to the calendar.

Division M: Mr. Lamkey was also contacted about the 2 games in one day at the regional level. A school also contacted him about volleyball uniforms. No action was taken on either issue.