Representative Assembly says yes to name change, no to ‘1.5 factor’ for classifying private schools

GAINESVILLE – The Florida High School Activities Association will get a new, yet old, name beginning with the 2003-04 school year as a result of a change in the Association’s bylaws adopted Tuesday by the FHSAA Representative Assembly. Effective July 1, 2003 the Association’s name will be changed to the Florida High School Athletic Association.

In another vote, the Assembly did not adopt a proposal that would have required the student populations of private schools be multiplied by a factor of 1.5 for classification purposes.

The meeting of the Fifth Representative Assembly was held Monday and Tuesday at the FHSAA's new headquarters building, which the Association moved into late last week.

The FHSAA was founded as the “Florida High School Athletic Association” on April 10, 1920. In 1951, however, “athletics” was replaced with “activities” in the Association’s name to reflect the FHSAA’s expanded responsibilities with regard to non-athletic activities such as music programs, student councils and the National Honor Society. That all changed in 1997 when the Florida Legislature passed legislation limiting the scope of the FHSAA’s responsibilities to strictly that of governing interscholastic athletic programs. The proposal to change the Association’s name to better reflect its more focused mission was sponsored by the FHSAA Board of Directors and Commissioner Robert W. Hughes. It passed unanimously, 58-0.

“Everyone of you know people who already call us as the ‘athletic’ association,” Hughes told delegates to the Assembly. “This is a recommendation of your Board of Directors to simply change the Association’s name to reflect what most everyone, in their minds, already know us as.”

The one-year delay in the implementation of the name change will give the Association’s legal counsel the time necessary to file changes to its corporate papers with the Florida Department of State. It also will provide staff time to develop a new logo and graphic identity for the FHSAA.

The proposal to change the way private schools are classified produced the most discussion both in the public hearing before the Assembly on Monday and among the delegates themselves on Tuesday. Proponents said it was a necessary change to level the playing field between metropolitan private schools and rural public schools. Opponents countered that it was unfair because it would treat private schools differently than their public counterparts. The proposal failed to garner the two-thirds vote necessary for adoption, 19-39.

The Assembly also took action on 26 other proposals with the following results:

• Adopted a proposal to clarify that a student who attends an affiliate member school can represent only that school in interscholastic athletic competition.

• Adopted a proposal to stipulate that the Commissioner may investigate any rules violation that comes to his attention and not just those alleged in writing by member schools.

• Adopted a proposal to stipulate that the annual meeting of the Association is the meeting of the Representative Assembly.

• Adopted two proposals to clarify that school representatives and student-athletes are required to adhere to the standards of sportsmanship in all interscholastic relationships whether before, during or after an interscholastic event.

• Defeated a proposal to delete the requirement that a member senior high school must sponsor a varsity program in a minimum of two sanctioned sports each sports season to be eligible to participate in the FHSAA state championship series in any sport.

• Defeated a proposal to permit coaches to have unrestricted contact with their athletes outside the FHSAA sports season but during the school year.

• Defeated a proposal to clarify the terms enroll, enrolled and enrollment in bylaws dealing with athletic eligibility.

• Adopted three proposals to stipulate that student-athletes in schools whose fall semester ends at the holiday break will maintain their fall eligibility status through the holiday break and seven days into the spring semester.

• Adopted two proposals to change the term “transfers to” to “enrolls in” in bylaws dealing with the enrollment of students at the beginning of the school year.

• Adopted a proposal to repeal a bylaw that gave a traditional, but outdated, definition of a school community.

• Adopted a proposal that consolidated the bylaws governing transfers between two member schools and between a member school and a non-member school.

• Adopted a proposal to require a principal to either approve or disapprove an application for waiver of the transfer rule over his or her signature.

• Defeated three proposals that would have relaxed the restrictions placed on transfer students.

• Defeated two proposals that would have given student-athletes four years of consecutive eligibility from the date they first entered the ninth grade rather than the date they first completed the eighth grade.

• Adopted a proposal to eliminate the statute of limitations on rules violations that can be investigated by the Commissioner.

• Adopted four proposals clarifying that attorney’s fees are included in the costs of investigations and appeals that can be recovered from offending member schools when the Association prevails.
All proposals which were adopted, other than the Association’s name change, will take effect July 1.

The Florida High School Activities Association is the governing body for interscholastic athletic competition in Florida. It has a membership of 660 middle and senior high schools.

The FHSAA Representative Assembly is the legislative authority of the Association. It meets annually to consider proposals to amend the Association’s bylaws, which are submitted by member school representatives, advisory committees, the Board of Directors and the Commissioner. The first day of each year’s meeting is a public hearing at which any individual may address the Assembly in favor of or in opposition to any proposal before it for consideration. The second day of the meeting is reserved for deliberation and voting by delegates.

The 2002 Assembly was comprised of 65 elected and appointed delegates representing member schools, district superintendents, district school boards and the Department of Education. Fifty-eight of the delegates were present and participated in the voting process.


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