Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Tony Ingold Elected President of IESA Board of Directors; Two New Board Members Seated; Applications to be Accepted for Administrative Vacancy; Sectional Level for Girls Golf Added

During a very busy quarterly meeting, the IESA Board of Directors elected officers, seated two new members to the Board, received the announcement for an administrative opening; approved a recommendation to add a sectional level of competition in girls golf, acted on committee recommendations in several activities, and tied up other loose ends at its regularly scheduled meeting on January 23, 2015.

At the conclusion of the January meeting, Tony Ingold, Superintendent at East Peoria District #86 was elected President of the IESA Board of Directors. Mr. Ingold is a life-long resident of East Peoria having attended District 86 schools and East Peoria High School. After graduating from Illinois State University, he started teaching at East Peoria Central JHS while serving as the wrestling coach and an assistant football coach for the high school. In 1999, he became the assistant principal at Central and then was named principal in 2003. Two years later he was named the associate superintendent for the district. One year later, in 2006, Mr. Ingold was selected to serve as the district superintendent. He is the 38th person to serve as President of the IESA Board of Directors. Also elected to officer positions were Chris Graham, Principal at St. Joseph who will serve as Vice-President and Kenny Lee, Superintendent of the Iroquois County Unit District #9 (Watseka) who will serve as the Secretary-Treasurer.

Tamela Daniels, Principal at Lockport Fairmont, was appointed to fill the vacant Board of Directors seat in Division D and Tim Haupt, Assistant Principal at Barrington Station was seated as the new member representing Division A. Incumbents Deb Derby (Streator Woodland, Division E), Danette Young (Paris Crestwood, Division L); , Fred Lamkey, (Riverton, Division M); and Patrick Drees (Teutopolis, Division N) were also seated.

Administrative Vacancy

Applications are now being accepted for the vacant Assistant Executive Director position. Applications will be accepted until March 1 and the target date for the selected candidate to begin is July 1. For more information on the opening, click here.

Girls Golf Sectional

A sectional level for girls golf will begin in the fall of 2015. The sectional date for both the boys and girls sectional tournaments be Saturday, September 12. "The growth of golf within the Association has been fantastic and beyond what we imagined," said Steve Endsley, IESA Executive Director. "Last year, we added a sectional level at the boys level and now with the addition of a girls sectional, the only way one can play in our state final golf tournament is to qualify for the finals. It will make the state finals much more competitive and we anticipate having approximately 72 boys and 72 girls advancing to the finals." The IESA finals will be held at Kellogg Golf Course in Peoria on Saturday, September 19.

Activity Committee Action

Baseball -- The Board received the report of the Baseball Advisory Committee. A recommendation to allow a school to host two sectional games was not approved.

Cross-Country -- Two recommendations from the advisory committee were approved. Sectional host schools will now be required to conduct a meeting of all coaches to review the final sectional results before conducting the awards ceremony. Also approved was wording in the Terms and Conditions and IESA Handbook regarding the finish line for all cross country meets. The finish line in all meets (regular season as well as invitationals, must be at the mouth of the chute and not the neck of the chute.

Softball -- Approved a recommendation to switch the starting times at the state finals of the two classes. Class A schools will now start at 10:00 a.m. and Class AA will start at 10:30 a.m.

Speech -- The Board approved an increase to the Small Group Acting and Team Improv fee from $10 to $15. The fee increase will help cover the costs of awards for the additional performers of these two groups. An increase to the admission fee for speech contests was also approved. Admission fees will now be $2.00 for k-8 students and senior citizens and $3.00 for adults. Prior to the change, admission was $1 and $2. This is now the same admission fee schedule as music. There were some minor clarifications to the general speech rules approved. Students will no longer be allowed to stand on a chairs and tables when performing. Julie Nelson from Braidwood Reed-Custer and Robert Blackburn from Spring Bay Riverview were announced as coaching award winners.

Golf -- In addition to the sectional level for girls golf that was approved, the Board approved a change to the tie breaking procedures for sectional and state. Only ties for first place will be broken by a sudden death playoff. All other ties for any place will simply be a tie and duplicate awards will be ordered if needed. Also approved was a policy that caddies shall not be used in the state series. Each individual golfer must carry his/her own clubs or use a pull cart. Coaches/adults/parents are not allowed to carry the clubs of a competing individual. Coaches will be allowed to coach anywhere on the course except the putting green.

Other Business Items

IHSA: Dr. Marty Hickman, Executive Director of the Illinois High School Association, updated the Board on several issues facing the IHSA. President Birkey congratulated Dr. Hickman on his upcoming retirement in January, 2016.

Scholar Attitude: The 17th annual Scholar Attitude Award luncheon will be Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. the DoubleTree Hotel in Bloomington. Only one student from each of the 15 membership divisions will be selected. The deadline for receipt of nominations in the IESA Office is Feb. 20, 2015. Judges will meet in the IESA Office April 1, 2015, to select the winners.

Division Meetings: The Board heard a report regarding "attendance" at the required Division Meetings that were conducted online for in the fall. Only 14 schools were placed on probation for failure to attend one of the online meetings. All schools that failed to attend a meeting in 2013 attend a meeting this past fall so there are no schools that will be suspended for failure to attend in two consecutive years.

Treasurer's Report: The Board received and accepted the treasurer's report for the fiscal period ending December 31, 2014.

Board Meetings: There are two regular meetings remaining in the 2014-15 school year. One is scheduled April10, 2015, and the other is scheduled June 19, 2015.

Activity Entry Fee: Approved a finance committee recommendation that the entry fee for the following sports be raised by $5 for the 2015-16 school year: softball, baseball, cross-country, girls basketball, boys basketball, wrestling, volleyball, and track and field.

Home School Student Eligibility: The Board reiterated its position that students who are home schooled are only eligible for the public school they would regularly attend.

A.D./Speech Workshops: The annual athletic director workshop will be held on Friday, September 11 and the speech coaches workshop will be held Friday, September 18. Both workshops will be held in Bloomington at the Double Tree Hotel.

Athens: The principal, the baseball coach, and the 7th & 8th grade boys basketball coaches appeared before the Board at the Board's request to address sportsmanship issues that have occurred during the 2014-15 school year. The school has received four ejections this school year. The school outlined steps they are taking to address the sportsmanship issues that have arisen with their coaches. The Board placed the athletic program from Athens on probation for the remainder of the 2014-15 and all of the 2015-16 school year. In addition, all members of the Athens coaching staff will be required to watch the NFHS sportsmanship video and report to the Board procedures being used to work with coaches and fans on sportsmanship issues.

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 23 meeting:

Division F: Mr. Frost received an inquiry concerning the possibility of posting the team winners from each track sectional. Host schools currently are only reporting individual qualifiers for the state meet. Administrative staff will look into the feasibility of doing so.

Division K: Mr. Graham was contacted by three schools in his division concerning regional assignments. No action was taken.

Comments from IESA Executive Director Steve Endsley: Regional assignments have always been on the basis of geography. Consideration is never given to teams that placed in the tournament the previous year, perceived strength of a given regional, or anything else that might be or could be considered that the IESA is manipulating the assignments. If assignments were based on any of the above, assignments would then be based on something other than geography. If consideration was going to be given to perceived strength of teams or how well they performed the previous year, how does the Association assign 7th grade teams when there is no record from the previous year? It would not make sense to group schools together one year based on geography and then the next year change the assignments solely because the teams had success the previous year. When schools are in close proximity to each other, it is highly likely that those schools will be placed in the same regional. Of course, it is entirely possible due to simple math that schools who are close to each other might not be in the same regional as well. We try and balance the numbers so there are an equal number of teams in each regional within reason and within acceptable travel. To send a school completely out of its area only because there are several schools in the area who are perceived to be good, would create unnecessary additional travel to a given school. Schools should not expect that the regional to which they have been assigned will have the same schools assigned every year. In fact, schools should expect there will be changes each year because the number of schools that enter the state series each year always changes and the school enrollments change each year. However, it is also entirely possible that the schools within the regional will be the same. Regardless of whether the schools within a given regional are the same or whether they are different from the previous year(s), IESA does not make the assignments because of a request.