September 8, 2009


FHSAA announces dates for Urban/Rural Committee meetings (updated)

The FHSAA’s Urban/Rural Committee is conducting six open forums around the state to facilitate discussion and identify key issues regarding interscholastic athletic competition.

The dates, times and locations are as follows (new dates are in bold):
September 1, Section 1 East – Columbia High School, Lake City – 4:30-6:30 p.m.
September 21, Section 2 – Forest High School, Ocala – 4:30-6:30 p.m.
September 22, Section 3 – Braden River High School, Bradenton – 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
October 1, Section 1 West – Marianna High School, Marianna – 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
October 6, Section 4 – South Broward High School, Hollywood – 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
October 13, Section 1 East – Oak Hall School, Gainesville – 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.

The FHSAA created the Urban/Rural Committee due to the growing concern among public and private school members of the FHSAA. Some of the issues include attendance boundaries, open enrollment, foreign student eligibility requirements and guidelines, and the potential for illegal recruiting of student-athletes.

The committee is comprised of one public school athletic director, one private school athletic director, one member of the community at large recommended by Governor Crist, a state representative, and an individual that operates an athletic training company in Florida. The members of the committee are:

State Representative Marti Coley
Elijah Bell – athletic director of Jay High School (Jay)
Bob West – athletic director of Bishop Kenny High School (Jacksonville)
James Harris – private citizen
Rick Williams – athletic trainer

All meetings are open to the public, and the Association encourages everyone interested to attend.

-----------------------
From a previous release:

For a number of years, there has been a growing concern among public and private school members of the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA), regarding the issues of: attendance boundaries, open enrollment, foreign student eligibility requirements and guidelines, and the potential for illegal recruiting of student-athletes.

In addition, Florida is a very diverse state in terms of student population within the schools and the population of the communities served by those schools. Florida has some very large metropolitan areas, which have high schools with more than 4,000 students. At the same time, there remains a great number of small, rural communities in Florida, which have high school populations fewer than 500 students. Private schools and charter schools vary in student population from fewer than 100 students to more than 2,000 students.

For all of these reasons and more, it is conducive upon the FHSAA to study the problems that are created by such diversity, enrollment procedures, foreign student eligibility requirements, and student attendance boundary policies. Therefore, the FHSAA has established the Urban / Rural Committee to research data from this state, meet with individuals who care to express concerns and suggestions in each of the four established administrative sections of Florida, and study the policies and rules of the other southeastern state high school associations regarding these issues.

Mission: Gather information and suggestions, while meeting with constituents throughout the state of Florida, about the problems and potential solutions of creating a more fair and equitable system of competition for interscholastic athletics. The committee will research what other southeastern state associations are doing to "level the playing field" in terms of obtaining and developing talent for student-athletes in the state of Florida.

About the FHSAA
The Florida High School Athletic Association is the governing body for interscholastic athletics in Florida. It has a membership of more than 750 middle and senior high schools, and sponsors postseason competitions to determine the official state high school champions in 30 different sports. The 16-member FHSAA Board of Directors is the executive authority of the Association.

Contact for media:
Cristina Alvarez
Director of Media Relations & Marketing, FHSAA
(352) 372-9551 ext. 190
calvarez@fhsaa.org