FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 20, 2006
Board endorses membership bylaw proposal, approves Student-Athlete Advisory Committee
GAINESVILLE – The Florida High School Athletic Association Board of Directors today voted to co-sponsor three proposed amendments to FHSAA bylaws, including a comprehensive revision to the Association's rules governing its membership process.
The Board also approved guidelines for the establishment of the Association's first-ever Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
The proposed revision to the bylaw governing membership will require all member schools to be accredited by an agency recognized by the Association. The agencies identified in the proposal include organizations that already accredit most if not all of the public and nonpublic high schools in the state. Current member schools that are not accredited would have three years to earn accreditation.
The proposal also will require all schools joining the Association for the first time, or rejoining after a lapse in membership, to serve a two-year provisional period before becoming eligible for full membership. During the provisional period the school's membership privileges will be limited to preseason and regular season competitions. Schools that are created from the consolidation or division of existing member schools will not be required to serve the provisional period.
The proposal further will require the Board of Directors, rather than the Commissioner, to make the determination as to whether a school applying membership will be accepted.
"The proposed bylaw on membership is a well-thought-out approach to accepting members and will improve the membership selection process," said Commissioner John A. Stewart. "It will help prospective members understand what's expected of them when they become members."
Other bylaw proposals co-sponsored by the Board of Directors include an amendment that will allow the Board of Directors at the request of the Commissioner to review a decision of a sectional appeals committee that the Commissioner believes to be contrary to the rules of the Association; and an amendment that will clarify the conditions under which a student may participate in athletically related activities during the summer period at a school that the student will be attending in the fall. All three bylaw proposals will be submitted to the FHSAA Representative Assembly for its consideration in January 2007.
The 16-member Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will provide the Association's more than 214,000 student-athletes a voice in the decision-making process. Committee members will be selected from student-athletes nominated by their respective schools to ensure gender, racial, geographic and sports diversity. The committee will meet at least once annually.
"I'm excited about the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee," said Stewart said. "It's an opportunity for our student-athletes to have some input into how we formulate governance, and that's been missing for a long time."
In other action, the Board of Directors:
• Approved the appointment of Dianne Sanzari, athletic director of Coral Springs High School, to fill vacant public school representative seat on Section 4 Appeals Committee.
• Approved the following appointments to fill vacant seats on the 2007 Representative Assembly: Section 1, Division 1 Public, Bill Emerson, principal, Navarre; Section 1, Division 3 Public, Duane McFarland, principal, Port St. Joe; Section 1, Divisions 5-6 Private, Tamarick Vanover, athletic director, Lake City Christian; Section 1, Division 7 Public, Doug White, athletic director, Raines (Jacksonville); Section 2, Divisions 9-10 Private, Dennis Meunier, athletic director, St. John Lutheran (Ocala); Section 2, Division 13-14 Private, Larry Robison, principal, Saddlebrook Prep (Wesley Chapel); Section 2, Division 12 Public, Jeff Spivey, athletic director, Central (Brooksville); Section 2, Division 16 Public, John Magrino, athletic director, Dr. Phillips (Orlando); Section 3, Division 19 Public, Brenda Grasso, principal, Gaither (Tampa); Section 3, Division 21 Public, Gary Lineberger, athletic director, Kathleen (Lakeland); Section 3, Divisions 17-24 Middle School, Heather Siler-Dobbs, assistant principal, Osceola Middle (Okeechobee); and Section 4, Division 29 Public, Joyce Ferguson, principal, Hollywood Hills.
• Approved a recommendation to add Independent School Management’s Financial Aid for School Tuition program to the list of organizations recognized to evaluate the financial aid needs of students attending private schools.
• Heard a presentation by NFHS Assistant Director Tim Flannery on the NFHS Coaches Education Program.
• Discussed a Sports Medicine Advisory Committee recommendation to establish mandatory fall preseason practice guidelines effective with the 2007-08 school year.
• Discussed the FHSAA athletic calendar as it may be impacted by the legislatively mandated later starting date for public schools.
• Discussed a proposed restructuring of state series brackets in team sports to reduce excessive travel and excessive loss of class time on the part of more than one team in each regional tournament.
• Discussed the declining participation in theinvitational state fall soccer series.
• Heard an update the findings of the independent Student-Athlete Recruiting Task Force.
• Heard an update on the FHSAA Handbook Revision Task Force.
About the FHSAA
The Florida High School Athletic Association is the governing body for interscholastic athletic competition in Florida. It has a membership of more than 750 middle, junior and senior high schools.
The FHSAA Board of Directors is the executive authority of the Association, establishing guidelines, regulations, policies and procedures within the framework of the Association’s bylaws. The Board of Directors also has the sole authority over all terms and conditions of participation and competition in the FHSAA state championship series. The Board of Directors meets five times annually. Its next meeting is January 28-29, 2007 at the Robert W. Hughes FHSAA Building in Gainesville.
Contact:
Jack Watford
Director of Communications, FHSAA
(352) 372-9551 ext. 170
jwatford@fhsaa.org
