FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 20, 2000


Board of Directors votes to shorten football season, approves classification plan for 2001 and 2002 seasons

GAINESVILLE – The Florida High School Activities Association Board of Directors voted today to shorten the regular season in football from 11 weeks to 10 weeks effective with the 2001 season, by eliminating the open week from member schools' schedules.

The Board of Directors also voted to continue the current policy for classifying schools participating in the FHSAA State Football Series. That policy requires that such schools be divided evenly into six classifications. The tentative classification and district assignments for the 2001 and 2002 football seasons are now available on the FHSAA web site and can be viewed by clicking here. A school that wishes to appeal its assignment must do so in writing by Friday, December 8. Once all appeals are reviewed, any resulting adjustments will be made and the assignments will be made final and official.

The elimination of the open date as a means of shortening the football season was the favored choice of member schools according to a survey conducted by the FHSAA staff earlier this fall. Under the new scheduling plan, schools will be permitted to play a maximum of 10 regular season games over 10 consecutive weeks. The regular season will end one week earlier. The five-week FHSAA State Football Series also will conclude one week earlier.

"The survey made pretty clear to us the preference of the member schools was to eliminate the open date," said Commissioner Robert W. Hughes. "We also have been told that the Florida Athletic Coaches Association surveyed the football coaches and got the same results.

"The Board of Directors already had made the decision to move the FHSAA Florida Football Finals state championship games one week earlier to get them away from the Christmas holidays. To accomplish that, they had to make some adjustment in the football season. From our standpoint, the elimination of the open date was the most painless option because it really didn't take anything away from anyone. Plus, for those schools who do not qualify for the state series, it gets their athletes into winter sports one week earlier."

The decision to continue with the current football classification policy was much less controversial that when it was first adopted in November 1998. That year a number of football coaches and other representatives from member schools appeared before the Board of Directors to oppose the plan. This year, no opposition was voiced.

"We realize no system is perfect," Hughes said. "But no one can argue with the inherent fairness in evenly dividing the participating schools over the six classifications. We've lived through it for two years now and virtually no complaints have been received."

The Board of Directors did not approve a staff recommendation to extend the classification cycle from two to four years. However, it did vote to eliminate the controversial "25-percent rule." That rule required the FHSAA to reclassify in the second year of the two-year cycle any school that experienced a 25-percent or more increase or decrease in enrollment from the previous year. With the elimination of the rule, all schools will remain in the same classification and district for two years regardless of any fluctuations in their enrollments.

"That rule caused nothing but chaos and hard feelings," Hughes said. "Schools caught in that situation were forced to buy their way out of contracts in order to schedule into a new district at the last minute. We asked the Football Coaches Advisory Committee two years ago about their feelings on the rule and they said it caused more harm than good.

"Hopefully now all schools will be able to enjoy at least two years of consistency in their football schedules."

In other action, the Board of Directors:

• Adopted a policy prohibiting a school from participating in any FHSAA state championship series competition in its first year of membership. An exception will be made for newly opening public schools whose students are required to transfer their by district policy.

• Adopted a policy prohibiting any existing member school from entering a team into the FHSAA state championship series competition in a sport until the school has competed interscholastically for at least one year as an independent in that sport.
• Adopted new penalties on schools that commitment to participate in an FHSAA state championship series and then withdraw from their commitment, or who attempt to enter a state series after originally stating they will not do so.

• Approved a loan from the FHSAA to the Florida High School Athletic Association Land Corporation for the purpose of purchasing land fronting Interstate 75 on which to build a proposed new office building.

• Appointed Walt Miller, principal of North Marion High School in Citra, to the Section 2 Appeals Committee for the remainder of the current school year. Miller replaces former Belleview High School principal Jim Yancey who was promoted to a position in the Marion County School Board office.

The Florida High School Activities Association is the governing body for interscholastic athletics in Florida. It has a membership of more than 650 middle, junior and senior high schools. Its Board of Directors is the executive authority, exercising control over all guidelines, regulations, policies and procedures, as well as terms and conditions for all FHSAA state championship series competitions.

Contact:
Jack Watford
Director of Communications, FHSAA
(352) 372-9551 ext. 170
jwatford@fhsaa.org