AURORA — The final of two Colorado High School Activities Association Legislative Council Meetings is slated for Thursday, April 17, at the Radisson Hotel/Red Lion Inn in Aurora, located at I-225 and Parker Road. The Meeting will be at 8:30 a.m. and will be aired live on CHSAA.tv. The CHSAA Board of Directors will meet Wednesday, April 16 in advance of the meeting.
The CHSAA Legislative Council is the body that determines the rules for the student participants in the state of Colorado and its 73 members represent all the individual athletic conferences, along with representatives from the Colorado Association of School Boards, Colorado Athletic Directors Association and Colorado Association of Secondary School Administrators. They will be voting on three administrative proposals, three sports and one activities proposals, along with four administrative committee reports, two activities committee reports and eight sport committee reports. In addition, the Legislative Council will vote on nominations to replace members on the Board of Directors and for President of the Board of Directors.
All Proposals and Committee reports that will be voted on can be found on the CHSAA website (www.rcasey.wpengine.com) under School Info. The following are brief descriptions of the agenda items:
Constitutional Proposals (requires 2/3 majority vote to pass)
None Submitted
Administrative Proposals (Requires majority vote to pass, unless otherwise noted)
ADM 1 – Classification of Schools – This proposal, submitted by the Western Slope League, will require 60% approval to pass. The proposal recommends creating a second classification of Ice Hockey. Under this provision, all schools with an enrollment of more than 1410 would be a 5A school and all others 4A. This would create approximately classifications of 14-15 per class.
ADM-2 – Transfer Rule – The CHSAA Board of Directors is recommending a change in wording in the Transfer Rule to say “when the definition of a hardship has been met” so that it requires the that all conditions of a hardship be met prior to a school submitting one for consideration by the Commissioner. The new wording clarifies the intent of the by-law and emphasizes that a waiver may be submitted only when the criteria has met the definition of a hardship.
ADM-3 – Appeals Procedure – Submitted by the CHSAA Board of Directors, this proposal adds a sentence indicating that PER STATE LAW, arbitration can only take place after all the steps in the CHSAA appeals process have taken place. It is designed to clarify what already is require under state statute.
Sports Proposals
S-1 – Field Hockey Participation – Submitted by the Frontier and Metro Leagues, this proposal increases the number of halves a field hockey participant play may play from 30 to 36 halves during the season. It is designed to maximize participation and strengthen sub-varsity participation.
S – 2 – Lacrosse Participation – Submitted by the Frontier and Metro Leagues, this proposal increases the individual participation for lacrosse players from 34 to 36 halves for girls and from 68 to 72 quarters for boys. It is another proposal that seeks to maximize and strengthen sub-varsity participation.
S – 3 – Soccer Participation – The Frontier and Metro Leagues are proposing increasing the number of halves for soccer participants from 30 to 36 in an effort to maximize participation and strengthen sub-varsity programs.
Activities Proposals
A–1 – Speech Awards – The Metropolitan League is proposing an amendment that, if passed, would allow speech tournaments to declare a team champion and present a team award.
Administrative Committees
Budget/Property Administration (Final Reading) – The committee has proposed freezing participation fees for 2015-16 school year at the 2014-15 level.
Classification and League Organization Committee (CLOC) – The Intermountain, Northern, CS Metro 4A and CS Metro 5A has submitted a proposal that would change the way wrestling was classified, but taking the total number of schools with wrestling programs, dividing by four to balance the number of schools in the classifications.
Equity – No major changes have been proposed. Schools are reminded that the proportionality and participation surveys information has been sent out.
Sportsmanship – The committee has recommended a continuation of the regional sportsmanship summits and is encouraging additional summits. The CHSAA has contracted with Positive Coaches Alliance and access to that program is available for leagues.
Tournament and Playoff Finance – The committee is proposing a raise of $1 in adult ticket prices at the district and regional levels to help offset the costs of running those tournaments for schools.
Activities Committees
Music – No major changes have been proposed.
Speech – A number of proposed changes have been made to specific events, along with several administrative items.
Sports Committees
Basketball – The committee made adjustments in all classifications to reflect changes in enrollments. The regional format in 2A was changed to reflect a desire by the membership to have boys’ and girls’ teams at the same regional sites. The 3A format was adjusted to reflect the addition of the Confluence League, while the 4A format was changed to from 48 qualifiers to 32. Also, Class 4A will play its Great 8 games at home sites. All changes reflect information gathered from school administrators in a survey last fall.
There is an amendment from the Jefferson County League to maintain the 4A qualifiers at 48 teams due to the large number of schools in the classification.
The Lower Platte League is amending the 2A regional portion of the report to create a regional format that would create three regions (northeast, southeast, western), putting three districts in the NE and SE and giving three state qualifiers to those regionals, while limiting the state qualifiers from the W region to two.
The Southwestern League is amending the 5A portion of the report to create a one-day seeding window for the selection/seeding committees, rather than two days. All other classifications seed over a one-day period, as well.
Football – The Colorado Springs Metro 5A, Continental and Jefferson County leagues have submitted a proposal to change the seeding process for 5A football. The proposal is a collaborative effort of 5A leagues to allow for more flexibility in seeding the 32 teams that qualify for the bracket through Wild Card Points. The bracket will be seeded in quadrants and each quadrant will have eight seeds. Conference champions will be guaranteed of a first round home game by being seeded in the top 16. Additional seeding criteria will include an RPI ranking system developed by RockyPreps. The proposed seeding will provide flexibility in avoiding conference match-ups, yet maintaining appropriate seeding within the quadrants.
Ice Hockey: The committee has recommended semifinal and championships dates of March 5 and 6, but the dates could change depending on rink availability.
Lacrosse – The major changes recommended by committee include changes in automatic qualifiers for the girls’ tournament. On the boys’ side, the committee made the necessary adjustments to 4A conferences to account for new programs. Additionally, the committee is recommending keeping the 4A quarterfinals and semifinals at home sites.
Skiing – No major changes were recommended.
Spirit – The lone major change deals with outdoor competitions where two varsity teams (co-ed, cheer, poms) are allowed to be on the sidelines if mutually agreed upon by both schools. During indoor competitions, one varsity team will be allowed on the sidelines/court if mutually agreed upon by both schools.
Swimming and Diving – The new state qualifying times were created in an attempt to create 4-5 heats in each event. Additionally, because of housing issues in Fort Collins during the spring, the committee is recommending a three-day meet at Thornton’s VMAC to accommodate the two classifications.
The Pikes Peak League will attempt to amend the report to go back to a two-day meet for each classification. The Air Force Academy has agreed to be the second site for the championship meets and will host 5A.
Track and Field – No major changes were recommended by the committee.
The Frontier League has submitted an amendment to the track report that would free up the 12th week of the season for a state qualifying meet. Currently the 12th week is limed to league championship meets.
Wrestling – The committee made its recommendations for regional teams, assigning the top 16 (5A) and top 12 (4A0 teams to regions based on returning regional and state meet points. In Class 3A, the committee is recommending utilizing the 4A/5A models, but only using the top 8 teams. All others will be assigned geographically. In 2A, the committee assigned teams based on geography, moving teams only to balance the regions. Other items from the committee include the dates when information must be put into the TrackWrestling System.
The Legislative Council will start at 8:30 a.m. with its traditional Speak Out session where members of the public may ask to speak to the Legislative Council on pertinent issues. Speakers are limited to five minutes and may gain access to the podium by contacting CHSAA’s Bethany Brookens (303) 344-5050 by Friday, April 11 at 4:00 p.m.