The Ohio High School Athletic Association board of directors met Thursday morning in Columbus for its regularly scheduled December meeting. The following are highlights from the meeting. The complete set of meeting minutes will be posted at OHSAA.org.
The board acknowledged receipt of a formal petition to place a referendum item on the ballot this spring to create separate OHSAA tournaments for public and non-public schools.
The petition was received before the Dec. 1 deadline and with the appropriate number of signatures (75 total signatures of member school principals with at least five signatures from each of the OHSAA’s six districts) as mandated by Article 8 of the OHSAA Constitution.
The annual referendum voting period is May 1 to 15, with each member high school having one vote cast by the principal.
Before the referendum voting period begins, the OHSAA will explain the referendum item and provide additional information on the issue to the membership. The OHSAA membership voted down similar proposals in 1978 and 1994.
In other business discussed at the meeting:
The board began discussion regarding the implementation of seven divisions in football beginning next fall. The board will discuss playoff format options in more detail at its January meeting.
The board began discussions regarding Bylaw 4-10 Amateurism and Bylaw 5 Awards as they pertain to out of season contests and what expenses can be reimbursed to student-athletes by event organizers. Further discussion will be held as soon as possible and clarification will be communicated to the membership.
The board authorized the OHSAA staff to begin dialogue with the organizers of the football state championship games regarding the location of the championships after the current contracts expire following the 2015 finals. The current contracts include two years in Stark County (Massillon and Canton) in 2012 and 2013 and two years at Ohio Stadium in Columbus in 2014 and 2015. The championship games have been held in Stark County since 1990 after being played in Ohio Stadium from 1982 to 1989.
Five member schools were recently penalized for committing infractions of OHSAA bylaws or sports regulations.
Adding the triple jump was again proposed by the Ohio Association of Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches. A minimum of two board members must support the proposal for it to reach a vote of the board of directors, but only one board member supported the proposal.
The regional and state tournament draw for girls and boys basketball was held and will be posted at OHSAA.org.
