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: Jim Higgins, Mike Costanza, Jay Starnes, Eric Emmerich, Jeff Gregory
ITEM 2 A motion was made by Bill Schoen, seconded by Chris Thomas, to approve the minutes of the February 15, 2012 meeting. All Ayes
At 4:30 p.m., the District II Committee went into executive session in order to review 8 disqualifications of players, coaches or team personnel. In attendance for Carbondale Area were Principal Joe Farrell and Athletic Director Erik Larson. At 5:05 p.m., the committee returned from executive session following deliberation. A motion was made by Chris Thomas, seconded by Bill Schoen, to accept the report of the Carbondale administration as presented and to endorse the actions of the administration in dealing with the various situations. All Ayes
There was continued discussion and a second motion was made by Bill Schoen, seconded by Chris Thomas, to have the officers sent a letter to the Board of the Carbondale Area School District regarding their actions in the matters. All Ayes
At 5:10 p.m., the District II Committee went into executive session in order to review the 8 disqualifications of players, coaches or team personnel. In attendance for Wilkes-Barre GAR was Principal Colleen Robatin. At 6:00 p.m., the committee returned from executive session following deliberation. The minutes have been amended (board vote on April 11, 2012) as follows: A motion was made by Mike Ognosky, seconded by Eric Emmerich, to schedule a hearing with Wilkes-Barre GAR to further investigate this matter. All Ayes (Frank Majikes, Pat Patte, Maureen Williams abstained). The Secretary will communicate the date and time of the scheduled hearing to the administration of Wilkes-Barre GAR.
At 6:05 p.m., Jack O’Malley, Psychology professor at the University of Scranton, addressed the District II Committee and thanked them for their outstanding support of the Annual Conference held at the University in March. He asked the committee for continued assistance in the efforts to continue coaching in-servicing and education throughout District II. He summarized the efforts of the Bocchichio Institute in attempting to achieve that goal and asked that District II continue its partnership with the Positive Coaching Alliance in those efforts.
ITEM 3 Frank Victor presented the Treasurer’s Report as of March 28, 2012. As of that date, the District has a total of $72,852.43 in Certificates of Deposit and $95,300.91 in Total Savings and Checking Accounts for a total fund balance of $168,153.34. Following discussion, a motion was made by Maureen Williams, seconded by Pat Patte, to distribute revenue from the recently completed District II Basketball Playoffs with 70% to the District, and 15% to each of the participating schools. All Ayes
ITEM 4 Following discussion, a motion was made by Pat Sheehan, seconded by Vito Quaglia, to add an Athletic Director from the Lackawanna League and an Athletic Director from the Wyoming Valley Conference as members to the District Committee. The process to select the new members will be discussed at the upcoming Annual Business Meeting. All Ayes
ITEM 5 SPORTS REPORTS:
· Basketball (Frank Majikes): Chairman Majikes will schedule a meeting of the basketball committee in order to discuss the recently conducted district playoffs and to discuss any potential changes in the format as we move into the next two year cycle. Chairman Majikes also discussed a request from Holy Redeemer to have the committee approve their move from AA to AAA in both Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball. The PIAA State Office has indicated this would be at the discretion of the District II Committee. A motion was made by Mike Ognosky, seconded by Chris Thomas, to approve the reclassification of Holy Redeemer in both Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball for the next two year cycle from AA to AAA. All Ayes
· Wrestling (Jay Starnes): The Committee discussed the venues for the District II Championships and, following discussion, directed Wrestling Chairperson Jay Starnes to come back to the Committee at a future meeting with a recommendation for consideration.
· Boys’ Tennis (Bill Schoen): Bill presented the format for the upcoming District II Boys’ Tennis Championships. A motion was made by Joe Farrell, seconded by Bill King, to approve the format as presented. All Ayes
· Track and Field (Danielle Adams): Danielle reminded the committee that there will not be a District II Junior High meet this year. She also has established the AAA Varsity Championship date on Monday, May 14th and AA Varsity Championship date on Tuesday, May 15th, with a rain date established as the first available date after the postponed meet. The State Championships will be held in Shippensburg on May 25th and 26th. This year two qualifiers will automatically go to the state championships from AA boys and AA girls. The date to start entering athletes for Districts is April 18th on Milesplit at www.pa.milesplit.us. District qualifications have not changed and remain the same as last year. All information will be distributed at the upcoming Annual Business Meeting. A motion was made by Chris Thomas, seconded by Maureen Williams, to approve the format as presented. All Ayes
· Volleyball (Maureen Williams): Maureen announced that the dates for District playoffs will be May 21, May 22, and May 24. The format will be available shortly.
· Swimming (Jim Higgins): Chairman Majikes informed the Committee that Rebekah Campo (Scranton Prep) was the 2012 PIAA State Champion in the 100 yard Breaststroke event held at the recently conducted PIAA State Championships at Bucknell University.
· Baseball/Softball (Frank Majikes): Chairman Majikes informed the Committee that the Baseball and Softball Committees will be meeting shortly in order to establish the District playoff formats for 2012.
ITEM 6: A motion was made by Bill Schoen, seconded by Bill King, to approve an application for cooperative sponsorship for boys’ and girls’ volleyball between Forest City and Carbondale. All Ayes (Joe Farrell abstained).
ITEM 7 The following motions were made and acted upon by the District II Committee regarding student eligibility requests:
· A motion was made by Bill Schoen, seconded by Joe Farrell, granting immediate eligibility to Easton Adams, North Haven Community School (Maine) to Tunkhannock, in accordance with Article VI, Section 4, Athletic Transfer Waiver, Principal to Principal sign off. All Ayes.
· A motion was made by Bill King, seconded by Chris Thomas, granting immediate eligibility to Kayla Lorino, Lackawanna Trail to Tunkhannock, in accordance with Article VI, Section 4, Athletic Transfer Waiver, Principal to Principal sign off. All Ayes.
· A motion was made by Chris Gegaris, seconded by Pat Patte, granting immediate eligibility to Destiny Marut, Lodi High School (NJ) to Wallenpaupack, in accordance with Article VI, Section 4, Athletic Transfer Waiver, Principal to Principal sign off. All Ayes.
· A motion was made by Danielle Adams, seconded by Maureen Williams, to grant immediate eligibility to Vyachelsav Litvin, Israel to West Scranton, in accordance with Article VII, Foreign Exchange Student. All Ayes
ITEM 8 Chairman Majikes reviewed correspondence from Luzerne Intermediate Unit 18 regarding “Looking Forward”, an all-day experience for students and their parents regarding career and academic planning. Following discussion, a motion was made by Mike Ognosky, seconded by Pat Patte, to approve a $100 Bronze Level contribution in support of the event. All Ayes
ITEM 9Chairman Majikes led a discussion on a request from Chris Kucharski, representing “Attinik Media”, regarding the potential to radio/internet audio streams of District II events for a fee. Following discussion, the Committee requested that Chairman Majikes arrange a future presentation from Chris to the District Committee regarding his proposal.
ITEM 10 The District II Committee considered a request from the Wyoming Valley Volleyball Conference on behalf of one of its members, Freeland MMI, regarding the District II format for the “A” championships. Following discussion, a motion was made by Maureen Williams, seconded by Bill King, to provide MMI with the opportunity to participate in a play-in game with the lowest qualifying Lackawanna League team with the contest to be played at the site of the Lackawanna League qualifier. All Ayes
ITEM 11 Chairman Majikes informed the Committee that the motion regarding the format for the Boys’ Volleyball championships has been tabled by the PIAA State Committee until a future meeting.
ITEM 12 Chairman Majikes distributed the 2011-2012 Basketball and Wrestling disqualifications. In Basketball, District II disqualifications for 2011-212 included 7 Varsity players, 4 Junior Varsity/Junior High players, 3 Varsity coaches, and 6 Junior Varsity/Junior High coaches for a total of 20 disqualifications. In Wrestling, District II disqualifications for 2011-2012 included 4 Varsity players and 1 Junior Varsity/Junior High player for a total of 5 disqualifications. In 2010-2011 there were a total of 15 Basketball disqualifications and 11 Wrestling disqualifications.
ITEM 13 Chairman Majikes reported 2 concerns directed to his office during the recently conducted Basketball and Wrestling District championships. The first was the report that at one of the Basketball sites tickets were sold at $8 and not $6. That report proved to be incorrect. The second report was in regard to the behavior of the crowd at the AA Individual Wrestling Championships held at Lake-Lehman. Chairman Majikes will discuss this with Lake-Lehman officials.
ITEM 14 Mike Ognosky reviewed the events of the recently sponsored conference at the University of Scranton and thanked Jack O’Malley and the University of Scranton for their assistance in providing for a very informative two days. This year the conference attracted 127 student/athletes and 63 coaches.
ITEM 15 Chairman Majikes informed the Committee that the PIAA State Committee has approved on a third, and final, reading the move to three classifications in Cross Country for the next two year cycle.
ITEM 16 Chairman Majikes also informed the Committee that Requests for Proposal have been approved to be advertised for the 2013-2016 four year period in Basketball, Competitive Cheer, Swimming, and Wrestling.
ITEM 17 Chairman Majikes provided the Committee with the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee Request submitted to the PIAA State Committee for consideration. Highlights of the 5 day proposed regulations for a heat acclimation period in the sport of football are as follows:
· All preseason football practice, at all levels of interscholastic competition, shall begin with a heat acclimation period.
· During that period, helmets shall be the only piece of equipment students may wear.
· During that period, no physical contact activities are permitted.
· Teams may not hold more than one practice on consecutive days and students may not participate in multiple practices on consecutive days.
· Students may not engage in more than three hours of practice on those days during which one practice is conducted.
· Students may not engage in more than five hours of practice on those days during which two practices are conducted. The second practice shall be a teaching period/walk through practice only, with no conditioning activities permitted.
· On the days when 2 practices are conducted, there shall be a minimum of 2 hours of recover/rest time between the end of the first practice and the beginning of the second practice.
ITEM 18 Chairman Majikes announced that the Annual Business Meeting will be held at Arcaro & Genell’s in Old Forge on Wednesday, April 18, 2012 with an 8:30 a.m. breakfast followed by a 9:15 a.m. Annual meeting. Retiring PIAA Executive Director Brad Cashman will be in attendance. Information will be sent out by the Secretary in the next few days.
ITEM 19 Chairman Majikes then quickly reviewed the various awards to be distributed at the Annual Business Meeting and asked the Committee members to review those awards for discussion at the April 11th Monthly Meeting to be held at the Wilkes-Barre Area Career & Technology Center at 5 p.m.
ITEM 20 A motion was made by Bill Schoen, seconded by Maureen Williams, to adjourn the meeting. All Ayes
Meeting was adjourned at 7: 40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mike Ognosky
Mike Ognosky
District II Secretary