Category: Legislative Council

On January 26, the Legislative Council will meet in Aurora. Below is information about the meeting, including links to the agenda and proposals that will be considered.

Where: Radisson Denver Southeast (3155 S. Vaughn Way, Aurora)

• Meeting preview

Files

• Agenda (.pdf)
• Full packet (.pdf)
• All proposals (.pdf)
• April 2016 minutes (.pdf)

Meeting info

• Schedule
• Proposals
• Committee reports

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Schedule

Wednesdasy, January 25, 2017

• 3:30-4:30 p.m. – New Legislative Council Orientation (Conifer)
• 5-6:15 p.m. – Reception for Hall of Fame Inductees (Main Lobby)
• 6:30 p.m. – Hall of Fame Banquet (Grand Ballroom)

Thursday, January 26, 2017

• 7:45-8:30 a.m. – Continental Breakfast
• 8:30 a.m. – Meeting Convenes (Arapahoe/Douglas)
• 10 a.m. – Coffee/Tea/Soft Drink Break
• 11:45 a.m. – Lunch
• 1 p.m. – Meeting Reconvenes

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Action Items

Note: Constitutional Proposals require 2/3 vote for approval; Administrative and Sport Proposals requires majority vote for approval, unless otherwise noted.

Proposals
Constitutional
CON 1	Affiliated School Membership	(Board of Directors)
CON 2	New School Membership	(Board of Directors)
Administrative
ADM 1	Classification of Schools (Boys Soccer)	(Black Forest)
ADM 2	Booster Club – Responsibility of Schools	(Board of Directors)
Sport
None
Activity
None
Policy
None

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Action items — Committee reports

Note: Require majority vote for approval, unless otherwise noted. Some committees reported at the January meeting. Those are noted.

Committee Reports
Administrative
ADM-1	Budget/Property Administration (first reading)		(Jeff Durbin)
ADM-2	Classification and League Organizing Committee		(Randy Holmen)
ADM-3	Coaching Education Registration Advisory (CERAC)		(Derek Chaney)
ADM-4	Equity		April
ADM-5	Officials’ fees		(Glenda Bates)
ADM-6	Sportsmanship		April
ADM-7	Tournament and Playoff Finance		April
Activity
ACT-1	Music		April
ACT-2	Speech		April
ACT-3	Student Leadership		(Rashaan Davis)
Sport
S-1	Baseball		(David Schuessler)
S-2	Basketball		April
S-3	Cross Country		(Rick Macias)
	S-3a	Change 5A regions	(Southwestern)
S-4	Field Hockey		(Richard Judd)
S-5	Football		(Michael Krueger)
S-6	Golf		(Mike Hughes)
S-7	Gymnastics		(Stacey Folmar)
S-8	Ice Hockey		April
S-9	Lacrosse		Boys: April
			Girls: April
S-10	Skiing		April
S-11	Soccer		(Justin Saylor)
S-12	Softball		(Kelley Eichman)
S-13	Spirit		April
S-14	Swimming		April
S-15	Tennis		(Ed Anderson)
S-16	Track and Field		April
S-17	Volleyball		(Tracie Cormaney)
S-18	Wrestling		April

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Nominations – Board of Directors

• Replacement for Rick Mondt, CASE, Superintendent: Will be determined in February
• Replacement for Jim Thyfault, District 4: Will be from the Colorado 7 League.
• Replacement for Eddie Hartnett, District 6: Will be from the 5280 League.
• Replacement for Rick Macias, District 9: Will be from the Arkansas Valley League.
• Replacement for Kathleen Leiding, At Large: Will be determined by CHSAA.

Letters of interest for the CHSAA Board President are due to Commissioner Paul Angelico by Jan. 10, 2017.

AURORA — A new bylaw passed Thursday will require all students involved in a transfer waiver to provide accurate information in the process.

It sounds like a mere formality, this new requirement which was passed by the Legislative Council at the Radisson Hotel Denver Southeast, but it seeks to cut down on dishonesty in the transfer process. The new bylaw will penalize those who provide “incorrect, inaccurate, incomplete of false or fraudulent information” in “any aspect” of the transfer process.

It will take effect in 2016-17.

“It says a lot about where our schools want to be in terms of ethics and morality, and what high school sports are supposed to be about,” said CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico. “It’s just another protection for schools, to prove that schools are doing all they can.”

Among the potential penalties under the new bylaw:

• If the inaccurate information comes from the student, or their parent or guardian, “that student is subject to immediate ineligibility for CHSAA competition at any level in any sport for a period of up to 12 calendar months.”
• If the athlete played in any contests, those contest will be forfeit.
• If “someone associated with a school” was involved in providing inaccurate information, “or knowingly allows others to do so,” the team will be placed on restriction — barring them from the postseason.
• If school personnel were involved, they may be placed on probation or restriction, or the school’s CHSAA membership may even be revoked.

It should be noted that, just like any other process involving the penalization of a student-athlete, team or school personnel, there will be an appeals process under which parties can appeal any penalties.

This new bylaw, which will reside in rule 1800.74, can be found here in its entirety.

It is just the latest movement on the transfer rule, which was a heavy topic of conversation at the January Legislative Council meet. There, the group created a new transfer rule subcommittee — which has already met.

Additionally, there was a proposal brought to this April meeting which outright sought to change the transfer rule. But it was overwhelmingly rejected, likely because the Legislative Council wants to see what that transfer subcommittee will come up with.

That subcommittee ultimately will bring forward a new bylaw proposal, but it does not have a timetable. The earliest it could bring a proposal would be at the Legislative Council meeting in January 2017, meaning the any new rule would not be implemented until at least the 2017-18 school year.

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Notables:

• All team sports have officially adopted the use of RPI for postseason qualification. A number of them did so in January, and joining them were basketball, hockey and boys and girls lacrosse on Thursday.
• Hockey’s revolutionary new tiered alignment passed easily. That may be good news for a sport like girls lacrosse, which may want to follow suit.
• Practice at state facilities has been disallowed, unless specifically allowed within that sport’s bulletin.
• Each of the CLOC proposals failed. It means Heritage will stay in 4A swim, Loveland will stay in 5A girls soccer, and Alameda will remain in 3A wrestling.
• New dates for football equipment were approved.
• Rick Logan, the district AD at Thompson Schools, was approved as a CHSAA board member for 2016-18.
• There was a lot of action in basketball, including the rejection of a 64-team tournament field in 4A and 5A. A complete breakdown is available here.

AURORA — Surprise! The transfer rule will once again be a major topic of discussion at April’s Legislative Council meeting.

The same rule was the center of focus in January, and just last week a transfer rule committee tasked with exploring changes was announced. But next month, two more proposals will deal with the controversial rule. (Find complete info for the April meeting here.)

First is a bylaw proposal from the Board of Directors which centers on the waiver process. It would mandate that all parties provide “true, correct, accurate, complete and/or not false or fraudulent” information during the transfer. If any submitted information is found to be inaccurate, the penalties would be stiff.

For starters, the student involved becomes ineligible for CHSAA competition “at at any level in any sport for a period of up to 12 calendar months from the date the determination was made that incorrect, inaccurate, incomplete or false information was provided.”

Secondly, if that student were to gain eligibility based upon information which was later proven to be incorrect, each contest they participated in would be forfeit.

Furthermore, if “someone associated with a school … knowingly participates in providing” the incorrect information, the team would be placed on restriction, making the entire team ineligible for the postseason. If the individual was a coach, they would also be placed on restriction. The school may also be placed on probation, and face other penalties — including the “revoking of CHSAA membership.”

Other states have a similar rule in place, and it has helped them cut down on dishonesty in the transfer process. In fact, this proposal was modeled after something used by California.

If passed, the bylaw would go a long way in strengthening the waiver process.

The second proposal that deals with the transfer rule comes from the 5A Colorado Springs Metro League. It would make most summer transfers eligible only for the last 50 percent (and postseason) of a varsity season in all sports.

The exceptions to this proposal are noteworthy: Students moving from out-of-state, or because of a “documented military move” would be fully eligible. Additionally, a student whose permanent residence has changed “by 30 miles or greater” would be granted full eligibility, as would students who change schools as the result of a “court-ordered school transfer.”

The proposal is much more strict for transfers after the start of school, as the transferred athlete in that scenario would be ineligible for all varsity sports for the remainder of that school year, and then also be subject to the 50 percent rule “for 365 days from date of transfer.”

In submitting this proposal, the CSML said that it would create a “clear, understandable, and enforceable transfer rule.” However, a major drawback is that is abandons the opportunity for students to challenge the rule via a waiver process.

With the creation of the transfer rule subcommittee, it is possible that the second proposal would be withdrawn from the floor. The first proposal (from the Board of Directors) is not likely to be withdrawn, however.

Other notable proposals coming before the April Legislative Council:

• The Front Range League is seeking to stop the proposed 64-team bracket in 4A and 5A basketball. It wants to keep the fields at the current 48- and 32-team format.
• A bylaw proposal that would not allow teams to practice the site of a state tournament, unless is it “expressly allowed” in the sport’s bulletin, or if it is a team’s “regular practice or game facility.” The proposal encompasses all forms of the postseason, including district, regional or state.
• The following sports will have their committee reports voted upon: Basketball, hockey, lacrosse, skiing, spirit, swimming, track and field, and wrestling. In addition to the team sports recommending a move to RPI across the board, a number of the sports are recommending major changes. Basketball’s committee, as noted above, has recommended a 64-team bracket in 5A. Hockey is seeking major realignment, and lacrosse also realigned. Swimming is planning for the addition of 3A girls.

On April 21, the Legislative Council will meet in Aurora. Below is information about the meeting, including links to the agenda and proposals that will be considered.

Where: Radisson Denver Southeast (3155 S. Vaughn Way, Aurora)

• Meeting preview

Files

• Agenda (.pdf)
• Full packet (.pdf)
• All proposals (.pdf)
• January 2016 minutes (.pdf)

Meeting info

• Schedule
• Proposals
• Committee reports

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Schedule

Thursday, April 21, 2016

• 7:45-8:30 a.m. – Continental Breakfast
• 8:30 a.m. – Meeting Convenes (Arapahoe/Douglas)
• 10 a.m. – Coffee/Tea/Soft Drink Break
• 11:45 a.m. – Lunch
• 1 p.m. – Meeting Reconvenes

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Action Items

Note: Constitutional Proposals require 2/3 vote for approval; Administrative and Sport Proposals requires majority vote for approval, unless otherwise noted.

Proposals
Constitutional
	None
Administrative
ADM 1	Accurate Information (Transfer)	(Board of Directors)
ADM 2	Transfer (requires 60%)	(5A CSML)
Sport
S-1	Practice at State Facilities	(Board of Directors)
S-2	Pitching Rules (Pitch Counts) – Baseball	(Board of Directors)
S-3	Equipment Dates – Football – Effective Immediately	(Board of Directors)
Activity
	None
Policy
	None

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Action items — Committee reports

Note: Require majority vote for approval, unless otherwise noted. Some committees reported at the January meeting. Those are noted.

Committee Reports
Administrative
ADM-1	Budget/Property Administration (final reading)		(Jeff Durbin)
ADM-2	Classification and League Organizing Committee		January
	ADM-2a (Req. 2/3 approval)	Heritage remain in 5A	(Continental)
	ADM-2b (Req. 2/3 approval)	Loveland play down to 4A	(Northern)
	ADM-2c (Req. 2/3 approval)	Alameda to stay in 4A	(Jeffco)
ADM-3	Coaching Education Registration Advisory (CERAC)		January
ADM-4	Equity		(Eddie Hartnett)
ADM-5	Officials’ fees		January
	ADM-5a (Req. 2/3 approval)	Officials Fees – Wrestling section	(EMAC)
ADM-6	Sportsmanship		(Carl Lindauer)
ADM-7	Tournament and Playoff Finance		(Karen Higel)
Activity
ACT-1	Music		(Bethany Brookens)
ACT-2	Speech		(Christine Jones)
ACT-3	Student Leadership		January
Sport
S-1	Baseball		January
S-2	Basketball		(Paul Cain)
	S-2a	4A/5A state tournaments	(Front Range)
	S-2b	2A regional basketball	(Lower Platte)
S-3	Cross Country		January
S-4	Field Hockey		January
S-5	Football		January
S-6	Golf		January
S-7	Gymnastics		January
S-8	Ice Hockey		(Chad Broer)
S-9	Lacrosse		(Boys: Mark Kanagy)
			(Girls: Carol Degenhart)
S-10	Skiing		(Amy Raymond)
S-11	Soccer		January
S-12	Softball		January
S-13	Spirit		(Diane Shuck)
S-14	Swimming		(Sharon Lauer)
S-15	Tennis		January
S-16	Track and Field		(Darryl Abeyta)
S-17	Volleyball		January
S-18	Wrestling		(Ernie Derrera)

AURORA — The much-discussed transfer rule in Colorado now has its own committee.

A group of 22 individuals has been commissioned to examine the state’s transfer rule. The committee, created in the wake of January’s Legislative Council meeting, will first meet on April 5.

The group is comprised entirely of administrators. Some are athletic directors, others are district athletic directors. Some have been on CHSAA’s Board of Directors in the past, others currently serve on the Board.

All have been charged with thinking globally when it comes to the transfer rule. They will examine the current structure of the rule, as well as potential changes.

“We’ve put together a group of people who represent all corners of the state and all sizes of schools to look at every piece of the existing transfer rule,” said CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico. “They will provide input as to what’s working, what’s not, and why not. Once we get that, then they will start to look at changes to put before the membership.

“We have also collected info and documents from other states that may do things differently, and they’ll look at that to see if any of those alternative solutions would work in Colorado.”

A restructuring of the transfer rule was set to be voted on at the Legislative Council meeting on Jan. 28. However, after a lengthy discussion, the vote was tabled in favor of a recommendation to form the transfer rule committee. A total of 99 percent of the Legislative Council voted in favor of creating the committee.

The Legislative Council next meets on April 21. However, the transfer rule committee will definitely not have a proposal to put in front of the body at that point, as the deadline for all proposals to be submitted to that meeting was last month.

Instead, the transfer rule committee will meet a number of times over the course of the next year. They’ll present something to the entire membership at the All-School Summit in August as a way to spark further discussion.

It means the earliest the transfer rule committee will have a proposal to be voted upon will be January 2017. However, it may also come in April 2017, depending on how things are evolving. In terms of enforcement of any new rule, the date of passage wouldn’t matter between January or April, as any rule wouldn’t go into effect until the 2017-18 school year.

That said, a league has submitted a proposal to the April 2016 meeting which deals with the transfer rule. It’s possible that the league may choose to pull its proposal in light of the creation of this committee.

CHSAANow will explore that proposal further as the April Legislative Council meeting approaches.

AURORA — The much-anticipated vote about a change to the transfer rule never came to fruition at Thursday’s Legislative Council. Instead, it sparked a discussion that ultimately led to the creation of a subcommittee which will examine the transfer rule.

The Denver Prep League had submitted a proposal to simplify the transfer rule.

“The Denver Prep League brought this forward because we feel like there is a need for change,” said LeRoy Lopez, the athletic director at Lincoln.

Prior to the vote, though, Cherry Creek Schools district athletic director Larry Bull asked the Council to consider the creation of the subcommittee. He thanked the DPL “for bringing (the transfer rule) up and making some conversation,” and then said that the subcommittee could create “something that will work and is updated” and “makes sense.”

“The Association can take some time to process and take a look at things to make sound decisions and meet the needs of all schools,” Bull said.

The subcommittee proposal we met with overwhelming support, and 99 percent of the Legislative Council voted in favor of its creation. As a result, the DPL proposal was not put to a vote on Thursday.

“The membership needs to take a close look at the really very necessary transfer rule, but how to apply it in the 21st century, the way society lives today,” said CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico.

He added the subcommittee would likely conduct surveys, and look at historical transfer data.

It’s possible the transfer rule subcommittee could bring something to the April Legislative Council meeting, but more likely is that they present to the All-School Summit in August, with breakout sessions on the rule. From there, the next opportunity to put something in front of the Legislative Council would be the meeting in January 2017.

It’s likely that the subcommittee will be comprised of somewhere around 12 people, Angelico said.

“We need all sizes of schools, in all ends of the state,” Angelico said. “The needs of schools in Colorado Springs are not the same of the needs of those in Denver, and those are not the same of the needs of Lamar.”

Further details about the subcommittee — including the members — will be announced by the CHSAA office at a later date.

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Notables

• With CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico set to retire after the 2016-17 school year, Board president Eddie Hartnett discussed the process for finding his replacement. “Paul has helped define leadership, and inspire leaders of leaders,” Hartnett said. The Board has sought input from leagues and schools around the state about qualities and requirements for the next commissioner. Future information, including a timeline, will be announced in the near future.
• A proposal strengthening the requirements for CHSAA membership was overwhelmingly passed. Now, the process will take 24 months.
• CHSAA has extended its official ball supplier contract with Wilson.
• The CHSAA Hall of Fame inducted its 27th class on Wednesday night with eight new members.
• Baseball committee chair David Schuessler reminded the members that the new pitch-count rule goes into effect this spring.
• A proposal to change the way the 2A state cross country meets are scored failed. It sought to score four of six runners instead of the current three of six.

More coverage

• Football’s realignment and use of RPI was approved.
• The widespread use of RPI in other team sports was also approved.

AURORA — The new RPI-based system for postseason qualification was passed by all team sports committees who presented reports at the Legislative Council on Thursday.

It will go into widespread effect with the 2016-17 school year, but will get its official start with the baseball season this spring.

“After looking at past results and evaluating the data of previous years, it’s definitely the way to go,” said Eddie Hartnett, the athletic director at Boulder who is the president of CHSAA’s Board of Directors. “It’s progressive, it’s going to be more fair.

“The formula is transparent, and anyone can look at it and understand it — whether it’s a student, a parent, a coach, or an athletic director,” Hartnett added. “It doesn’t have to be, ‘Well, there’s some magic formula out there that nobody understands.’ And that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to be transparent with the entire membership.”

The RPI (Rating Percentage Index) system will give postseason qualification a similar approach across the board. It is also an objective way to select teams that make the bracket, as it is a formula which weights the relative strength of teams in each classification.

The specific formula to be used will be comprised of 25 percent of a team’s winning percentage, 50 percent of the winning percentage of a team’s opponents, and 25 percent of the winning percentage of the opponents of a team’s opponents.

The RPI system was a mandate that came from CHSAA’s Board of Directors in August. That group was acting on a which from the membership to standardize the way of approaching the postseason across all team sports. (Full details of the RPI system, including a list of answers to frequently asked questions, is available here.)

Starting with baseball’s season this spring, all RPI data will be posted on CHSAANow.com. A quick reference to that data will be linked from CHSAARPI.com. The plan is to have those data feeds update nightly.

Baseball’s desire to move away from the much-maligned Wild Card points was so strong that the committee recommended the immediate move to the RPI this spring.

Originally, the committee also recommended not counting out-of-state games, but changed its position prior to the Legislative Council meeting. The result was a vote which split the use of RPI in baseball into two questions: Should the RPI be used this spring? And should out-of-state games count?

On the first question, the answer was an overwhelming Yes. Seventy-six percent of the Legislative Council voted in favor of moving on RPI.

But the Council also voted to include out-of-state games in the formula. And that fact likely helped the immediate use of RPI pass on Thursday.

The RPI system also replaces Wild Card points in football, which have been used for a number of years. It replaces various other systems in field hockey, soccer, softball and volleyball.

Football’s RPI system will use a modified for account for classification. All other sports will not.

Ultimately, the approval process went very smoothly across the board.

“The reason why it went smooth today, there wasn’t a lot of resistance, or there weren’t a lot of questions or concerns, is that people felt empowered to address that situation for a long period of time,” Hartnett said. “Committees went out, educated people. Change is scary, and in the beginning I think people were afraid of change, but as we educated the population and said, ‘This is where we want to go for the future, and this is going to work,’ the membership’s trusting us to give it a try.”

RPI still needs to be approved by basketball, hockey and lacrosse at the April Legislative Council.