Meeting was convened at 4:15 p.m. by Chairman Majikes
ITEM 1 Chairman Majikes welcomed member schools to the meeting and quickly introduced the PIAA District II committee members as well as PIAA Associate Executive Director Dr. Robert Lombardi and PIAA Assistant Executive Director Mark Byers.
ITEM 2 Jim Sabatini presented the Credential’s Report stating that there were 33 member High Schools and 34 member Junior High Schools present for the Annual Business Meeting.
ITEM 3 A motion was made by Al Holtzer (AD-Delaware Valley High School), seconded by Tim Honeywell (AD-Berwick Area High School) to approve the minutes of the 2005 Annual Business meeting and to dispense with the reading of said minutes. All Ayes
ITEM 4 Frank Victor, District II Treasurer, gave the 2005 Treasurer’s Report. Our operating budget for 2005-2006 was set at $325,000. Our fund balance as of June 30, 2005 was $133,794.23. A total of $59,005 was given back to District II member schools as a result of participation in boys’ and girls’ basketball playoffs as well as football playoffs. We currently have $69,809.49 in our checking account, $53,028.18 in our PIAA corporate account, and $10,956.56 in a Certificate of Deposit.
A motion was made by Sandy Mackay (AD- Wyoming Valley West High School), seconded by Jim Warner (AD-Abington Heights High School) to approve the Treasurer’s Report as submitted. All Ayes
ITEM 5 COMMITTEE REPORTS:
a) Tennis (Joe Lalli): Information on the upcoming District Boys’ Playoffs was available at the sign in table. All information must be returned by May 5th to Joe Lalli. Team Tennis tournament will begin on May 8th and the seeding meeting for the singles’ and doubles’ tournaments will also be on May 8th at Dunmore High School.
b) Volleyball (Maureen Williams): The format for the boys’ tournament is available at the sign in desk. The tournament will have 8 playoff sports with the quarterfinals on May 22nd, semifinals on May 23rd and the finals date and time to be determined based on the two finalists availability.
c) Track and Field (Jim Sabatini): The information for the district tournament is available at the sign in desk in a large envelope. All schools were asked to please pick up the envelope prior to leaving this evening. Seeding information is to be completed by Wednesday, May 10th and Friday, May 12th as outlined in the packet. The Junior High meet will be on Saturday, May 13th at Hanover Area, the AA meet on Tuesday, May 16th at Scranton Memorial Stadium and the AAA meet on Thursday, May 18th at Scranton Memorial Stadium.
d) Baseball (Frank Majikes): It was announced that Lackawanna County Stadium will be available for all district championship games this year.
e) Softball (Bob Okrasinski): The tournament format packet is available at the sign in desk.
f) Golf (Tony Rusnak): State Team Championships will be held for the first time in the fall of 2006. There will be a state team champion in both boys’ and girls’. The format has not yet been announced but will include regional sites leading to a state championship at a site to be determined.
g) Field Hockey (Tom Finan): The format for next fall’s championships will be similar to this year’s format.
h) Swimming (Jim Higgins): Plans are to utilize the 8 lane pool at the Wilkes-Barre CYC as the site for next year’s championships.
i) Wrestling (Jim Marcks): The issues regarding the change in body fat content, etc. will be addressed at the state level with announcements to follow from the state offices.
j) Football (Tom Jenkins): The district championships will be expanded next year and include 4 teams in A; 8 teams in AA; 4 teams in AAA. All of those tournaments will be District II tournaments. The AAAA tournament will be a subregional with District XI and District II will have 2 teams, District XI will have 4 teams and there will be two wildcards.
k) Cross Country (Bill King): The varsity championships will be held at Scranton Municipal Golf Course next fall; the Junior High Championships will be held at Kirby Park.
l) Basketball (Frank Victor): The District II Committee will continue to operate an open tournament in girls’ and boys’ basketball. As member schools, please continue to provide feedback on the tournament to committee members as it is constantly being reexamined and fine tuned.
m) Soccer (Ray Lowery): The format for the spring girls’ championships is available at the sign in desk. May 15th will be the date for the seeding meeting and the tournament will get underway with the quarterfinals on May 17th.
n) Officials (Joe Lalli & Maureen Williams): District II was complemented on the number of officials who worked state championship events this season in all of the various sports championships.
o) Eligibility (Mike Ognosky): Member schools were encouraged to continue the utilization of the new transfer (principal to principal) sign off forms provided by the PIAA.
p) Sportsmanship (Frank Galicki): Disqualification forms continue to come in from the state office. The number of disqualifications was on the rise this year and schools are encouraged to put in place additional consequences for student athletes who are disqualified from events beyond the mandated one game suspension imposed by the PIAA State Office.
q) Womens’ Athletics (Danielle DiPietro): Danielle was introduced to member schools present as the newest member of the committee.
ITEM 6 Chairman Majikes took a moment to once again thank all of the Athletic Directors for the use of their facilities during the 2005-2006 playoff seasons. He thanked the committee for their service during the past year and reminded all schools present to please be sure to pick up their scholar/athlete plaques prior to leaving today. He briefly reviewed the by-law changes that have gone into effect during the past year. A copy of those changes was provided to each member school. There were also no Constitutional Amendments to submit for this year’s meeting.
Chairman Majikes introduced Mark Byers, Assistant Executive Director of the PIAA. Mark then offered comments in a number of areas of interest:
a.) Mark explained the procedures to be followed in utilizing directathletics.com in the seeding of the District Track and Field site. Directions were provided to all member schools in the Track and Field packet that was distributed.
b.) Mark discussed the potential for a change in the PIAA physical policy for athletics. Currently, athletes take 1 physical for a sport and then utilize a recertification form for subsequent sports in a school year. Suggestion is to utilize only 1 physical per year with no recertification process. Member schools were informally polled and all member schools present showed their favor with that suggestion.
c.) Mark clarified the current disqualification rule which requires that a student athlete be suspended for the next contest at the same level should they be ejected from a game. He reminded member schools that if the disqualification occurs in the last game of the year that the suspension carries over into the next year, i.e, if an athlete is suspended from his/her final varsity basketball game of this year they must sit out the first varsity game of the next basketball season.
d.) Mark explained the PIAA concern with proposed legislation that would require registered sports’ officials to undergo background checks prior to working. PIAA concern is that the officials contact with students is so public and minimal that background check requirements should be waived.
e.) Mark offered his thanks to the member schools that helped as sites during all of this year’s state championship contests in all sports.
Chairman Majikes then introduced Bob Lombardi, PIAA Associate Executive Director, who commented on the following issues:
a.) Bob thanked Chairman Majikes for his hard work in securing an extra qualifier in boys’ and girls’ basketball for District II at the AAAA level.
b.) Bob reviewed the changes in Wrestling regarding the counting of competitions. A multiple dual will count as 3 competitions if it is held in one day; four competitions if it is held as a two day event.
c.) Bob reviewed the discussions regarding the wrestling weight control issue and explained that information will be made public and provided to all member schools as quickly as possible as the issue is clarified.
d.) Bob applauded the Scranton and Honesdale School Districts on the deportment of their students who recently performed the national anthems at the winter championships. He commented on their demeanor, behavior and dress as being very professional.
e.) In answering a question from Rich Notari (AD- Old Forge) regarding a team championship in Golf, Bob explained that in order for a girls’ team to compete for a team championship all members must have performed in the appropriate number of contests as outlined in the PIAA Handbook.
f.) As to the question from Bob Coleman (AD- Scranton) regarding the PIAA position on boys performing on girls teams, Bob explained that the PIAA has not had a position on that since a 1975 court case that ruled that the concern should be handled at the local level by the individual school.
g.) Bob commented that it is likely that the 285 pound weight class will be added in wrestling.
h.) Bob clarified the scrimmage rule based on the concern of indoor scrimmages by baseball and softball teams that have now become popular due to the development of appropriate indoor facilities. A single scrimmage can not exceed 2 ½ hours in length; once 2 1/2 hours time is exceeded it must be counted as a second scrimmage.
ITEM 7 OLD BUSINESS – There was no old business conducted at today’s meeting.
ITEM 8 NEW BUSINESS – Chairman Majikes thanked three retiring District II member school employees for their excellent service to athletics in District II. The three retiring members include Tom Chmielewski (AD- Wallenpaupack); Stew Casterline (AD – Tunkhannock) and Jim Sabatini (Acting Superintendent – Hanover Area) and a long time invaluable member on the District II committee.
Phil Latinski entertained motions for the election of officers.
A motion was made by Sandy Mackay (AD-Wyoming Valley West) and
seconded by Rich Walton (Principal – Berwick Area) that the present committee members be retained. All Ayes
A motion was made by Tim Honeywell (AD-Berwick Area), seconded by Rich Notari (AD- Old Forge) that the nominations be closed. All Ayes
The current committee members will be retained as presently constituted.
ITEM 9 A motion was made by Chris Perry (AD-Hazleton Area), seconded by Jack Kelly (AD-Dunmore) to adjourn. All Ayes
Meeting was adjourned at 5:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mike Ognosky
Mike Ognosky
District 2 Secretary