Ask the Interpreters
A Chat with Debbie and Roxanne
Session with the Ohio Interscholastic Athletic
Administrators Association
October 4, 2010
Goals for this Session
• Discuss Compliance Areas that have posed
problems for our members
• Direct members to resources to help in the area of
student eligibility
• Provide answers to specific questions relating to
student eligibility – or any other topic
International Student Rule
• International Students – Bylaw 4-8-1 – Students are
ineligible in Ohio member schools. Exceptions:
– 1 – Student and parents move into Ohio or have lived
here
– 2 – Visitor Exchange Program
– 3 – Student is adopted by Ohio citizens
– 4 – Student and parents are US citizens but the parents
reside outside the USA (missionaries, military, business,
etc.)
Residence Rule
• Out of State Parents – 4-6-3 – Student ineligible in
an Ohio member school. Exceptions:
– 1. Change of legal custody for reasons that protect the
student
– 2. Attend 15 days in grade 11
– 3. Continuous enrollment from grade 1
– 4. Continuous enrollment in a parochial elementary
school from grade 4-8
– 5. East Liverpool exception
– 6. Boarding school exception
– 7. Military children – Please use OHSAA POA
Transfer Eligibility
• Major area of questions
• OHSAA has developed a “Transfer Bylaw Resource
Center” on the web site at
http://www.ohsaa.org/eligibility/TransferBylawGuida
nce.htm to assist schools
• All principals and athletic administrators received
email guidance on most of the major transfer issues
this summer
The Basic Rule – 4-7-2
• If a student transfers high schools after establishing
eligibility
– Plays in a contest prior to school in the fall of grade 9
– Attends any high school the first five days of grade 9
• The student will be ineligible for all sports at the new
school for one calendar year
• Transfer means to change schools at any time after
establishing eligibility as a 9th grader
• If the student does not change schools, he/she remains
eligible at the school where eligibility was first
established
Parents’ Bona Fide Move
Exception 1
• Exception one of Bylaw 4-7-2
• Parents move into a new school district
• Triggers choice of either the public high school in the
new district or any non-public high school
• Move must be contemporaneous – within the last
calendar year
• Note “Parents” – plural
• Note: Residence Bylaw 4-6-1 defines a Bona Fide
Change of Residence
Parents’ Bona Fide Move
• What should the school administrator do?
– Interview the parents
– Check custody documentation – Q #12 on the Affidavit
– Review the Affidavit of Bona Fide Residence with the
parents
– Sign the front page along with both parents
– Ask the parent to take the actual affidavit to a notary
– Review the document after it is notarized
– Send to OHSAA
– Be prepared to check on the residence periodically,
document the visits, and do so at “off hours”
Major Problems with the ABFR
No custody information supplied - #12
Move made prior to the last calendar year - #8, #13
No Driver’s license/ID with current address - #17,#18
No Voter Registration (note that this does not compel
the individual to actually vote)
• No school administrator signature
• Failure of school personnel to check up on the
residence
• Move not between two public school districts
•
•
•
•
Legal Change of Custody
Exception 2
• Exception two of 4-7-2
• When a court-ordered change of custody results in
the student’s change of school district, this triggers:
– Choice of the public high school in the new custodian’s
school district
– Choice of any non-public school
• Requires an actual legal change of custody, not a
Power of Attorney or an affidavit for school
attendance
Legal Change of Custody
• What must the school administrator do:
– Obtain the court order and insure that it is a legal
change of custody signed by a judge or magistrate
– Draft a letter to either Deborah Moore or Roxanne Price
stipulating
• The person named in the custody document is a resident of
the new school district into which the student is moving
• The student will live full time with that resident for one full year
• Send a copy of the court order along with the letter
Legal Change of Custody
• Note: Redesignation of residential parent within a
Shared Parenting agreement is NOT a legal change
of custody
Bona Fide Move of a parent in Shared
parenting - Exception 3
• The only exception that mentions shared parenting
• Allows for eligibility when either one of the parents
in this agreement (both have legal custody) makes
a bona fide move to a new public school district
• Requires the ABFR
• Triggers the choice of public school in the district of
either parent or any non-public school
• The same criteria as in exception 1 apply
Enrollment and Attendance
Bylaw 4-3-1
• Basic rule – Students are eligible only at the school
where they are enrolled and attending FULL TIME
• This rule prohibits eligibility for
– home-schooled students
– students at schools that do not sponsor certain sports
– students who may want to participate on another school’s
sports team
– students who are in non-member schools
Exceptions to 4-3-1
#1 – Separate 9th grade building
#2 – JVS/Career Center
#3 – Community school under ORC. 3314 sponsored by
the Board of Education
#4 – Postsecondary Enrollment Option
#5 – Alternative school sponsored by BOE
#6 – Home schooled but in partial enrollment in
accordance with BOE policy (at least one course in the
physical location of the school)
#7 – STEM school
Any other Questions??
Thanks for your
attention!!
Contact Us!
Dr. Deborah B. Moore, Ph.D. – dmoore@ohsaa.org
Associate Commissioner
Or
Ms. Roxanne Price – rprice@ohsaa.org
Assistant Commissioner
OHSAA
4080 Roselea Place
Columbus, OH 43214
614-267-2501