The AHSAA Legislative Council voted on spring proposals yesterday in a first time virtual vote from their home districts. The council passed a record 11 proposals, several that came from the work of the Transfer Committee. “I especially want to thank the members of the AHSAA Transfer Committee under the leadership of chairperson Terry Curtis, District 1 board member, whose painstaking work has resulted in providing some excellent proposals that will help guide the AHSAA as it moves forward in our changing society,” said AHSAA director Steve Savarese.
Several of the rules will be significant to ALFCA football coaches. All legislative proposals that passed will go into effect on June 1, 2020.
Here is a summary the rules passed by the Legislative Council:
All transfer students competing below varsity level will now be immediately eligible if all other eligibility requirements are met. They still cannot compete in championship varsity sports. This expands the rule as first time 7th graders have always been eligible. That proposal passed 24-8.
Dependent children of full-time class room teachers or administrators who accept a position in another school attendance zone can now transfer to the new school and be eligible to participate in athletics at the new school if all other eligibility requirements are met. Passed by a vote of 29-3.
The overlapping school zone transfer rule has been amended. After sitting out one year, the student may transfer to any school within the overlapping zone and be immediately eligible if all other eligibility requirements are met. Passed 26-6. Before, if a student sat out a year and decided to go back to his former school, that student would have to sit out another year.
Academic Rule was amended to allow unlimited units earned in approved summer school, credit recovery or correspondence courses if completed by the first fall contest date. This rule does away with the 2 credit limit and extends the date of completion. The proposal passed 28-4.
Proposal 13 passed by a vote of 25-7. It does away with the 50% restriction and the 2-hour per individual athlete restriction of the rule. This will allow multiple coaches to work with multiple athletes at one time. It creates a 2-hour restriction per sport for coaching outside of the season and limits the number of weeks allowed to 10 of the approximately 20 off-season weeks. Now coaches can work with as many athletes at a time as they wish, and use as many coaches as they wish, but are still limited to 2 hours per week and a total of 10 weeks. All other rules concerning out of season practice during the school year remain. In season athletes in other sports may not participate.
In a rule change that will certainly concern football coaches, fall sports (football, volleyball, cross country, swimming) will now have the option of having a Spring evaluation period or starting official practice a week early. If no spring evaluation period was held, coaches could start practice on the Monday before the first Monday in August. This passed by a vote of 22-10.
Students born in a foreign country can now use a passport or other central board-approved government documents as age verification for eligibility process. The proposal passed 28-4.
Proposal #3 passed to amend the penalty for a Leaving the Bench Ejection to include players who are ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct and those who come off the bench onto the court or field and are ejected under National Federation rules. They will also be suspended for 20 percent of the team’s total number of regular season contests. This one passed 27-5.
Coaching outside the allowable periods during school has been changed to include any school employee, not just members of the coaching staff. It will read: No administrator, coach or non-faculty coach from a school’s staff of the same sport may hold organized practice (except during allowable period) or competition for its school or its feeder school students (students 7-12) in that sport outside the sports season during the school year. It passed by a 26-6 margin.
The start date of the summer exemption for the 50% rule has been changed to begin on the Monday following the last championship event in the spring.
Sanctioning requirements for tournaments have been simplified. Only tournaments that determine a champion need to be sanctioned in the future.