Chairman Majikes called the 88th Annual Business Meeting to order at 8:45 a.m.
ITEM 1 Chairman Majikes welcomed all of the representatives of the member schools and asked all present to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Chairman Majikes followed by introducing District II Committee Member, Fred Barletta, who delivered both the invocation and the necrology. Chairman Majikes then reminded all of the schools to take their two student-athlete plaques, as well as their District & State Championship plaques, prior to leaving today.
ITEM 2 Chairman Majikes thanked all of the member schools for their cooperation during the past year in regard to hosting district championship events in all of the various sports. The cooperation of all of the member schools in District II is greatly appreciated.
ITEM 3 A motion was made by Chris Ross (AD – Delaware Valley), seconded by Jeff Shook (AD-Lake-Lehman) to approve the minutes of the 2017 Annual Business meeting. Copies of those minutes were posted for review on the District II website and sent to all member schools prior to the meeting. All Ayes
ITEM 4 Pat Patte, District II Treasurer, gave the 2017 Treasurer’s Report. Our Total Expenses for the 2016-2017 operating year were $372,499.59; while our Total Income for the same period of time was $385,734.33 – a gain of $13,234.74.
A motion was made by Joe Pizano (AD- Wyoming Area High School), seconded by Cliff Jones (AD-Wilkes-Barre Coughlin High School) to approve the Treasurer’s Report as submitted. All Ayes
ITEM 5 Chairman Majikes presented the Credentials Report informing the group that all member schools of District II were present at today’s meeting. Mr. Majikes thanked Jim Sabatini (former District II Committee Member) and Tony Modrovsky for their assistance in taking attendance and handling the credentialing process.
ITEM 6 Chairman Majikes introduced the 7 District II State Champions from the prior year:
· Dallas, coached by Ken Kashatus, the 2017 PIAA AAAA Boys Baseball Team Champion.
· Abington Heights, coached by Ken Bianchi, the 2018 PIAA AAAAA Basketball Team Champion.
· Willy Evanitsky, Scranton, (coached by John Burgette), the 2018 PIAA AAA Wrestling 152 pound weight class Champion.
· Adam Mahler, Holy Redeemer, (coached by John Port), the 2018 PIAA AA Boys Swimming 100 yard Butterfly Champion.
· Payden Montana, Berwick, (coached by Bob Colarco), the 2017 PIAA AAA Girls Track Shot Put Champion.
· Gavin Darcy, Dunmore, (coached by Michael DeSando), the 2017 AA Boys Track Javelin Champion.
· Ryan Atcavage, Western Wayne, (coached by Justin Collins), the 2017 PIAA AA Boys Track Pole Vault Champion.
ITEM 7 Chairman Majikes introduced Melissa Mertz, Associate Executive Director of the PIAA, who discussed the following talking points:
· The PIAA is sponsoring a poster initiative in conjunction with the NFHS, PSBA, and Attorney General’s Office to address the current national Opiod Crisis and getting information into all member schools by sharing this message. Each member school will leave today’s meeting with two posters to distribute to each school.
· The PIAA Board of Directors has approved, on a second reading basis, a proposed amend to Article III, Attendance, of the PIAA By-Laws, to (1) clarify the school of eligibility to students participating in Multi-Public School District Academic Arrangements, and (2) to add a fee for modification of cooperative sponsorship of a sport.
· The PIAA Board of Directors has accepted, on a first reading basis, a recommendation from the Executive Director to adopt a policy to provide for an exception to the NFHS contest rule to address religious headwear and referred this policy proposal for further review to the winter sports’ steering committees of basketball, competitive spirit, wrestling and swimming and diving to discuss safety and competitive issues with headgear and full body attire requests.
· The PIAA Board of Directors has accepted, on a first reading basis, the Postgame Policy Regarding Spectators Entering the Competition Surface, of the PIAA Policies and Procedures, to prohibit players/coaches from teams from leaving the competition areas and rushing into stands to celebrate with their fans after winning a Contest.
· The PIAA Board of Directors, has amended Article VI, Transfers, Residence, and Recruiting, of the PIAA By-Laws, effective April 1, 2018, to provide for a 21 day sit-out following an in-season transfer and to include a new provision barring a student transferring after a season has begun from further participation during the season if that student was eligible and available to participate in 50 % of the number of the PIAA maximum number of competitions allowed per sport. This by-law addition also includes a hardship waiver provision for district committees to consider under appropriate circumstances.
· The Competition Committee has recommended to the Board of Directors, for their consideration at the May meeting, the following items:
ü Final review of the Athletic Transfer Waiver Request Form for inception for 2018-19 school year.
ü A student transferring between their junior and senior year may be eligible to play the sport played in the previous year, however, they are not eligible for post-season participation. There is a hardship provision for District Committee’s to review to grant full eligibility if appropriate.
ü Provided a definition of open gyms, the number of times that may be utilized per week during the school year and the prohibition of competition 10 days before the start of practice in each sport season.
ü Definition of off season conditioning and what is allowed.
ü Submission of eligibility lists by deadline – 2 weeks after the start of regular season. If not submitted properly/accurately; possible ineligibility to participate in post-season playoffs.
ü District 1 request to review/study data of competitive fairness as it relates to school success and the expansion of classifications.
ITEM 8 Pat Gebhart, Assistant Executive Director of the PIAA, then offered other comments and remarks highlighting the following points:
· The Sports Medicine Advisory Committee recommended and the Board of Directors approved the use of prescription eyewear that meets ASTM safety standards in Field Hockey and the ability to use other models to assist in the prevention of heat related instances during Football heat acclimatization period and all sports pre-season practices.
· The PIAA Board of Directors rejected a proposal from the Executive Director to adopt a e-sports competition as a PIAA sponsored championship event.
· Reminded the group of the June 30, 2018 deadline for the completion of Coaches Education. Newly hired coaches have a two year window to establish their coaching credentials.
· The NFHS Leadership Summit, which will be held from July 23-25, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana will have 6 student participants and 2 chaperones representing the PIAA. Pat encouraged District II to become involved in that initiative in the future as this year’s selection process has been completed.
· The PIAA is involved in a concussion class action suit and a separate concussion case brought by a student. In the class action case, the PIAA has prevailed on 2 of the 3 counts. Presently, we are moving forward in the discovery phase of these 2 suits to gather information for the court and we will update as we move through this process.
· The PIAA has appealed the National Labor Relations Board decision of Lacrosse Officials in the Pittsburgh Area being employees to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The status of this appeal is moving through the legal process and we are attempting to get this resolved in the favor of the PIAA and have officials confirmed as independent contractors.
· Two Lacrosse officials in the Pittsburgh area have also filed a class action suit to include minimum wage payments, primarily for their attendance at chapter meetings. This may be a long process and we are in the initial stages of defending the PIAA in this process. Member schools across the state are asked to please keep all of their officials’ assignment records on file for the past three year period.
· Reminded member schools that web streaming at PIAA District and Inter-District contests is prohibited without expressed written authorization of the PIAA and the payment of rights’ fees.
· Ballots were distributed to member schools present for a vote on the Constitutional Amendment of Article II of the PIAA Constitution, the Purposes of PIAA, to provide guidelines, not directives, to the charitable purposes of the PIAA. Ballots were distributed and completed. Following the completion of the tally of votes, member schools present passed the motion by a vote of 91-1.
ITEM 9 Chairman Majikes discussed the submission of enrollment data figures by member schools and cautioned schools that there are very few requests for change that are honored by the Board of Directors. He cautioned member schools to be very thorough and complete in the completion of their enrollment figures.
ITEM 10 Chairman Majikes recognized the current committee members for their hard work in the past year and asked the group to give an appreciative round of applause.
ITEM 11 Chairman Majikes reported that at the April District II Board of Directors meeting, the committee passed the following recommendation for consideration by member schools regarding the playoff formats for the next two year cycle. He asked that both the WVC and LIAA discuss this recommendation at their earliest convenience and report back to him with their feedback –
· The power rating system will be utilized to determine seeding in all District II team tournaments, with the exception of Boys & Girls Tennis, Golf, and Wrestling. In those three sports, league winning percentage will continue to determine seeding in the team championships.
· In classifications in all sports in which there are 8 or less member schools in that classification, all of those teams will be eligible for the district tournament.
· In classifications in all sports in which there are more than 8 members, the top 8 qualifiers, as determined by the power rating system, will be eligible for the district tournament.
· In classifications in all sports in which there are more than 8 members, any other school that has an overall winning percentage of .500 or better will also be eligible for the district tournament.
· In those championships in which we are combined with another district to form a subregional, we will continue to meet on a sport by sport basis with the other district involved in the subregional and develop a format that is agreed upon by both districts.
ITEM 12 Chairman Majikes asked member schools if there were any questions of
the various sports’ chairs regarding their sport. There were no questions asked at this time.
ITEM 13 Chairman Majikes called upon Jim Sabatini to conduct the Election of Committee members for the 2018-2019 academic year.
A motion was made by Ted Anderson (AD-Scranton High School), seconded by Tom Chesko (AD-North Pocono High School), to maintain the current slate of committee members. All Ayes
A motion was made by Chris Ross (AD-Delaware Valley), seconded by Andy Snyder (Principal – Abington Heights), to close the nominations. All Ayes
The current committee members will be retained.
ITEM 14 A motion was made by Joe Pizano (AD-Wyoming Area), seconded by Cliff Jones (AD-Coughlin), to adjourn the 2018 Annual District II Business Meeting. All Ayes
Meeting was adjourned at 10:50 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mike Ognosky, District II Secretary