Annual Meeting Preview: Late Co-op Team Requests Amendment
Posted: 4/18/2018
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association will conduct its 123rd Annual Meeting at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Stevens Point Wednesday, April 25.
The membership will consider four amendments, two for the Constitution and two for the Rules of Eligibility at the Association’s business meeting. Changes to the Constitution, Bylaws and Rules of Eligibility require a majority vote in favor of the amendment by the member schools’ delegates in attendance at the Annual Meeting.
An amendment that would add language to the membership’s cooperative teams section of the Constitution was advanced to the Annual Meeting by the Board of Control at its meeting in March.
The proposal, if approved, will allow schools that miss the co-op request deadline an opportunity to participate as a co-op during the regular season only. The co-op, and the schools comprising the co-op, will be ineligible to participate in the respective sport season’s State tournament series.
The current language requires Board of Control approval to form or dissolve a cooperative program by the prescribed deadline dates. Co-op requests received after the deadline are not considered for the ensuing regular season or tournament series. Presently, member schools missing the deadlines are only permitted to form junior varsity co-op teams with approval by their local school boards.
The deadlines for submitting varsity co-op team requests are February 1 for the following fall sports season, April 1 for winter sports and June 1 for spring sports.
Unanimous support for the amendment’s passage was demonstrated by each level of the representative committee structure. The Sports Advisory Committee voted 12-0 in favor of the amendment. The Advisory Council voted 17-0 in support and the Board of Control supported adoption of the amendment with a 10-0 recommendation.
According to the Constitution, the Board of Control has the authority following each Annual Meeting to incorporate related changes in the Constitution, Bylaws, and Rules of Eligibility with the action taken by the membership at the Annual Meeting. Any changes the Board may make shall not alter the meaning or intent of any provision. All approved amendments will become effective upon the next publishing of the Bulletin, the official publication of the WIAA, on May 25, 2018.
