Meeting was convened at 4:15 p.m. by Chairman Majikes
ITEM 1 Chairman Majikes called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m.
Absent but accounted for: Danielle DePietro, Ron Collins, John Coyle, Eric Emmerich, Vito Quaglia, Mark Rinaldi, and Chris Thomas
ITEM 2 A motion was made by Maureen Williams, seconded by Chris Gegaris, to approve the minutes of the November 17, 2016 meeting. All Ayes
ITEM 3 SPORTS REPORTS:
· Baseball (Frank Majikes): A discussion was held concerning the baseball pitching rule and cumulative pitch totals during intentional walks and during situations where pitchers exceed their maximum pitch limit while pitching to a batter’s complete turn at bat. Chairman Majikes will seek clarification on both from PIAA. Fred Barletta also stressed the importance of both visitor and home scorekeepers to verify pitch counts each inning and urged both the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Conference to adopt such measures for league games. Also, with new leadership at PNC Field and the change in the number of classifications in baseball, Frank has begun initial discussions regarding the spring baseball championships.
· Basketball (Frank Majikes): Chairman Majikes distributed an information packet to the Committee provided by Mohegan Sun Arena in preparation for the District II Championships to be held from March 2-4, 2017. The information concerned the potential for event sponsorship and game program ads and will be sent to various local businesses.
· Competitive Spirit (Chris Gegaris): Chris thanked all those involved in the recently completed competitive spirit championships and acknowledged the University of Scranton for its efforts in hosting the event at the John Long Center. He also urged schools contemplating establishing teams to contact him at Crestwood High School.
· Cross Country (Bill King): Bill noted that PIAA will conduct a joint Cross Country and Track and Field Steering Committee Meeting on January 18th at the PIAA State Offices. Discussions on expanding track and field championships to three classifications are underway, however, District 2 Committee members did not endorse such a proposal at this time. Bill will carry back additional information to committee members following that meeting.
· Football (Mike Ognosky): Congratulations to District II Football Officials Mike Cerra, Dave Makowski, Joe Tomaselli, Dave Brudzinski, Gary Davis and Chris Bonafede who were selected to officiate the PIAA Class A Championship in Hershey on December 9th.
· Swimming (Fred Barletta): Fred announced that the Swim Committee will be meeting shortly with Wilkes-Barre CYC officials in order to set up the District Championship meets.
· Wrestling (Jay Starnes): Jay noted that the process of securing the Kingston Armory for wrestling individual championships is underway and a committee meeting will be planned over the next several weeks to finalize details for the District II Wrestling Championships.
· Awards (Bill Schoen): Bill reported that the new vendor for awards, Honor Awards of Taylor, has been successfully servicing the contract and he is in regular communications to ensure compliance. He will follow up on committee members’ questions regarding specifications for medals as compared to previous years.
· Officials (Maureen Williams & Bill Schoen): The committee discussed payment procedures for workers/officials at district events and asked Bill to obtain information from Arbiter Sports on the capabilities of the RefPay service that allows electronic payments to those who provided service at contests. There was interest in curbing the manual labor necessary for individual check preparation as well as minimizing rising postage costs. Bill will follow up and present information during the next committee meeting.
· Sportsmanship (Chad Vinansky): Chad reported that he is still awaiting a number of responses from school principals regarding the ejection of their student athletes from fall competitions. Please be reminded that it is a PIAA requirement that the appropriate forms be completed by the Principal and returned to Chad.
ITEM 4 Discussion took place regarding the corrective action plans submitted by Carbondale Area and Holy Redeemer High Schools following last month’s hearing and decisions concerning a basketball game played in February, 2016. Carbondale Area issued notification that it plans to appeal that decision and asked the committee to revisit sanctions that were meted out. Following a lengthy discussion (Mr. Farrell, Principal of Carbondale and a District II Committee Member did not participate) the committee instructed Chairman Majikes to seek guidance from PIAA regarding the ability of District II to re-examine any sanctions imposed. The chairman will follow up with committee members in the near future.
ITEM 5 The Committee acted upon the following eligibility requests in accordance with Article VI, Transfers, Residence, and Recruiting, Principal to Principal Sign off, of the PIAA by-laws:
· A motion was made by Fred Barletta, seconded by Chris Gegaris, to approve the immediate eligibility of Tommie Allen, GAR to Wyoming Area, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by John Haas, seconded by Pat Patte, to approve the immediate eligibility of Shaliek Davis, GAR to Wyoming Area, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by Maureen Williams, seconded by Fred Barletta, to approve the immediate eligibility of Taylor Demich, Pittston Area to Wyoming Area, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by Chad Vinansky, seconded by Bill King, to approve the immediate eligibility of Ismaiel Lake-Beras, Meyers to GAR, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by Chris Gegaris, seconded by John Haas, to approve the immediate eligibility of Taylor Marecki, Forest City to Carbondale, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by Pat Patte, seconded by Maureen Williams, to approve the immediate eligibility of Christy Mellon, Scranton Prep to Lakeland, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by Jay Starnes, seconded by Fred Barletta, to approve the immediate eligibility of Sophia Ormondo, LaSalle Academy (RI) to Dallas, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by Chris Gegaris, seconded by John Haas, to approve the immediate eligibility of Corrine Randazzo, Chester to Delaware Valley, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by Pat Patte, seconded by Maureen Williams, to approve the immediate eligibility of Taylor Randazzo, Chester to Delaware Valley, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by Ben Tolerico, seconded by Chad Vinansky, to approve the immediate eligibility of Kaileigh Tretola, Beaver River to Delaware Valley, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by Mary Ruth Tanner, seconded by Joseph Farrell, to approve the immediate eligibility of Dennis Lance, Hazleton Area to MMI, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by Chad Vinansky, seconded by Maureen Williams, to approve the immediate eligibility of Randy Jefferson, Abington Heights to Scranton, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by Fred Barletta, seconded by Pat Patte, to approve the immediate eligibility of Nasir Cunningham, MCS Charter to Scranton, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by Maureen Williams, seconded by Chris Gegaris, to approve the immediate eligibility of Jonathan Winter, Holy Redeemer to Pittston Area, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by John Haas, seconded by Pat Patte, to approve the immediate eligibility of Jeffrey McHale, Lakeland to Scranton Prep, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by Fred Barletta, seconded by Chris Gegaris, to approve the immediate eligibility of Ryan Hartigan, Holy Redeemer to Pittston Area, in accordance with Article VI, Principal to Principal sign off, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
The Committee also acted on the following Foreign Exhange requests in accordance with Article VII, Foreign Exchange Students:
· A motion was made by Fred Barletta, seconded by Chris Gegaris, to approve the immediate eligibility of Ryan Yao, Taiwan to Holy Redeemer, in accordance with Article VII, Foreign Exchange Students, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
· A motion was made by John Haas, seconded by Maureen Williams, to approve the immediate eligibility of Kyle Yu, Taiwan to Holy Redeemer, in accordance with Article VII, Foreign Exchange Students, of the PIAA by-laws. All Ayes
ITEM 6 A discussion on the basketball power rating system took place as committee members were interested in ensuring that the District II Secretary has all necessary information to ensure timely posting of records and rankings on the District II website similar to how football is handled.
ITEM 7 Information on the National Federation Student Leadership Conference was presented by Chairman Majikes. He will follow up with more detailed information to present to member schools once it has been finalized by NFHS.
ITEM 8 The Committee received reports from GAR High School and the referee of the AAAA District II Championship game involving GAR and Scranton Prep played at Scranton Memorial Stadium on November 10, 2016. GAR personnel and several players were reprimanded by the school for unsportsmanlike actions that took place on the field and within the team box that evening. The committee agreed to conduct a hearing on the matter and will invite those involved in the matter to a meeting in the near future.
ITEM 9 Chairman Majikes reviewed several matters from the December 8, 2016 Board of Directors meeting with particular emphasis on committee discussion regarding the following:
· Sportsmanship during post game medal ceremonies and adding provisions to address unsporting behavior.
· The rise in soccer disqualifications and the potential for educational programming aimed at rule makers/coaches/players/officials in order to foster behavior that reduces the number of disqualifications.
· Discussed several proposals centered around transfer waiver request forms and calls to further strengthen transfer regulations.
· Registration fee increase for PIAA officials.
· Concussion Awareness Protocol.
A complete summary of the December 8, 2016 Board of Directors meeting can be found on the District II webpage under the “PIAA State Office Weekly Newsletter and Information” story on the bottom of the front page.
ITEM 10 The Committee will conduct eligibility hearings on January 4, 2017 at the WBAC&TC at a time to be announced.
ITEM 11 A motion was made by Ron Collins, seconded by Maureen Williams, to adjourn the meeting.
Meeting was adjourned at 7:07 p.m
Respectfully submitted,
Mike Ognosky
Mike Ognosky
District II Secretary