NEBRASKA SCHOOL ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATION

OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF CONTROL

 

The Board of Control met August 24, 2007, at the Association Office, Lincoln, Nebraska, with members present as follows.

                                                            District I      --     Terry Kenealy, York

                                                            District II --  Dr. Bob Reznicek, Omaha Westside

                                                            District III --  Jay Bellar, Battle Creek

                                                            District IV    --     Max Kroger, Ord

                                                            District V --  Dr. Dallas Watkins, Dundy County-Stratton

                                                            District VI    --     Kent Halley, Mitchell

 

Also in attendance at the meeting was Rick Moses, Nebraska Department of Education liaison; Peg Naylon, Omaha Public Schools; Steve Johnsen, Nebraska Coaches Association; Stu Pospisil, Omaha World Herald; Jack Mayfield, Omaha; Ed Gogan, Assistant Principal/Activities Director, Nebraska City High School, parents Doug and Pam Boes; Don Jacobs, Principal/Activities Director, Arcadia High School, student Elizabeth Reynolds, parents Darrell and Dena Meese; Superintendent Dr. Scott Swisher and School Board Member Jason Dendinger, Hartington High School; Ryle Jane Hambleton, Lincoln Journal-Star; Rex Schultze, Legal Counsel; and John Bonaiuto, Glen Larson and John Wurdeman, Nebraska Association of School Boards.

 

The meeting was called to order at 8:05 a.m. by 2006-07 Chairman Bob Reznicek.

 

1.     New Board members Terry Kenealy, District I, and Jay Bellar, District III, were each presented a plaque in recognition of their beginning service to the NSAA.  Board Chairman Bob Reznicek asked for nominees for the 2007-08 Board Chair and Vice-Chair, noting that the Board Policy Manual provides a suggested officer-rotation schedule.  It was moved by Max Kroger, seconded by Kent Halley, to nominate and elect Dallas Watkins as Chair and Kent Halley as Vice-Chair.  Motion Carried, 6-0.  The Board commended Dr. Reznicek for his leadership as Board Chair during the 2006-07 Association year.

2.     It was moved by Bob Reznicek, seconded by Kent Halley, to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Motion Carried 6-0. Items approved on the Consent Agenda included approval of the Agenda as amended; approval of the minutes of the May 25, 2007, Regular Board of Control meeting, the June 6, 2007, Weather Contingencies Committee meeting, and the June 7, 2007, Speech and Play Production Committee meeting; approval of the May, June, and July 2007 Financial Statements; approval of new cooperative sponsorships for Arnold and Callaway High Schools for boys golf; Burwell and Loup County High Schools for boys and girls cross country; Loomis and Bertrand High School for wrestling and McCook and Southwest for swimming and diving; approval of cooperative sponsorship renewals for Auburn, Nebraska City and Lourdes Central Catholic High Schools for boys tennis, Burwell and Sargent High Schools for wrestling, Humphrey and Humphrey St. Francis High Schools for instrumental music, Omaha Brownell-Talbot and Concordia High Schools for boys soccer, Omaha Burke and Concordia High Schools for girls swimming, Omaha Burke, Concordia and Mount Michael Benedictine High Schools for boys swimming, Omaha Roncalli Catholic and Omaha Brownell-Talbot High Schools for boys and girls swimming, Thedford and Sandhills High School for boys golf, and Ogallala and Paxton High Schools for girls tennis and boys golf; and approval of cooperative sponsorship dissolution for Omaha South and Omaha Bryan in boys and girls cross county.

3.     It was moved by Max Kroger, seconded by Kent Halley, to enter a closed session at 10:00 a.m. to hear an appeal of a domicile hardship waiver for Alexander C. Boes of Nebraska City High School. Motion Carried, 6-0. The hearing concluded with notification that the Board would take action on the appeal later in the meeting after discussing the matter further in executive session.  It was moved by Jay Bellar, seconded by Terry Kenealy to exit the closed session at 10:35 a.m.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

4.     It was moved by Terry Kenealy, seconded by Bob Reznicek, to enter a closed session at 10:40 a.m. to  hear an appeal of a domicile hardship waiver for Elizabeth Reynolds of Arcadia High School. Motion Carried, 6-0. The hearing concluded with notification that the Board would take action on the appeal later in the meeting after discussing the matter further in executive session.  It was moved by  Bob Reznicek, seconded by Kent Halley, to exit the closed session at 11:05 a.m.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

5.     The Board discussed the starting time of scheduled monthly Board of Control Meetings and determined that the length of the agenda shall dictate the starting time of each meeting.

6.     It was moved by Bob Reznicek, seconded by Max Kroger, to extend the agreement with the Omaha Public Schools to host the State Track and Field meet to include the years 2009 and 2010.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

7.     The Board adjusted the per diem rate to $35 per day and the mileage rate for Board, Staff, Committees, Officials, Judges and Representative Assembly to 44.5 cents per mile on a motion by Kent Halley and a second by Jay Bellar.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

8.     The revised Board of Control Policy Manual was approved as presented on a motion by Terry Kenealy and a second by Max Kroger.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

9.     It was moved by Bob Reznicek seconded by Kent Halley, to approve the format and schedule for the 2008 State Soccer Championships.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

10.  It was moved by Terry Kenealy, seconded by Max Kroger, to adopt a format for the 2008 Girls and Boys State Basketball Championships to allow two-game sessions at four sites on Thursday and two-game sessions at two sites on Friday as proposed.  Motion Carried, 6-0.  The two-game sessions will require a 9:00 a.m. starting time.

11.  It was moved by Jay Bellar, seconded by Kent Halley, to discontinue the sale of book tickets for state volleyball and state basketball championships and delay consideration for charging of admission at state tennis and state golf until possibly the 2008-09 school year.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

12.  It was moved by Max Kroger, seconded by Bob Reznicek, to set the classification numbers for Baseball at 26 schools in Class A with six districts and two wildcard qualifiers and 16 schools in Class B with four districts and four wildcard qualifiers, with eight teams qualifying for the state tournament in each class for the 2007-2008 State Baseball Championships.  Class B district assignments and seeding dates will correspond with the process utilized for the Class A baseball.   Motion Carried, 6-0.

13.  The Board approved US Bank for one-year as the NSAA Premier Corporate Partner on a motion by Max Kroger, and a second by Terry Kenealy. Motion Carried, 6-0.  The Board charged the staff with further studying NSAA sponsorships to determine the value of those sponsorships.

14.  It was moved by Kent Halley, seconded by Jay Bellar, to deny the renewed request for funding for the Hall of Fame, but to reconsider annual contributions at the time the debt is retired on the new building.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

15.  It was moved by Max Kroger, seconded by Terry Kenealy, to list the sale of the current NSAA building with NIA FMA Realty.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

16.  Hartington Public School appeared before the Board to discuss their certified enrollment figures of 87 for the 2006-07 school year and of 84 for the 2007-2008 school year.  Hartington Public School indicated that their numbers for 2007-2008 are actually 77 and they requested that they not be ineligible for the Football Playoffs in 2007-2008.  The request was denied as classification of schools is based on the previous year’s enrollment, not current-year totals.

17.  It was moved by Terry Kenealy, seconded by Jay Bellar, to grant the dissolution of the Maywood and Medicine Valley High School wrestling cooperative.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

18.  It was moved by Kent Halley, seconded by Jay Bellar, to enter executive session at 11:05 a.m. to further discuss evidence from the hardship hearings.  Motion Carried, 6-0.  It was moved by Jay Bellar, seconded by Kent Halley, to exit executive session at 11:23 a.m.  Motion Carried 6-0.

19.  In open session, the Board further addressed the domicile hardship waiver for Alex Boes.  On a motion by Max Kroger, seconded by Terry Kenealy, the Board adopted findings of fact and determination to uphold the Executive Director’s ineligibility ruling.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

20.  In open session, the Board further addressed the domicile hardship waiver for Elizabeth Reynolds.  On a motion by Terry Kenealy, seconded by Jay Bellar, the Board adopted findings and fact and determination to uphold the Executive Director’s ineligibility ruling. Motion Carried, 4 For (I, III, V, VI) 2 Against (II, IV).

21.  It was moved by Max Kroger, seconded by Kent Halley, to reappoint Julia Plucker as the NSAA's legislative lobbyist for 2007-08.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

22.  It was moved by Kent Halley, seconded by Bob Reznicek, to reappoint Perry Law Firm and Rex Schultze as the NSAA’s legal counsel for 2007-08.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

23.  It was moved by Terry Kenealy, seconded by Kent Halley, to enter executive session at 1:05 p.m. to discuss legal issues.  Motion Carried, 6-0.  It was moved by Jay Bellar, seconded by Kent Halley, to exit executive session as 1:30 p.m.  Motion Carried, 6-0. 

24.  The printing bids were approved as presented and recommended on a motion by Jay Bellar and a second by Kent Halley.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

25.  The 2007-08 Association budget was approved on a motion by Bob Reznicek and a second by Max Kroger.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

26.  It was moved by Terry Kenealy, seconded by Kent Halley to re-consider Agenda Item VI-G, Admission for Championships.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

27.  It was moved by Terry Kenealy, seconded by Jay Bellar, to standardize the NSAA percentage of district gate receipts in soccer, wrestling, baseball and track for the 2007-2008 school year and for softball beginning with the 2008-2009 school year and to standardize district admission prices in wrestling.  Motion Carried, 6-0. 

28.  The Board met with the Executive Director and officers of the Nebraska Association of School Board (NASB) to informally discuss common concerns and issues. The Board of Control suggested periodic meetings between the two groups to open lines of communication and to discuss areas when the two groups might be able to share.

29.  It was moved by Max Kroger, seconded by Kent Halley, to permit College View Academy to complete their NSAA boys and girls basketball season at the end of their regular season in order to participate in the Union College basketball tournament as a club team and waiving participation in NSAA subdistrict, district and state basketball championship series.  The College View Academy record through its last regular season contest prior to the Union College basketball tournament will their record for wildcard purposes.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

30.  It was moved by Max Kroger, seconded by Terry Kenealy, to approve in-kind sponsorship services with Meteorlogix DTN.  Motion Carried, 6-0.

31. Dr. Tenopir reported on infractions and the resulting sanctions against schools and individuals.  Those infractions included the following:  Millard West High School, violation of rule prohibiting non-team members from participating in soccer team practices, letter of reprimand for the school; and Lincoln Pius X High School, violation of the soccer sportsmanship sit-out guidelines, a two-game suspension for the coach and a letter of reprimand for the school.  Fall head coaches who did not attend a required NSAA rules meeting first offense:  softball, Mike Wilson, Omaha Bryan; volleyball, Scott Romans, Bennington; Lindsey Jorgensen, Hayes Center; Roberta Denny, Keya Paha County; Korinne Schuster, Omaha Gross Catholic; football, Stan Wissel, Elm Creek; and Loren Hansen, Osmond.

32. Assistant Director Larry Mollring reported on the assignment of Class A schools to cross country districts.  Previous Board action configured the western geographic district with six teams.  With Columbus opting up to Class A in cross country, the original 2007-08 district assignments included one district with six schools, two with seven, and one district with eight.  Several Class A schools expressed concerns about the unequal number of Class A teams assigned to cross country districts.  Mr. Mollring recommended to the Board that this item be placed on the September 14 Board agenda for action, with the planned remedy for 2007 being to move Norfolk High School to the western district to equalize the number of schools in each district.  The Board will also consider eliminating the western geographic district in cross country after 2007, assigning all Class A schools to district using a modified serpentine system similar to the methodology for Class A track and field.

 

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned 3:25 p.m.

 

The next meeting of the Board of Control is September 14, 2007.

 

 

                                                                

Debra Velder

Associate Director