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Full enrollments to be used for co-op placements
January 31, 2005
By a narrow two-vote margin, the Minnesota State High School League Representative Assembly voted on Mon., Jan. 31, to amend Bylaw 403 so that the full enrollments, not percentages, of all schools cooperatively sponsoring activities are used for competitive placement purposes. This was the norm until the 2003-04 and 2004-05 school years when Bylaw 403 was amended to use 100 percent of the host school enrollment, plus only percentages of the enrollment of the other schools based on the number of participants each school provided.
Forty-four of 48 Representative Assembly members attended the special meeting at the League office in Brooklyn Center, which fulfilled the quorum requirement of 75 percent present. Two-thirds of those present, or 30 "yes" votes, were required to adopt the amendment. Thirty-one members voted "yes" and 13 members voted "no."
The process of placing teams into competitive sections for the next two school years,
2005-06 and 2006-07, can now proceed for all activities. New placements for activities in all three seasons will likely now be concluded by early March. The League Board of Directors places schools into competitive sections every two years.
The amendment that was considered concerned how total enrollment is determined if two or more Class A schools (schools with total grades 9-11 enrollment of less than 500) cooperatively sponsor a team and/or non-lifelong activity. It stated that the total enrollments of all of the schools participating in the cooperative sponsorship of the activity would be used to determine placement for competition.
This was the rule prior to the 2003-04 and 2004-05 competitive seasons. However, Bylaw 403 now allows percentages of enrollment to be used for determining competitive class size. For example, if a co-op program includes 40 athletes from School A and only 10 athletes from School B, only 20 percent of the total enrollment of School B would be added to 100 percent of School A's total enrollment because School B is providing only 20 percent of the program's athletes.
Superintendents of four schools - Dale Brandsoy of Blue Earth Area, Wayne Gilman of Maple River, Gregg Allen of Nicollet and Rick Linnell of St. Clair - and Les Zellman, activities director of St. James, submitted the Bylaw 403 amendment.
Prior to voting on the amendment, Representative Assembly members dispersed into four smaller groups to caucus and discuss the amendment. Generally, those that favored the status quo believed that using full enrollments of all schools will result in reduced participation because some host schools may refuse to co-op with neighboring schools if it will result in a bump into a larger competitive class. Generally, those that favored the amendment and a return to using full enrollments believed that is was the most fair and equitable way of determining enrollment, and that some school districts used the percentage system to an unethical advantage. A number of comments from delegates focused on providing opportunities for students during the regular season by providing cooperatively sponsored programs. While tournament play is important, they said, the season-long advantages of student participation are greater.
The Representative Assembly will hold its regularly scheduled annual meeting on May 18 at the Park Place Doubletree Hotel in St. Louis Park. An amendment will be considered that will expand the total number of quarters of participation allowed in football from five to six times the total number of regular season games. The rationale states that small school football programs with limited numbers of players were restricted from substituting younger players in games where the scoring margin would become excessive.
Additionally, amendments that failed to advance to the Representative Assembly for lack of majority approval by the 16 administrative region committees will be discussed. Delegates will also be offered an opportunity to comment about the new process for considering amendments to League bylaws. The meeting will precede the League's annual induction luncheon for its Hall of Fame.