The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors met at its regularly scheduled meeting at the IHSA office in Bloomington on Monday, January 9, 2017, where the Board voted to appoint Notre Dame High School (Niles) Principal Dan Tully  to a vacant at-large seat on the IHSA Board of Directors.

Tully fills the at-large seat that is reserved for a principal from a non-boundaried school, which was vacated following the resignation of Fenwick High School principal Peter Groom from the Board. Tully served on the IHSA Legislative Commission in 2013 and 2014.

“It is a great honor to be appointed to fill the remainder of this term on the IHSA Board of Directors,” said Tully. “I am pleased to be able to serve the students of Illinois, as well as to represent the non-boundaried schools of our state. Participation in activities and athletics brings out the best in our young people and allows schools to develop the whole body, mind, and heart of each young person. I look forward to working with the board, the IHSA staff, and all the people who help coordinate Illinois’ outstanding programs for student participation, activities, and athletics.”

Tully attended Notre Dame prep for high school and returned to his alma mater as a social studies teacher in 2000. In 2001, he shifted to Director of Student Activities, a position he held until 2004 when he became the Assistant Principal. He ascended to the principal role in 2007. During his time at Notre Dame, Tully has served as student council moderator, pep club moderator, and assistant baseball coach. He earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Notre Dame, as well as a Master’s Degree from Loyola University of Chicago.

“It is a pleasure to welcome Dan to the IHSA Board of Directors,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson. “We know Dan believes in the mission of the IHSA and his experience on the IHSA Legislative Commission will help to quickly assimilate him to his duties on the Board.”

ACTION ITEMS
1. The Board approved a recommendation to make changes to Board Policy 17 Classification System.

The first change is to the waiver process, which adds the language “1. Won a trophy” to the waiver process under the “Other Sports” heading.

The language was originally removed because it was believed that any team that won a trophy in the state meet would have qualified for the state final (the next condition listed). However, this is not true in track & field and now tennis, which are multi-class sports where qualification for the state meet is on an individual basis only.

The second change is to the Success Adjustment Policy.

The policy now reads (new language in BOLD):
A sport or activity program at a non-boundaried school shall be subject to the success adjustment if, over the course of the last four school terms, the program has won at least two trophies, one of which must have been within the last two school years. In such a case, one trophy won in the highest class will be disregarded, and the school will be moved up one class from the highest class of the remaining trophies. A school will never be adjusted up or down more than once class from one school year to the next.

Under the previous language, a non-boundaried school could, for example, win state titles in Class 2A and Class 3A in back-to-back years and not be subject to the Success Adjustment Policy, which was not the intention of the committee. Now, a school in that example would play in Class 3A the next season.

Executive Director Craig Anderson:
“These changes are both small tweaks, which is something we expected would occur over time as we evaluated the recent changes to these policies. Essentially, these were both instances that the committee had not considered when implementing, which contradict the intention of the waiver and success formula rules.”

2. The Board reached a resolution on behalf of Chicago (Fenger) High School on a Breach of Contract submitted by the school.

APPEALS & HEARINGS
No appeals or hearings.

DISCUSSION ITEMS
At each meeting of the Board of Directors, there are certain items the Board discusses, but upon which no action is taken. The following is a report of those items from the January 9, 2017, agenda:

1. Representatives from the accounting firm Striegel Knobloch & Company LLC presented the annual IHSA audit for the 2015-16 fiscal year to the Board of Directors. Click here for audit

2. The Board heard a report from the Executive Director on the All-State Academic Team deadline, which is February 10, 2017. Nomination forms are currently available for schools in the Schools Center.

3. The Board heard a report from Assistant Executive Director Beth Sauser on the 2016-17 Student Section Showdown. The deadline to submit a video in the contest is February 7.Click here for entry details

4. The Executive Director provided the Board with a report of the recently verified results of this year’s Amendment Ballot voting. Each of the eight proposals advanced by the Legislative Commission and voted on by the membership were approved. Click here to view amendments and voting results

5. The Board heard a report from the Executive Director on the Let’s Connect Conference that was held in Rosemont, Illinois on January 5-6. Staff members from state associations around the country whose responsibilities include IT, sportsmanship, student services and media relations met to discuss current practices and innovations.

6. The Board heard a report from the Executive Director on the NFHS Winter Meeting held January 3-6, 2017.

7. The Board held a discussion on the materials that were used as a part of the Board’s annual Disability Awareness Training.

8. The Board discussed the success formula and recommendations related to it that were submitted by the administration at St. Viator High School.

9. The Board discussed the formation of a Strategic Planning Committee in the near future.