PIAA says segregation not the answer
Days before officials from more than 130 public school districts meet and discuss the creation of a separate playoff system, the PIAA released a statement Friday urging for cooperation on the issues.
The equity summit scheduled for Tuesday in State College has been organized by superintendents throughout the commonwealth. Officials plan to discuss the possibility of creating separate playoffs or, to some extent, even exiting the PIAA.
“PIAA recognizes the challenges of having member schools compete against each other,” PIAA president James Zack said in the release. “The lack of enrollment boundaries, success and perceived competitive advantage over other schools are major issues of which the Board of Directors is well aware and actively pursuing equitable resolution.”
The release was issued two days after its board voted on stricter transfer rules, listing 10 additional measures that have been applied over the last year and a half.
1. Overhaul the athletic transfer waiver request form used by transferring students.
2. Adopt a mandatory 21-day sit-out for inseason transfers.
3. Adopted a provision establishing that a transferring student who was eligible to participate in 50 percent of maximum number of contests before transfer is not further eligible that season.
4. Adopted a competitive classification formula to add a success factor if caused by transferring students to determine new classifications in football and basketball.
5. Adopted definitions of open gyms, and limited the number of times they may be utilized per week during the school year and prohibited school affiliated/related competition within 10 days before the start of practice in each sport season.
6. Mandated timely submission of eligibility lists per sport season and established a penalty for noncompliance.
7. Developed an eligibility portal to track and view all school transfers.
8. Adopted a one year postseason ban for students who transfer after completing their 10th grade sport season.
9. Adopted hardship provision exceptions that would permit eligibility for new transfers with guidelines as to what types of actions are acceptable.
10. Established a compliance committee to be used to review schools’ adherence to PIAA policies and investigate abuse of the rules.
“Through the process of representative democracy that allows all constituencies that voice at the board level, we believe (that) cooperation, not discrimination, is the correct path to find solutions and make competition equitable,” Zack said.
Unsatisfied with the PIAA’s response – creating stricter rules to make the 12 districts more uniform throughout instead of separating boundary and non-boundary schools has been the focus of the organization – the meeting will expound upon why a split is needed because of the competitive differences.
The PIAA has sited the 1972 state law that incorporated private schools into the PIAA with full ability to compete for state titles. At that time, the general assembly determined segregation of schools in the sport arena was not in the best interest of the commonwealth.
“It is far more reasonable and favorable to everyone if we work cooperatively to improve competitive equity that is fair to all students and schools,” Zack said. “It’s what the PIAA has been doing for the last 105 years, and what we will continue to do.”