Officials Advisory Committee

Minutes
Sept. 23, 2002 • 10 a.m.
FHSAA Headquarters
Gainesville, Florida


The Officials Advisory Committee met in the office of the FHSAA on Monday, September 23, 2002, at 10 a.m. Members present were: Pete Newton, Boca Raton; Jim Tucker, Jacksonville; Mitchell Kaufman, Coral Springs; Ted Brown, Winter Haven: Thom Smith, Boca Raton; Richard Hochman of Broward County representing Bill Tallant, Hollywood: Arturo Vazquez, Tampa; Robert T. Decker, Tavares; and Mike Knowles (NFOA State Director and ex-officio member). Representing the FHSAA were Gary Pigott, Paul McLaughlin, Cecelia Jackson, Denarvise Thornton and Ron Allen.

Following housekeeping information, the Minutes of March 11, 2002 were reviewed. Mr. George Sansone was selected Chairman for the outstanding job that he did in that position during the 2001-02 year. Mr. Thornton and Mr. Pigott briefed the committee on the progress of the 2002-2003 Board mandated basketball evaluation program. Mr. Kaufman who served on the Evaluation Sub-Committee expressed a concern that the sub-committee was not as involved in the process as they wished they had been. Mr. Allen apologized to Mr. Kaufman if that was the feeling derived. Mr. Kaufman and Mr. Brown, basketball officials on the sub-committee will be invited to the next planning session scheduled for October 7, dealing with the evaluation program. Out of 50-plus candidates, 19 have been selected as evaluators for upcoming FHSAA field clinics. The evaluation procedure meeting is planned for the FHSAA office on October 7, 2002.

Commissioner Hughes of the FHSAA was introduced. He then addressed the Committee.

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM MARCH 11, 2002 MEETING

Specific recommendations from March 11, 2002 were discussed as follows:

Recommendation 1: Commissioner Hughes addressed the committee stating that he was aware of their recommendation for the employment of a “Supervisor of Officials” position, and will consider that in his staffing needs for the future.

Recommendation 2: On-line filing for unsportsmanlike conduct was recommended on March 11, and hopefully will be available to our officials community very soon, as well as on-line registration.

Recommendation 3: Ms. Jackson announced that a soccer test in the Spanish language is near completion to be piloted during the 2002-2003 soccer examination period.

Recommendation 4: the FHSAA office is addressing earlier testing dates for officials and registration of officials.

The review of the officials’ ranking system as well as implementing promotional points for local meeting attendance is being reviewed by the FHSAA staff with a recommendation forthcoming.

The student officials program age has been lowered by the FHSAA Board of Directors from 17 to 16 and the requirement for senior class status has been eliminated.

Errors in the 2002-03 Officials Guidebook: Policy 1.224 dealing with the student officials program with the age being reduced from 17 to 16 - the deletion of the word “senior”. Policy 1.353 deals with field clinic registration fees – the fee listed as $30.00 should read $40.00 for all field clinics with a registration of $50.00 for basketball. All “at-the-door” registrations are $50.00, except basketball is $60.00. The extra $10.00 for basketball is for the evaluation component implemented for the 2002-03 school year to compensate evaluators.

Policy 10.213 relates to baseball – completed games—line 3 – the word “cannot” should be replaced with “can”.

Policy 10.731 dealing with volleyball—“all player uniform shirts must be tucked in during play.” Rule clarification is 4.4 not 4.2.

Policy 10.750 BODY PAINT AND GLITTER -- has been removed from the Handbook.

Policy 10.811 under Wrestling Regulations—the minimum weights have been deleted as per National rule.
Policy 10.816 has been deleted.

Policy 10.831—Rule Modification - “NFHS Rule 4-4-1….Weight classes – 14 including optional 215 –pound class” has been deleted.

Volleyball (on page 48) Rule clinics for Officials and Coaches – the beginning time was in error. It should read: Officials @ 7:30 p.m., Coaches @ 6:00 p.m.

An in depth discussion ensued related to local association representation at state championship play. A motion was made that assignment of officials for state championship play should be based in ratio of the number of local association members. This motion died from lack of second.

The issue of officials compensation for JV soccer games, submitted by soccer official Barry Witlin, was discussed by the committee. The request was that junior varsity soccer contests be reduced to 30 minutes per half in length or for 40 minute halves be the same for JV play as varsity play. No action was taken by the committee.

Mike Knowles presented information about the NFOA Governance Restructuring. It appears that the NFOA has decentralized as a National Federation entity and re-directed responsibilities for recognition of state officials to the state association offices. Mr. Allen stated that it is the desire of the FHSAA to continue to work with Mr. Knowles in a cooperative effort to recognize officials from Florida.

Mr. Allen suggested to Chairman Sansone that a committee be appointed to develop plans for the establishment of an annual officials recognition banquet at the appropriate time of the year to incorporate special awards for state officials and recognize the various sports specific associations for achievements earned. The members of that committee will be Jim Tucker – Chairman, Pete Newton, George Sansone and Paul McLaughlin of the FHSAA.

A recommendation submitted by FHSAA official Randy Merrill, which related to the officials examination program, was tabled until the next meeting. This request was received the morning of the meeting and there had been no time for the Committee to review the proposal.

Much time was devoted to discussion of officials fees. Chairman Sansone requested a committee be established to evaluate the present fee structure for all officials. This recommendation stems from the inquiry by Mr. Vasquez to raise the fee for baseball umpires. Chairman Sansone appointed Arturo Vazquez, Thom Smith and Mike Knowles as committee members and Gary Pigott of the FHSAA. Their specific charge is to study the present FHSAA officials fee schedule with schedules from the Southeast (Section 3) and the nation and present specific recommendations to the committee at its next meeting on March 17, 2003. The ancillary fee survey recently conducted has not been as informative as hoped due to the unreliable information received. The proposition was discussed that all associations in the future will be requested to submit pertinent information regarding ancillary fees charged and that data will be part of the sanction registration process. This idea received favorable support.

No action was taken on the issue of changing baseball hats for relief from the heat as submitted by umpire Jim Davis.

Committee members remained concerned about the lack of efforts on behalf of some member schools to follow recommended courtesies to officials as described in the bylaws and policies of the FHSAA. The main points of contention are security measures to escort the officials on and off venues and provide secure, private dressing facilities. That issue was discussed based on the submission by official, Dr. Alan Linkoff of Gulf Coast Basketball Officials Association.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendation 1: Pete Newton made the motion and Mike Knowles seconded a recommendation to implement a 7-man officials crew for state football semi-final and championship games. Recommendation passed unanimously. Effective 2004-05 2nd Vote

Recommendation 2: Mike Knowles recommended and Art Vazquez seconded the recommendation that all baseball schools schedule a minimum of three (3) home games requiring a 3-person officiating crew. This recommendation passed unanimously. Effective 2003-04 Season

Recommendation 3: Thom Smith recommended and Jim Tucker seconded an incentive issue for officials that provides for allowing five consecutive year Rank 1 officials to be exempt from examination for a specific sport on the sixth year, with the understanding that after the exempt year, the exam would be required and that if the Rank 1 level was maintained the following year, the exam would be exempt on an alternating yearly basis. The recommendation was approved unanimously. Effective 2004-05

Recommendation 4: The committee expressed concern for the lack of member school supervision for some athletic contests where unsportsmanlike issues developed related to crowd control. The recommendation is that member school principals consider coverage for sports – home and away – whenever possible, especially for volatile sports.

Recommendation 5: The Committee again recommends that Commissioner Hughes consider expansion of the FHSAA officials supervisory office, considering the employment of a “Supervisor of Officials” with duties related only to officials free of other administrative responsibilities. This person would be more available to attend tournaments, evaluate officials, assist in local association meetings, etc.


Roundtable Discussion
• Denarvise Thornton solicited basketball evaluation input.
• Ted Brown requested information regarding the division of officials and coaches rule clinics, suggesting that it might be a good idea to combine these meetings as has been done prior to the early ‘90’s. The Staff response was that the large numbers of people involved would create facility problems. Also, the agendas for coaches and officials are quite diverse and the idea of having only one meeting per sport would eliminate the opportunities for officials to attend multi-sport meetings on the same evening.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 3:15 p.m.