STEVENS POINT, Wis. – Corey Baumgartner, principal at Kiel, presided over the first meeting of the 2015-16 Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Control Friday.
Luke Francois, superintendent at Mineral Point, and Scott Winch, superintendent at Stratford, were introduced as new Board members, filling the positions in District 5 and District 2, respectively. In addition, the Board also conducted its 2015-16 officer elections. Pam Foegen, the pupil services director at Regis will serve as the president-elect, and Steve Knecht, the coordinator of athletics, physical education, health and recreation in the Kenosha Unified School District, was elected to the role of treasurer.
The Board voted to approve an executive staff recommendation directed at accommodating the recently passed state statute mandating eligibility for bona fide, private, home-educated children on public school teams beginning this fall. The law prescribes eligibility at the public school in the district where parents or guardians reside. All other WIAA Rules of Eligibility remain unaffected.
In other Board action, it approved procedural financial statements, the new appointments to the 2015-16 Coaches Advisory Committees and editorial modifications to the 2015-16 Media Policies Guide. In addition, approval was granted for the annual renewal of the Association’s membership in the National Federation of State High School Associations.
The Board authorized a special election to fill a medium school position on the Advisory Council for 2015-16, which was vacated by Winch upon his election to the Board of Control, and a small school position vacated by Patrick Olson of Prairie Farm, who accepted a position in a different school district not in the small school classification. The deadline for declaration of candidacy for the positions is Aug. 31. Following an election, the successful candidates will be seated at the Advisory Council meeting on Oct. 8. The Board also approved a position for a social media/graphics design specialist to be posted in the near future.
The Board welcomed representatives from the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau, who reviewed the campaign of the 100th Anniversary of the State Boys Basketball Tournament celebration last March. The Board also received liaison reports from Mike Thompson of the Department of Public Instruction, and John Ashley, the executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards.
Among the topics shared in the executive staff reports to the Board were the New Athletic Directors Workshop, the State Summer Baseball Tournament, a presentation of the officials’ online licensing program, and a plan to reduce pre-game warm-ups and time between games of a session to 15 minutes during the Boys and Girls State Basketball Tournaments.
The membership of the WIAA oversees interscholastic athletic programs for 509 senior high schools and 49 junior high/middle level schools in its membership. It will sponsor 24 championship tournament series in 2015-16.
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Release by WIAA Communications