North Carolina Wrestling Forum
ANY ISSUES - admin@ncwrestlingscoutreport.com => High School Wrestling => Topic started by: Longdayrunner on April 22, 2022, 11:34:10 AM
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NCHSAA board could vote on major changes to policies, sports next week
(Ask your school Administration how they will vote on the subject of sanctioning Girl's Wrestling. See in red)
https://www.highschoolot.com/nchsaa-board-could-vote-on-major-changes-to-policies-sports-next-week/20246901/
Posted April 21, 2022 10:38 p.m. EDT
By Nick Stevens, HighSchoolOT managing editor
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — For the first time since the N.C. High School Athletic Association and the State Board of Education entered into a Memorandum of Understanding, the NCHSAA Board of Directors will hold a regularly scheduled meeting next week.
There are a number of major issues on the table for the board to discuss and potentially vote on next week. The meeting will begin on Tuesday, with voting occurring on Wednesday.
The Policy Committee will have a number of major topics to look at on Tuesday, but the biggest action item for the committee will focus on penalties for ejections.
Under current NCHSAA rules, teams that have multiple ejections for fighting over the course of the season could find themselves ineligible for the state playoffs. That's what happened to the Anson County football team in 2019 and ultimately sparked a legislative inquiry that led to the passage of House Bill 91, which overhauled the framework for high school sports administration in North Carolina and threatened the existence of the NCHSAA.
Under a proposal that will be considered by the board next week, entire teams would no longer be banned from the state playoffs due to individual ejections. Instead, the following rules would be in place if the proposal passes:
Individual players or coaches who accumulate six or more ejections over the course of the season will be ineligible for postseason participation.
If a team receives more than three ejections for fighting during a single incident, the players ejected will be ineligible for the playoffs.
The NCHSAA may use video to review altercations to determine which players are eligible for ejection.
If a team receives three or more ejections due to fighting, the head coach will be suspended for the next game.
The Policy Committee will also have a number of discussion items, but action is not expected on any of those topics. Some of the discussion items include name, image, and likeness policies, the gender policy, and criteria for mid-alignment appeals.
Changes to finances could be coming
Finances were a topic of focus for state legislators as they investigated the NCHSAA, and while the association has already made some major changes to its financial practices, more could be coming.
The Finance Committee will consider a number of potential changes next week. First, the committee will review a proposal from the N.C. Athletic Directors Association to reimburse athletic directors who achieve national certification. This training is professional development for athletic administrators, but the total cost to the association is not known.
Also up for consideration is a proposal from the newly formed Endowment Advisory Committee. The advisory committee is suggesting the board consider a 7 percent distribution from the General Endowment Fund and a 5 percent distribution from the Education/Health & Safety Fund to member schools. Typical endowment disbursements are between 3-5 percent annually, but the advisory committee is recommending a larger distribution this year due to continued financial strain at schools caused by the pandemic.
The Finance Committee will also look at a recommendation for fees for the 2022-2023 school year. The agreement with the State Board of Education requires the NCHSAA to determine the fees charged to member schools. The recommendation would set membership dues at $1 per pupil, school administrative fees at $100, and cheerleading registration fees at $25 per participant.
Finally, the committee will also have discussions about corporate partnerships, the education-based grant program, the television contract with Sinclair Broadcast Group, and the potential formation of a NCHSAA Foundation to manage the endowment funds.
Sports committee could add new sports, make big changes to basketball
At each board meeting, a lot of attention gets placed on the Sports Committee because that is where policies around specific sports often get changed. The committee will have its hands full this spring too.
The Sports Committee will be tasked with potentially adding a new sanctioned sport as soon as the 2023-2024 school year. The N.C. Wrestling Coaches Association is asking the board to approve the addition of women's wrestling as a sanctioned sport with a state championship as opposed to holding a separate invitational.
According to the NCHSAA, there are 210 schools with at least one female wrestler and 125 schools with at least two female wrestlers. Current NCHSAA bylaws says 25 percent of the membership must offer a sport for the sport to be eligible for sanctioning. 25 percent of the current NCHSAA membership is 107 schools. The NCHSAA Handbook defines as a team as "two or more students practicing and competing in a regular scheduled school season."
The Sports Committee is also considering the addition of a 4A classification for girls lacrosse. Right now, all classifications play together in girls lacrosse. However, NCHSAA bylaws say "when at least half the schools in a classification participate in a sport sanctioned by the NCHSAA, that sport shall culminate in a state championship for that classification." There are currently 70 girls lacrosse teams at the 4A level and a total of 106 schools in the 4A classification.
As participation concerns continue to grow in high school sports, the Sports Committee is being asked by the N.C. Basketball Coaches Association to step in and help. The committee will consider a proposal that would allow 9th and 10th grade students to participate in five quarters of a basketball game in a single day. Schools are struggling to field junior varsity and varsity teams, and this would allow players to compete on both teams to add depth.
The proposed language for the 5th quarter rule says: "A student shall not participate in more than five quarters per day and will not exceed the seasonal limitation of games, exclusive of conference tournaments and state playoffs. Overtime periods shall be considered an extension of the previous quarter, and participation for any length of time in a quarter shall constitute a full quarter."
The N.C. Tennis Coaches Association is asking the Sports Committee to allow an open dual-team tournament for the 2022-2023 school year for both boys and girls tennis. This would be a pilot program to determine if an open tournament is a fairer way to decide a state champion. The coaches association shared a video explaining why they support this proposal.
What to expect
The NCHSAA Board of Directors meeting will begin on Tuesday, but voting will occur on Wednesday. The votes are held publicly and HighSchoolOT will be in attendance with full reporting.
NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker and NCHSAA Board of Directors President Bobby Wilkins, the principal at Hendersonville High School, will likely hold a media availability after the conclusion of the meeting on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the NCHSAA will hold its Annual Meeting, which is open to the full membership.