FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 29, 2007


FHSAA Board of Directors orders halt to all scheduling for 2007-08 school year; major changes to athletic calendar, including football, may be forthcoming

GAINESVILLE –The FHSAA Board of Directors today instructed the FHSAA staff to notify all member schools to stop all scheduling of athletic events, including football games, for the 2007-08 school year.

The Board of Directors was originally set to act on a recommendation by the FHSAA staff to maintain the current athletic calendar for the two remaining school years of the current four-year classification term. The FHSAA on Sunday, however, received word that legislators are concerned that the Association has not adjusted the athletic calendar to reflect the new legislatively mandated starting date for public schools. The new law, which takes effect this fall, prohibits public schools from beginning classes early than 14 days prior to Labor Day. That date, Aug. 20, is a full five weeks after the current FHSAA calendar permits preseason practice to begin in the sports of football, golf, fall soccer, swimming & diving and girls volleyball.

Sen. Don Gaetz (R-Niceville), chair of the Senate Pre-K–12 Education Committee, cautioned the Association on Sunday in a meeting of the FHSAA Public Liaison Advisory Committee that the Association should quickly move forward with a revision to its athletic calendar that more closely mirrors the new starting date for classes. Gaetz recently was appointed by Senate President Ken Pruitt to represent The Florida Senate on the committee.

"This is the first time that we have heard that our athletic calendar may be an issue in Tallahassee," FHSAA Commissioner John A. Stewart said. "We knew that we probably would eventually make some adjustments since the school year is starting later. We, however, hoped that we would be allowed to complete the current four-year classification term before those adjustments had to be made. We thank Sen. Gaetz for bringing this matter to our attention so that we can address it now rather than later."

Stewart recommended to the Board of Directors that the staff be permitted to draft alternative calendars for the Board of Directors to consider at its March 26 meeting. Meanwhile, Stewart will ask the Association's lobbyists to arrange meetings with Gaetz, House Schools & Learning Council chair Joe Pickens (R-Palatka) and House Pre-K–12 Education Committee chair Anitere Flores (R-Miami) to ascertain the Legislature's expectations and solicit their advice on the extent to which the calendar may need to be adjusted.

"There is no opposition from the Board of Directors or the staff to moving forward with a calendar revision," Stewart said. "We just didn't realize we would need to make the revision this quickly."

While a calendar revision will impact all sports, football most likely will feel the greatest impact. First of all, the work accomplished in district scheduling meetings that were held on Jan. 24 is effectively wiped out. Schools are advised to hold off on signing football contracts, especially with out-of-state opponents. A second district scheduling meeting most likely will be held at some point in April after a final decision on the calendar is made. Scheduling meetings set for March in the sports of basketball, soccer and girls volleyball will be delayed.

Then there is the football season itself.

If the Association is permitted to start practice one week before the first permissible date of classes, the only changes to the football season that will be required to complete it before Christmas will be to eliminate the open date (that was just reinstituted two seasons ago) and move all playoff rounds, including the FHSAA Finals, one week later.

If, however, the Legislature is adamant that no practice can begin until the first day of classes, the Board of Directors will be faced with a tough choice.

Said Stewart: "There are only three options for making that third week adjustment – one, eliminating the preseason classic and playing the first regular season game in its place; two, cutting the regular season back from 10 to nine games; or three, cutting one round from the playoffs by discontinuing the advancement of the district runner-up."

Such tough decisions could impact all other sports.

"It's pretty much a given that we all sports will be impacted by adjustments," Stewart said. "And any decision to eliminate the preseason classics, cut regular season contests, or discontinue the advancement of the district runners-up in football will have to be reflected in all other sports."

Consequently, the FHSAA Office will be conducting an online of member schools over the next two weeks to gather their preferences as to what option, if necessary, they would prefer. All member schools are strongly encouraged to participate in the survey.

"This process will be an inconvenience to everyone involved," Stewart said. "But its not the end of the world. If Tallahassee says get it done, we will get it done. We would much rather be proactive and work with the Legislature toward an amenable solution today than sit back and wait for a law to be passed during the upcoming session that we will have only a couple of months to implement."

In other action, the Board of Directors:

• Approved a recommendation of the Competitive Cheer Advisory Panel to begin the season with the first permissible date of football practice, and end the season with the FHSAA Finals state championship meet in March – the Friday and Saturday of Week 37 (March 14-15, 2008), subject to change pending a revision of the FHSAA athletic calendar.

• Approved a recommendation to restructure state series brackets in team sports to reduce excessive travel and loss of class time on the part of more than one team in each regional tournament. The revised bracket structure will limit competition in the regional quarterfinal and regional semifinal rounds to representatives from the same or neighboring districts. Competition from the two geographically opposing districts in a region will not take place until the regional final round. Under the revised structure only one school will be required to travel from one side of a region to another in one round. Currently, two schools may be required to make that long trip in the regional semifinal game, and one of them again in the regional final round.

• Approved a recommendation to discontinue the invitational state series in fall soccer after the 2008-09 school year if the required minimum number of participating schools does not exist at that time.

• Approved a recommendation of the Swimming & Diving Advisory Committee to amend state series terms and conditions to allow for the use of a maximum of two alternate swimmers to fill vacant lanes in district, regional and state meet finals per NFHS rule.

• Approved a recommendation of the Swimming & Diving Advisory Committee to require the FHSAA Office to approve for competition the facility proposed for each district meet.

• Approved a recommendation of the Girls Volleyball Advisory Committee to petition the NFHS for a continuation of the 2006 rules experiment in which the libero is permitted to serve.

• Approved a recommendation of the Girls Volleyball Advisory Committee to amend state series terms and conditions to conduct regional tournament quarterfinal matches over two days – three classifications (odd or even) on Tuesday and three classes (odd or even) on Wednesday – due to a shortage of officials qualified to officiate these matches, with the classifications playing on Tuesday and Wednesday rotated each year.

• Denied a recommendation of the Cross Country Advisory Commitee to amend state series terms and conditions to allow substitute runners in regional and/or state series meets to be eligible for individual honors.

• Heard a review of bylaw proposals adopted by the 2007 Representative Assembly.

• Heard an update on the FHSAA Handbook Revision Task Force.

•Heard a presentation on the Inaugural FHSAA Sportsmanship Summit.

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 March 25-26, 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