Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Softball State Series to Expand to Three Classes; Tony Ingold Re-Elected as President of IESA Board of Directors; Contract with ShaZam Racing Extended for Five Additional Years

The IESA Board of Directors approved the expansion of the softball state series to a three class system; seated members to the IESA Board and elected officers; approved a recommendation to re-new the contract with ShaZam Racing to provide scoring and timing services at the cross country and state track and field finals; acted on advisory committee recommendations; and tied up other loose ends at its regularly scheduled meeting that was held on January 31, 2020.

Prior to the conclusion of the meeting, Board members Mrs. Young, Mr. Haupt, and Mr. Owens canvassed the election ballots and certified that the results of the Board of Directors election were accurate. Dr. Scott McAlister, Principal at Homewood Hart (Division C); Mrs. Michelle Chavers, Principal at Herscher Limestone (Division G); Mrs. Julie Marquardt, Principal at Mt. Zion JHS (Division I); Mr. Chris Graham, Principal at St. Joseph (Division K); and Dr. Steve Stuart, Principal at Edwardsville Lincoln ( Division O) were all re-elected to the Board of Directors. After the meeting was adjourned sine die, the re-elected members were seated and election of officers took place. Tony Ingold, Superintendent at East Peoria District #86 was re-elected President of the IESA Board of Directors. Also re-elected to officer positions were Chris Graham, Principal at St. Joseph who will serve as Vice-President and Dr. Steve Stuart, Principal of Edwardsville Lincoln who will serve as the Secretary-Treasurer.

Softball State Series

Beginning in the fall of 2020, the IESA state softball series will be moving from a two class system to a three class system. Each class will have approximately one-third of the competing schools entered into the class. The number of softball schools has steadily increased over the years. In 2015 there were 210 schools entered in the state series and this past fall there were 259 schools. "The Association has maintained that once the number of competing schools reaches 240 in a given activity, the expansion of classes would be considered," said IESA Executive Director Steve Endsley. "Given that we surpassed the 240 mark for the first time this past fall, the softball advisory committee discussed the possible expansion, reviewed the circumstances involving the expansion, and made the recommendation to the IESA Board of Directors to implement a three class system. It will be an exciting time at Champion Fields in Normal next fall with the additional teams competing for a title."

ShaZam Racing Contract

ShaZam Racing out of Peoria, IL has been providing scoring and timing service at the IESA state cross country finals and state track and field meet for the past four years. The Board approved a staff recommendation to extend the contract for an additional five years running through May, 2026. "ShaZam Racing has been a tremendous partner with IESA and provides reliable and accurate scoring for our events," said Endsley. "They are consummate professionals and handle all the details related to scoring and timing so our staff can concentrate on other aspects of race day. I am thrilled to renew our agreement with them."

Here are the highlights from the advisory committee recommendations:

Baseball – The Board approved a recommendation to add a 12 run rule; approved that a 5 or 6 inning game may be counted as an official game if both teams agree to a shortened game before the game begins; and shortened the 3rd place game of the IESA state finals to a maximum of 5 innings. Click on the following link to see the Board action on the committee recommendations and the minutes of the meeting:

https://www.iesa.org/documents/advisory/IESA-BBB_Minutes.pdf

Cross-Country - The Board approved a recommendation that sectional host schools should do all they can to make their course available to all teams at least an hour before the scheduled race time. They also approved that sectional host schools will receive their host guarantee before the sectional meet. Click on the following link to see the Board action on the other committee recommendations:

https://www.iesa.org/documents/advisory/IESA-CC_Minutes.pdf

Golf - The Board approved a procedure to break ties for 2nd through 9th place at the sectional meets. Click on the following link to see the Board action on the committee recommendations:

https://www.iesa.org/documents/advisory/IESA-GO_Minutes.pdf

Officials – Approved a new pay schedule for state series officials in the sports of softball, baseball, cross-country, basketball, and volleyball.

Softball – In addition to approving the 3 class state series system, the Board also approved that the regional quarterfinal games may be played on Wednesday or Thursday of week 10 in the standardized calendar and that the regional championship games will be played on Tuesday of week 11 instead of Monday. They tabled a recommendation to increase the regional roster from 18 players to 20. Click on the following link to see the Board action on the committee recommendations:

https://www.iesa.org/documents/advisory/IESA-GSB_Minutes.pdf

Speech - The Board approved the Distinguished Service Award Winner and the Class Act Award Winner. Named Distinguished Service Award winner is Beth Sadler of Bradley West and named the Class Act Award Winner is Brandy McQuen of Ottawa Rutland. Click on the following link to see the Board action on the committee recommendations:

https://www.iesa.org/documents/advisory/IESA-SP_Minutes.pdf

Other Business Items

Scholar Attitude: The 22nd annual Scholar Attitude Award luncheon will be Tuesday, May 5, 2020 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. 15. Judges will meet in the IESA Office March 18 to select the winners.

Treasurer's Report: Dr. Stuart presented the Treasurer's report. The Board accepted the treasurer's report for the fiscal period ending December 31, 2019.

Board Meetings: There are two regular meetings remaining in the 2019-20 school year. One is scheduled April 3, 2020, and the other is scheduled June 19, 2020.

Administrative Reports:

Mr. Frasco reported on a couple of issues regarding seeding for the boys basketball tournaments. In both cases, schools were intentionally seeded lower than what they should have been seeded which resulted in the IESA becoming involved to correct obvious intentional incorrect seed.

Mrs. Albee presented a breakdown of ejections in the 19-20 school year. After discussion, the Board informed Mrs. Albee to have the Sportsmanship Advisory Committee discuss possible changes to the automatic next game suspension policy that could include fines to the schools and additional penalties to those who are ejected including fans.

Mrs. Schaefbauer gave a report on the number of schools that completed the Division Meeting requirement and supplied the board with a listing of schools that did not watch the video this year and thus will be placed in probation.

Mr. Endsley reported on the status of Arbiter, a potential corporate sponsorship with a fast food company; an issue regarding the application for the Scholar Attitude Award, and commented on the number of ejections that have been reported so far this year.

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 meeting:

Division A---Mr. Haupt was contacted by a school in his division regarding the reimbursement to a school that hosts a cross country sectional. It was explained that this was a topic that was going to be discussed during the Cross-Country Advisory Committee report.

Division H---Mr. Ingold received an inquiry regarding which school is responsible to hire the umpires for the quarterfinal games in baseball. Mr. Endsley was directed to respond to the inquiry and explain who is responsible for the hiring and provide some history regarding the hiring of umpires.

Division O---Dr. Stuart informed the Board about legislation that is being discussed in Wisconsin regarding charges that can be brought against a fan for assaulting an official.