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The WIAA Board of Control heard impassioned pleas and arguments from numerous school representatives at its meeting Tuesday afternoon, and ultimately chose to vote down a proposal that would have moved West Salem from the Coulee Conference to the Mississippi Valley.

The Board of Control did modify the proposal to mandate a scheduling arrangement with the seven member Coulee Conference and the six member Southwest Wisconsin Conference. The Board also voted to raise officials licensing fees but also increase official pay during tournament play plus heard information on a proposed NFHS national TV network amongst other items discussed at its meeting on Tuesday.

The agenda item that generated the most interest prior to and at the meeting was the proposed realignment in Western Wisconsin. Discussions on modifying conference assignments in that area have been ongoing for several years as the SWC has sought relief as a six team conference and the Mississippi Valley looked for an eighth member.

Last fall several representatives from the SWC, Coulee, and MVC met to discuss possible solutions, with several proposals coming from those talks. Ultimately, WIAA Associate Director Deb Hauser advanced a plan to the Board of Control that would have moved West Salem to the Mississippi Valley, creating a six team league in the Coulee and keeping the SWC as a six team league as well.

Tuesday's Board of Control meeting offered the WIAA governing council the opportunity to approve the plan, reject the plan, or modify the plan. Representatives from every school in the affected conference, some 25 to 30 in all, were in attendance to present their views on the proposal.

Mississippi Valley Conference commissioner Terry Erickson spoke first, saying the league supported the plan as it desires an 8 team league to ease game scheduling and feels West Salem would be competitive in a move. He emphasized that the league and its members did not pressure the WIAA to move West Salem however.

Jeff Jacobson, the Platteville principal and representative for the SWC, was next to speak, expressing the opinion that leaving the conference with just six members was not equitable. He requested that the Board consider adding Westby and Viroqua from the Coulee Conference, although neither school is interested in making that move. Jacobson did indicate if the SWC can't be realigned, the schools would like to request the WIAA guarantee some form of scheduling relief with the Coulee in the form of mandated crossover games.

Representatives from every Coulee Conference school plus league commissioner Bruce Kaiser spoke out against the WIAA proposal, but none more so than West Salem athletic director LeRoy Krall. Reading from a multi-page statement, he spoke passionately about the desire of his school to remain in the Coulee Conference, providing data with several charts indicating how difficult his teams would find the going in the larger MVC.

Krall presented statistics showing the MVC's current smallest public schools Tomah and Sparta, each several hundred students larger than West Salem, have rarely won conference championships. He also expressed concerns over the safety of his athletes going against larger, deeper teams and the fear of losing coaches if they found winning more difficult in the Mississippi Valley.

Deb Hauser of the WIAA wrapped up the discussion with comments supporting the plan.

"Is it the best for everyone? No. But that's realignment. There is no perfect answer," Hauser said.

The Board of Control adjourned to another room to discuss the proposal, spending about 30 minutes debating its options.

When they returned, Board of Control member Dean Sanders of Lake Mills made a motion to deny the proposal to move West Salem to the Mississippi Valley and modify the plan to require the scheduling of two non-conference games between Coulee and SWC teams.

Discussion followed, including what specifics of a scheduling agreement may look like and who would decide how to set it up.

Ultimately, Oregon superintendent Brian Busler seconded the motion, bringing it to a vote.

With six voting in favor, two opposing, and one (Aquinas' Ted Knutson) abstaining, the modified proposal requiring scheduling assistance between the Coulee and SWC beginning in 2014 was advanced.

Since it was modified, the schools will have the opportunity to discuss it and present supporting information prior to a vote on the issue at the May 17th Board of Control meeting where it will receive first consideration. If the plan is approved at that time there would be a 40-day appeal window.

Earlier in the day, WIAA staff recommended adjusting both official licensing fees and official tournament game payments. The Board of Control approved Executive Director Dave Anderson's proposal to increase the base licensing fee from $20 to $35, the per sport fee from $10 to $15, and the late fee from $20 to $30. This will result in an increase in revenue of approximately $210,000, although the fees remain below most neighboring states and are the first fee increases since 2004.

That will be off-set by an increase in payments to tournament officials of $5 at the regional and sectional level and $15 at the state tournament level. This will result in increased officials payments of approximately $91,000.

Also attached to the official's payment adjustments was an implementation of background checks for all 9,000 WIAA-licensed officials. Most neighboring states do some form of background checks, with costs ranging from $7 to $20 per check. WIAA staff indicated crimes against children and drug-related convictions would be automatic disqualifiers for an officials license.

“Anything we can do to protect the kids that we have and the schools we have it's time to step up and do it," said Board of Control member Dean Sanders.

The motion was approved unanimously, although there are still details to be worked out in implementation.

Executive Director Dave Anderson shared further information on a fast-moving plan by the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) to begin its own TV network similar to the Big Ten Network. Partnering with PlayOnSports, with Madison's Tim Eichorst involved, the NFHS hopes to launch the nationwide network as early as this fall. It would be optional for state associations to join and contribute content thus gaining compensation from advertising money.

The Board also heard staff reports on preparations for the 30th Annual Scholar Athlete Ceremony; procedures for membership enrollment; a review of the winter tournaments; and an overview of tournament ticket prices, travel reimbursements and tournament host managers’ fees. The Board liaisons from the Department of Public Instruction and the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association also presented updates.