WIAA AREA MEETINGS
SEPTEMBER 2014
Mike Beighley, WIAA Board of Control President, Whitehall
Dave Anderson, Executive Director
Wade Labecki, Deputy Director
Deb Hauser, Associate Director
Todd Clark, Communications Director
Tom Shafranski, Assistant Director
Marcy Thurwachter, Assistant Director
Joan Gralla, Office Manager
Eric Dziak, Technology Coordinator
Welcome!
Open Forum
Your Questions/Concerns
Committee on Competitive Equity Update
September 8-Mount Horeb-Kyle Luedtke & Chris Zwettler
September 9-Oconomowoc-Janet Bahr, David Bartelt & Gus Knitt
September 10-Antigo-Dawn Urban
September 15-Greenfield-Sandy Freres & Ryan Mangan
September 16-Mauston-Ken Clinton, Archie Sherbinow &
Ron Walsh
September 23-Rice Lake-Steve Salisbury & Archie Sherbinow
September 24-Fox Valley Lutheran, Appleton-Patrick Mans,
Mark McQuade & Robert Pauly
Competitive Equity Ad Hoc
Committee
Summer Work Report
2014
C/C Mission
The committee formation was voted on by the membership at
the Annual Meeting on April 16, 2014. The WIAA Board of
Control appointed a 21-member team with representation from
the seven districts. Representation included 12 from the public
schools and nine from private schools: large and small schools;
includes superintendents, principals, and athletic directors. There
are no members from the Sports Advisory Committee, WIAA
Executive Staff or Board of Control.
The Mission of the Committee is to…
study competitive balance/equity!
evaluate the current procedure of using enrollment for division
placement in post-season tournament plus offer a solution.
Timeline
The Committee would meet over the
summer and present their findings at the
September Area Meetings.
The Committee would make their final
recommendation to the Board of Control in
December of 2014 for the 2015-2016 school
year.
The Committee may ask for more time if
required.
Competitive Equity was
defined as “more schools
have an opportunity to
compete on a more level
playing field in
post-season play.”
The Committee met twice:
July 7-8 and Aug. 3-4
The following viable solutions were developed
and investigated by the Committee:
1.65 multiplier
Status quo
Add a division in sports that would contain no private schools.
(Exception: not in football)
Long Term Success Factors: point system for
regional,sectionals,and state that would accumulate and move a
team up a division over an established period of time.
Reducer: Subtract students on free and reduced lunch, or a
percentage of those students from total enrollment.
Solutions continued
Equal distribution of private schools throughout
division.
Sport specific private/public separate state
tournaments or path to the state tournament in
tennis, golf, volleyball, and soccer.
Geographical population multiplier (public and
private)
Out of feeder school/open enrolled student
multiplier.
Criteria Used for Assessing
Potential Solutions
 Sport Specific
 Addresses schools in rural/urban areas.
 Universal application to all WIAA member
schools.
 Clear, concise and supported by data.
 Can be reviewed and will be evaluated.
Wisconsin has its own unique circumstances. The
Committee reviewed what other states have done and then
applied the criteria to meet the needs of the WIAA
member schools.
"I think each state association really has to do some soulsearching," says B. Elliot Hopkins, director of sports and
educational services for the Indianapolis-based National
Federation of State High School Associations, who also sits on
the organization's Citizenship/Equity Committee. "What
administrators do in one state may have no place in another
state. There's no right or wrong; it's just what works best in that
state at a particular time. You have to add that clarifier: 'at a
particular time.'"
Athletic Business
“Criteria” applied to nine proposals! This
resulted in three proposals that met the
“Criteria” for further study.
Reducer
Success Factor
Geographical, Boundary-Specific
Multiplier
Reducer
Follows the Minnesota plan using free and reduced lunch
numbers where 40% of the current free and reduced count.
After 7 years, Minnesota continues to apply reducer to their
schools.
Can be applied to both private and public, rural and urban, and
all sports.
Data exists and can be audited.
Research what % of students on free and reduced lunch actually
participate in athletics for their schools.
Options that need to be explored include: How do you count
students? Do schools get bumped up? Do “large urban
school”move down? Does it address the concerns of “rural
schools”?
Success Factor
Measurable and easy to track
Evaluates and impacts the least number of schools.
Can be applied to all sports and public/private schools.
Review 3 or 5 year records to improve speed of resolution.
Establish a level point system for state tournament movement:
regional, sectional and state championships.
Can this process be combined with other options?
Should the WIAA punish schools, public/private, for success?
Will this provide a road for more rural schools to make a state
appearance?
Geographical, Boundary-Specific
Multiplier
Establish a radius for attendance regardless of open
enrollment.
Take all schools in Wisconsin and assign them a home
attendance boundary.
Add a multiplier to each student beyond boundary.
Need to review how many students actually participate in
athletics.
Need to review feeder schools for private schools.
Set up a model to see how this affects all schools and will this
address rural/urban issues.
Why not the Multiplier?
The multiplier is not universally applied to all members.
The multiplier does not take into account open
enrollment/non-boundary schools in Wisconsin.
While it might move some private schools, it does not solve
the problem. Over time other schools would emerge.
Empirical evidence from Missouri has indicated that the
multiplier formula did not decrease the amount of state
championships won by private schools. Two states (Georgia
and Arkansas) have abandoned the multiplier format.
Multiplier continued
Not all private schools are the same and yet, the
multiplier treats them the same.
The goal of the committee is not to target just private
schools, but to analyze all schools success factors.
The committee did not believe the multiplier would
address the concerns of the rural schools.
The Committee will reconvene on
Oct. 1, 2014.
Each option is being studied in-depth and for evaluation on
Oct. 1.
The Committee will review modeled examples to see if the 3
options resolve issues to improve competitive balance/equity.
The Competitive Equity Ad Hoc Committee will seek to
recommend to the Board of Control their findings for the
December Board meeting.
The Committee acknowledges that their findings may be a
combinations of options to best address Wisconsin’s
uniqueness.
Seeding State Tournaments
Geography vs. Best Teams
• Geographic Representation
• Travel
• School Time
• Substitutes
• Luck of the Draw
• Boys Volleyball
• Wrestling
• Hockey
• Softball
• Girls Volleyball
• Baseball
• Tennis
• Soccer
• Basketball
Seeding State Tournaments
Geography vs. Best Teams
• Coaches, Media and Public Sentiment
• Extra Qualifiers
• Sectional Assignments
• Expectations
• Your Thoughts
Conference Realignment
The Board of Control’s authority in conference alignment is outlined in the Constitution of the
WIAA under Article VI-Powers and Duties of the Board of Control, Section 10, as follows:
The Board of Control has the authority to take action to bring about a reasonable conference affiliation and relationship for member high schools. Reasonable conference affiliation and relationship
with member high schools may include total movement of member schools, sport specific relief,
and/or scheduling assistance.
Note: It is not the intent to make wholesale changes in existing conference lines. It should be understood, however, that there could be shake-ups in areas where conference affiliation problems are
particularly acute, and it may not be realistic to find a solution for every member school.
For inclusion in a conference, any member high school, either through co-op application or by singular sponsorship, must offer one sport for boys and one sport for girls in the fall, winter, and spring.
Schools that are not coeducational must adhere to a similar single-gender requirement.
POSITION ON ALIGNMENT
The Board of Control at its February, 1978, meeting adopted the following statement (editorially
updated since that time) as its position on conference alignment:
WHEREAS, the WIAA has been delegated the authority to establish conference alignment within
its member schools, and
WHEREAS, conference alignment creates an emotional issue with citizens, school boards and
school personnel, and total agreement of those schools involved seems largely unattainable, and
WHEREAS, the Board of Control desires to establish a procedure to accomplish realignment where
necessary and yet provide for input from those directly involved, afford due process to the affected
school and provide for final determination of issues.
NOW, THEREFORE, the Board of Control establishes this procedure to be followed in realignment
matters:
1. The Executive Director, or a delegate, is responsible for identifying conference alignments that
merit consideration for adjustment. This identification will be determined following a petition from
a conference or conferences, a request by a Board of Education or Governing Body of member school,
or by declaration of the WIAA staff annually at the Area Meetings.
2. Working meeting(s) with administrators and/or Board of Education/Governing Body members
of any of the schools potentially affected by changes in conference affiliation. Member schools are
expected to send representatives with full knowledge of the impact of conference realignment and
with the full authority to respond on the school’s behalf. Discussions will include, but not be limited
to enrollments, travel and programs. After completing the working meetings, a preliminary recommendation will be formulated.
3. The preliminary recommendation(s) shall be made known to the affected schools and conferences
before the Board of Control’s first consideration. The Board retains the right to alter the preliminary
recommendation after first consideration. If the preliminary recommendation is altered, first consideration action will be delayed until the next scheduled Board of Control meeting.
4. Following Board of Control first consideration and resultant action on the preliminary recommendation, all affected schools and conferences shall be notified of the action. Any affected school
or conference may petition for a hearing. The petition must be made within 40-days of the Board of
Control action following first consideration. The hearing shall be held no later than the first regular
Board of Control meeting after the 40-day petition deadline has expired.
5. All affected schools and conferences will be notified of the hearing date, time and location. The
Board shall reserve the right to establish time limits on appearances by each school or conference.
Testimony may be in written or verbal form. The Board of Control can accept or reject the initial action. Final Board of Control action will be taken no later than the regular meeting in the month following the hearing.
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Control of the WIAA adopts the following criteria to be applied in considering realignment proposals, listed in descending order of importance with the recognition that they are guidelines only, not each will be followed in every case:
1. There is no fixed number of schools required in a conference; the number may vary depending
on many factors relating to others of these guidelines and availability of schools.
2. Distances to be traveled by competing schools shall be kept reasonable, and it is recognized
greater distances may be required.
3. Size of enrollment of schools shall be considered and guidelines previously established by the
Board of Control shall be used but shall not be absolute in any situations.
4. Comparability of athletic participation first, then comparability of other school sponsored activities shall be considered.
5. Traditional rivalries shall be considered.
– – – – – – – – – –
The Board of Control at its February, 1988, meeting made these provisions (editorially updated
since that time) part of the official position on conference alignment:
1. WIAA schools must assume an “ownership” of conference alignment problems if solutions are
to be found.
2. The Board of Control will play the role of an appeals body in all future alignment transactions.
3. Alignment changes will be reviewed as necessary at the request of member schools. The annual
area meetings will serve as a way for schools to voice their concerns.
4. Inasmuch as schools desire tournament competition on a divisional basis, membership in a conference will attempt to follow the same idea. Efforts will be made to eliminate situations in which a
conference contains schools from more than two divisions.
5. Odd-numbered conferences are workable as long as there are other odd-numbered conferences
in the immediate area to take care of bye dates, particularly in football.
Conference Realignment
• Area Meetings
• Formal Request to be made at Annual Meeting
• Statewide Realignment—Every 8 years?
• Single School Requests—When/How to Say “No”
• Other Suggestions
2014 Constitutional Changes
• Football coaches to follow the fall acclimatization policy during
their summertime unrestricted school coaching contact days.
• All sports with unlimited non-school coaching contact will be the
same.
• All coaches, including assistant coaches, to fulfill rules meeting
requirements.
2015 Proposed Constitutional Amendments
• Require a member school to maintain one sport.
• Remove restitution penalty provided to Board of Control in
Constitution.
• Designate a date in which amendments may be brought to the
membership via petition to allow discussion and committee
review prior to the Annual Meeting.
• Allow students to participate in skills contests during the
season.
• Allow from June 15-July 15 unrestricted school sponsored
contact in basketball for individual instruction use only.
2015 Proposed Constitutional Amendments
• Open unrestricted school coaching contact to all sports
except football to the entire period between the last day of
school to July 31.
• Open unlimited non-school coaching contact to all sports
except football for the period between the last day of school
to the first day of school.
• Allow underclassmen to participate in all-star competitions
during the summer.
• Editorial—Clarify conference realignment procedures
2014 Sportsmanship Summit
Wednesday, December 3
Holiday Inn Convention Center, Stevens Point, WI
Introduction—All Members Welcome
Schedule
Topics and Presenters
Registration
8 Player Football Championship
At its January 29, 2014 meeting, the Board of
Control approved the implementation of a 16-team
tournament one year following the season in which
30 or more schools are sponsoring 8-player
football.
In line with 11 player qualifying.
Boys Basketball 100th Anniversary
• Celebrating the Game – Local Celebrations
During Season
• Memorabilia—Have Any?
• Pack the Kohl
• 3-Point Challenge
• Watch for More Info
Officials Licensing and Ranking
New for 2014-15:
• Officials can access all information on the WIAA
website with a single login.
• Officials online Directory is updated daily.
• RefRanking is no longer the platform used for
coaches to rank officials.
• Rankings will be submitted through Athletix.us.
Instruction guides are on the Athletix website and
information has been provided to athletic directors.
Political and Legal Landscapes
• Non-school competition in other states
• Illinois and its legislature
• California and transfer rule
• Legal implications and realignment
• First Aid, CPR and AED Training
• LRB 2032 and AB 520
Participation
Inclusive, not exclusive
It’s About More Than Winning
Timely Reminders—Updates—Announcements
Conference Realignment
Thank You!
Have a Great Year!