A description of the meeting, who was there, action items and the next meeting date.

Note: all minutes are marked “Draft” until official approved by the next committee meeting.

VPA ACTIVITY STANDARDS COMMITTEE
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Killington Grand Hotel

Members Present: Bill Lawson, Frank Pecora, D.G. Weaver, Dan Marlow, Kathi Bierwirth, Cynthia Hinrichsen, Pam Arnold, Chris Hodsden, Shawn Pickett, Bob Johnson

Also Present: Sean Jones, Terrell Martin, Bill Murphy, Josh Dunne, Sumner Erbe, James Avery, Alex Ramage Cecelia Mason, Dennis Perry, Lissa McDonald, Melba Masse, Bob Bathalon

Minutes:

- motion by Shawn, second by D.G., to accept minutes of 3/12/08. Correct Travis’s name in the minutes (instead of Frank). Motion approved unanimously.

- discussion with Sean Jones (South Burlington HS) concerning a proposed split season hockey team. Request from the group for the VPA to waiver the number of students a high school can coach during the off-season. The focus of this team is on the Fall. Coaches would come from various high school teams in the Chittenden County area, however based on the current policy the two coaches from CVU would exceed the number of students they could coach. Notes that the VHL had a negative vote on this proposal. Request is for a 2 year waiver of the policy.

Motion by Shawn, second by D.G., to grant a 2 year waiver of the out of season coaching policy (in terms of how many students a coach can coach during the off-season) for the split season hockey proposal. Vote – Yes – 0, No – 8 Motion denied.

- discussion on the ASC decision to allow girl’s to participate in a 2 year trial where they would be allowed to participate in two showcase events (one at Thanksgiving and one at Christmas). Discussion. Pam updated ASC on the two meetings with US Hockey representatives. Meetings went well. They have agreed not to pursue the issue of playing additional games on a non-school team. This proposal was not supported by the VHL. Also should note that the VPA currently does allow this type of participation in girl’s lacrosse and soccer.

Motion by Chris, second by Pam, to reaffirm the decision of ASC to allow girl’s to Participate in two showcase events. Vote – Yes – 6, No – 2 Motion approved.

- discussion on divisional alignments for 2009 – 2011. Motion by D.G., second by Dan, to stay with the same baseline numbers used in 2007 – 2009 for divisional alignments. Allow each committee to establish its own criteria besides numbers.
Vote – approved unanimously. Note – for the Fall, use 2007 October school numbers for a starting point..

- Hartford HS request for an additional year of eligibility for Terrell Martin. Hearing conducted in Executive Session.

Motion by Chris, second by Frank, to grant Terrell Martin an additional year (2008 – 2009) of eligibility. Vote Yes – 7, No – 0, Abstain – 1 Motion approved.

- Otter Valley UHS request for an age waiver and additional year of eligibility for Alex Ramage. Hearing conducted in Executive Session.

Motion by Chris, second by Frank, to grant Alex Ramage an age waiver and additional year of eligibility (2008 – 2009 ) Vote – approved unanimously.

- meeting with Lissa McDonald and Melba Masse of the Cheerleading Committee. In 2007, there were 16 teams in the state championship. This is a decline. Currently, Cheerleading uses the same alignments as Girls Track (3 divisions). However, the committee will be looking at consolidating into 2 divisions this Fall. Decline is due to a number of factors (competition with dance, certification of coaches, declining student enrollment). No further action.

- discussion on student eligibility waiver presented by St. Johnsbury Academy. Request is to allow a 5th year senior to play lacrosse. No hardship forms submitted. Issue is tabled due to lack of information and whether or not this is a hardship request. Bob J. will let the Academy know this.

- discussion on correspondence concerning the number of schools allowed to participate in a state championship. Letter states that we should allow schools to enter multiple teams in any sport. Under the current system, schools are allowed to have multiple sub-varsity teams. That is a local school decision. Consensus from ASC, that state championships should all one team per member school at the varsity level. No further action.

- discussion on request from Officials Committee to raise mileage rate for 2008 – 2009 to .45 per mile. Rising gas prices are a primary issue. Discussion. Issue tabled until August meeting. Issue for 2008 – 2009 is that budgets are already set. Officials Committee is recommending IRS rate starting in 2009 – 2010. Tabled until summer meeting.

- discussion on ball contract. Current contract expires on 7/1/08. Have implemented a new one year agreement with Rawlings due to timing. Bob J. will set up a Ball Committee to explore options and bids. Final recommendation to be with ASC at January 2009 meeting.

- adjourned – next meeting August 12/13, 2008 in Manchester, VT.