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BREAKING: WIAA member schools vote to delay Multiplier, instead send it to committee for further study

04/16/2014, 10:30am CDT
By Travis Wilson

BREAKING -- 

At today's WIAA Annual Meeting, prior to a vote on the private school Multiplier proposal, a motion was made to send the topic to committee. The motion to send to committee was passed by a vote of 352-77.

This means there will not be a vote on the Multiplier today, and no Multiplier will be instituted for the 2014-15 season.

The motion requires an ad-hoc committee to be formed to examine the issue, with a recommendation encouraged to be completed by September 1st for discussion at the WIAA Area Meetings. A final recommendation from the committee will be required by December 1st. The WIAA ensured that some form of action on the public-private issue will be included on next year's Annual Meeting ballot.

Also at the meeting this morning, a proposal that would have given authority over conference realignment back to the schools instead of the WIAA was defeated by a vote of 400-26.

See the full WIAA press release below. WSN will have more analysis of today's news coming soon.

From the WIAA -- 

The membership of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association voted to move the discussion regarding the impact of nonpublic schools on the Association to committee and defeated a proposal that would place the authority for conference alignment with individual member schools at its Annual Meeting today in Stevens Point.

An amendment that would have applied a 1.65 multiplier to nonpublic member schools for tournament divisional placements did not reach a vote. The amendment originated from a petition submitted to the Board of Control by a segment of member schools. The membership voted to send the issue to committee by a 352-77 count. 

The motion to form a committee contained specific timelines. Recommendations are to be shared with the Executive Staff prior to Sept. 1, 2014; so they may be presented at the seven Area Meetings for the purpose of generating discussion and determining a direction. Applicable data and a recommendation from the committee shall be presented to the Board of Control by Dec. 1, 2014, and advanced to the 2015 Annual Meeting. Subsequent discussions identified the authority of the ad-hoc committee to request additional time as it may deem necessary. An amendment at the 2015 Annual Meeting, if approved, would take effect at the start of the 2015 fall season.

The authority to determine conference affiliations remains with the Board of Control after the membership voted down the amendment to change the process by a resounding 400-26 vote. The existing policy requires a member school, or schools, to petition or declare a request for conference realignment at the Area Meetings. The Executive Staff is responsible for identifying a realignment plan. The staff proposal is then presented to the Board for first consideration before final action is taken following a 40-day appeal period.

Of the three amendments passed by the membership, two of them impact the Rules of Eligibility section of the Senior High Handbook and one alters the Bylaws.

The first amendment to the Rules of Eligibility, ratified by a 265-56 vote, requires football coaches to follow the fall acclimatization policy during the unrestricted school contact days in the summer. The second provides all sports with the same unlimited nonschool coaching contact opportunities in the summer, adding soccer to the list that includes baseball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, and wrestling. The measure passed by a 346-74 vote of the membership.

The new rule to be added to the Bylaws requires all coaches, including assistants, to attend the rules meeting and/or watch the rules video when they are offered. Previously, only head coaches were required to attend the meetings and/or watch the video. The membership supported passage of the amendment by a 292-131 tally. 

The assembly also approved all but one of the editorial changes to the Constitution, Bylaws and Rules of Eligibility by a vote of 369-16. These alterations clarify existing rules without making any change in the interpretation of the rule. The proposed editorial change to clarify language regarding the Association’s restitution rule in the Constitution was amended to remove all of the proposed alterations. That amendment passed 316-105 to maintain the existing language.

In the 2014-15 Board of Control elections, president-elect Mike Beighley, the district administrator at Whitehall, will serve his second consecutive term representing District 1, and treasurer Corey Baumgartner, principal at Kiel, will return to the Board representing District 4. Eric Coleman, the student services coordinator with Milwaukee Public Schools, was elected as the ethnic minority at-large representative. He replaces Keith Posley, who served the maximum two successive terms.

Incumbents re-elected to the Advisory Council were Todd Sobrilsky, athletic/activities director at Brookfield Central, and Dave Steavpack, assistant principal/athletic director at Ashwaubenon, representing large schools; and Barry Rose, superintendent at Cumberland, representing medium-sized schools. Joining the Council are Ty Breitlow, principal at Chilton, representing medium-sized schools; Mark Gruen, district administrator at Royall, representing small schools; and Mark Holzman, assistant superintendent in the Sheboygan Area School District, serving as the ethnic at-large representative. Elected individuals serve a three-year term on the Advisory Council.

A total of 546 delegates from 443 schools were in attendance. The WIAA oversees interscholastic athletic programs for 505 senior high schools and 62 junior high/middle level schools in its membership. It sponsors 24 championship tournament series. For more information, please contact the WIAA office at (715) 344-8580.

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