IESA Board of Directors Spring Meeting Recap

The IESA Board of Directors accepted the resignation of Assistant Executive Director, Julie Cochran; acted on the athletic directors, basketball, cheerleading, and citizenship committee recommendations; approved a recommendation that will allow schools to view the seeds from their regional, changed the policy allowing changes to a school's regional entry form, and tied up other loose ends at its regularly scheduled meeting on April 7, 2017.

The Board, with regrets, accepted the resignation of Julie Cochran who resigned to take a position as Director of Sports for the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) headquartered in Indianapolis. Click here for accompanying story. "The IESA's loss is the Federation's gain," said IESA Executive Director Steve Endsley. "Julie has been a loyal employee for the past 16 years and her knowledge of education-based interscholastic activities will help her to succeed at the national level. We all wish her the best of luck in her new position. She will be missed."

Beginning with the 2017-18 school year, schools within each regional in the sports of softball, baseball, girls and boys basketball, and girls volleyball will now be able to see the seeds each school within their regional assigned to each team. Previously, schools only seeded the teams and could not see the seeds from other schools. "When we moved to online seeding, it was our hope that schools would make an honest attempt to seed schools fairly," said Endsley. "We made the decision to not allow all schools to see the seeds in hopes of fostering good school relations. Unfortunately, we have had too many cases where there has been intentional unfair seeds given because the coaches knew the other schools could not see the seeds given. This new policy will allow all schools within the regional to see the seeds given and hopefully, this will help schools to seed fairly and ethically."

The policy as to when schools make changes to their Regional Entry Form will also be changed for the 2017-18 school year. In past years, schools have been allowed to make changes to their Regional Entry Form up until their first game in the regional. The new policy will only allow changes until the day before the regional may begin. At that point in time, the rosters for the team are frozen. No additions can be made.

The Board took the following action regarding recommendations from the athletic directors, basketball, cheerleading, and citizenship committees:

Athletic Directors

**Approved a recommendation that schools with a wood or composite floor will be given regional hosting preference in basketball over floors that are tile.

**Approved a recommendation that a regional/sectional host schools in basketball must have rectangular backboards made of glass. No school that has fan shaped backboard can serve as a host for a state series contest.

Boys/Girls Basketball

In addition to the previously mentioned changes to schools seeing all seeds and when additions/subtractions can be made to the Regional Entry Form, the Board also APPROVED the following recommendations from the basketball advisory committee:

**That the official scorer and timer for all regular season and state series games must be at least 16 years of age. Ex. Director's Note: It is important that these two positions on the official scorer's bench are able to handle the duties of official scorer and timer. Please be sure they are at least 16 years old and are knowledgeable of the duties of the position they are working.

**If a host school has hired an official for a regional contest and if it is discovered before the regional that there is an affiliation between an official and a school assigned to the regional, the host school shall remove the official from the contest and secure a new official without any affiliation.

**To add as an exception to NFHS rules that shorts may be rolled when done for the purpose of allowing a better fitting uniform. Strings must be tucked inside the shorts/pants/skirt.

The Board DID NOT APPROVE the following recommendations from the basketball advisory committee:

**To increase the number of contests allowed in one season to 25;

**To allow 7th and 8th graders who are members of the basketball team free admission into state series tournaments in which either team is participating. Ex. Director's Note: Schools who host regional and sectional tournaments in basketball and volleyball shall charge admission to the 8th graders who come to watch the 7th grade team and to the 7th graders who come to watch the 8th grade team.

**To require regional hosts to hire two officials for the quarter-finals and semi-finals and a third official for the championship game. Executive Director's Note: All IESA REGIONAL basketball games are to be officiated by two IHSA licensed officials;

**That 7th grade contests would be six minutes in length and 8th grade contests would be seven minutes in length;

**That a school administrator would have to approve the seeds a coach assigns to the schools assigned in the regional and the season scheduled submitted;

**That a school hosting a regional and/or sectional contest have medical personnel on site.

Cheerleading

The Board APPROVED the following recommendations:

**To correct clerical or team scoring errors up to 48 hours after the conclusion of the competition;

**That entrances and exits on and off the mat are not part of a squad's performance;

**That a maximum of 30 minutes of injury time will be allotted to team if a squad member is injured in warm-ups or during the performance and cannot continue;

**To no longer offer the option to walk through the performance area to teams on Saturday morning;

**Set times for coaches to test their recorded music prior to the team's performance;

**To use a software program from TourneyWire at a cost of $450 for electronic scoring

Citizenship & Sportsmanship

The Board APPROVED the following recommendations:

**That any fan ejected from a state final contest (Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Consolation, Championship) game may not return for the remainder of the tournament;

**For IESA to create a video sportsmanship message that will be made available to member schools on the IESA website;

**To organize a student leadership conference that would be held in the fall of 2018

The Board DID NOT APPROVE the following recommendation:

**That IESA will review video evidence if a player who was ejected was misidentified

The Board tabled a recommendation to require a school with three or more ejections in a school year to submit a revised plan of action to correct sportsmanship issues within the school.

Other Business Items

Treasurer's Report: The Board received and accepted the treasurer's report for the fiscal period through February 28, 2017.

Financial Reports: The Board accepted the financial reports for the state series in girls basketball, cheerleading, chess, and speech.

Scholar Attitude Award: The Board received the names of the Scholar Attitude Award winners from their respective divisions. The date of the luncheon for the winners is scheduled for May 2, 2017.

Board Meetings: There is one regular meeting remaining in the 2016-17 school year. It is scheduled for June 16, 2017

Pass Gate Lists: The Board approved a change to the Pass Gate Lists for state series contests. In addition to team members and team personnel, the following people will now be listed on a school's pass gate form: Superintendent, Principal, Assistant Principal, Athletic Director, Head Coach, and up to 3 assistant coaches.

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 April 7 meeting:

Division A: Mr. Haupt had a question regarding the fees charged for golf participants. The IESA Finance committee will review those fees. He also informed the Board that his school district will be participating in more IESA activities this coming school year.

Division B: Mr. Buresh shared a communication concern he received from a school in his division.

Division C: Mr. Zwemke inquired if there was an avenue for schools to advertise regular season cheer competitions as his school is looking to enter additional competitions.

Division I: Mr. Stewart inquired about the by-law that allows for students who are 15 years old to be eligible to participate. After discussion, no action was taken.

Division J: Ms. Isackson expressed appreciation for the manner in which the 7th grade class 4A volleyball tournament was conducted.

Division O: Dr. Stuart shared a concern from a school about the possibility of there being a guarantee to host schools who host regional and sectional contests where admission is charged. After discussion, no action was taken.