The
following are questions and answers pertaining to the MSHSAA Constitution and
By-Laws or MSHSAA Board of Directors policies. These are provided as an aid in interpreting
the rules and regulations which MSHSAA member schools have adopted. Your
attention is called to the fact questions and answers regarding interpretations
of the MSHSAA Constitution and By-Laws appear on pages 62-85 of the MSHSAA
Official Handbook.
Question 1: Our school has applied and been approved
to participate in a cooperative sponsorship in baseball. Our school board now wants to void the
sponsorship and enter into a cooperative sponsorship with another school in
baseball. May our school do this? Answer: No. By-Law 106 provides that two schools may
mutually dissolve a cooperative sponsorship, but such decision may not occur
unilaterally. Further, if a school
ends a cooperative sponsorship, it may not enter into another cooperative
sponsorship in that sport until the next two-year cycle. Therefore, your school cannot enter into
an agreement with another school.
Question 2: Our school and another school each
sponsor wrestling. Each of our
programs usually have about six or seven wrestlers
participate. Because our
participation numbers are so low, is it possible that we can enter into a
cooperative sponsorship in wrestling?
Answer: No. The language in By-Law 106 is very
specific in stating at least one school must be without the program for a year
before entering into a cooperative sponsorship. Therefore, neither your school nor your
neighboring school may enter into a co-op for wrestling as both schools are
sponsoring a program.
Question 3: Our school would like to co-op in the
sport of football with the school to our east. We have been sponsoring 11-man football
while the other school has been sponsoring 8-man football. In this scenario, would having 8-man
football count as having a football program since we want to cooperatively
sponsor 11-man football? Answer: Yes.
8-man football is considered another class of football just as we have
Class 1, Class 2, etc. The MSHSAA
Board of Directors reviewed this scenario at its meeting on September 15, 2005
and confirmed this position under By-Law 106.
Question 4: School A, a Class 1 school, is bordered
by a Class 5 school, a Class 2 school and a K-8 district. School A wants
to co-op with the Class 1 school on the other side of the K-8 district which is
not contiguous to School A due to the K-8 district. May this occur since there is a Class 2
district which is contiguous to School A?
Answer: Yes, provided
cooperatively sponsoring the program(s) with the contiguous Class 2 school is not an option as all co-ops must be with mutual approval
of both school districts. Your
school or the Class 2 school is not required to try to
co-op with each other. (By-Law 106)
Question 5: A small Class 1, grades 7-12 member
school, has a junior high basketball season with a team comprised of grades
7-9. Following the junior high
season, the school wants to have a cooperative sponsorship agreement with a
neighboring member school in girls basketball to
include the ninth graders moving up to the cooperative sponsorship high school
team after the junior high season is over.
Would this be allowed under By-Law 106?
Answer: Yes, provided the
ninth graders do not exceed the 20-week participation limit, quarter and
tournament limitations.
Question 6: One of our swimmers has approached our principal
requesting to miss this upcoming Friday school swimming practice to travel to
Oklahoma for a nonschool swimming meet on Saturday. Our team has practice on Friday and does
not compete until Tuesday. Would it
be acceptable for our principal and coach to approve this request? Answer: Yes. This is not a replacement of school
practice and is considered as a case-by-case request as permitted in the by-law
(235.1-c-1) to be addressed by the local school administration. This decision rests with the school.
Question 7: A school participates in spring softball
only this school year. Can the
school enter into a cooperative sponsorship with another school next school
year in the fall and be considered as the school “without the program the
previous year?” Answer: No, a school is considered to have had a
softball program the previous school year and, therefore, would not be eligible
to enter into a cooperative sponsorship in softball with another school and
“be considered the school without the program the previous
year.” (By-Law 106)
Question 8: To be eligible to enter into a
cooperative sponsorship with another school next school year, when must a
school drop an existing program? Answer: The school must drop the program before
they play any interscholastic contests against other MSHSAA member
schools. After playing one or more
games against other MSHSAA member schools, the school would be considered to
have had the program for that sport in the current year. (By-Law 106)
Question 9: Our school has very low numbers in a
particular activity and continues to struggle each year to participate. Can our school enter into a cooperative
sponsorship with another school that has the activity or one that does not have
the activity? Answer: Your school may enter into a cooperative
sponsorship in that activity with another school that has not sponsored the
activity the previous year.
However, your school may not have a cooperative sponsorship with a
school that has sponsored the activity the previous year. (By-Law 106)
Question 10: My school is applying for cooperative
sponsorship with another eligible school.
We are currently a Class 3 school under the current standard enrollment
breaks on December 1, 2005 when we submit the application, and it is approved
by the MSHSAA Board of Directors.
When the new enrollments for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 classification cycle are released, our school will likely become a Class 4
school under standard enrollment breaks.
Are we still eligible to have the cooperative sponsorship with the other
school that was previously eligible?
Answer: Yes, your eligibility
to participate in a cooperative sponsorship is based upon your school’s
classification status during the application school year, 2005-2006. (By-Law 106)
Question 11: In the posting of our open facility our
softball coach stated “Any girl wanting to play softball may come to the
open facility.” Is this a
proper posting? Answer: No.
The “wanting to play softball” implies future team
membership. It is acceptable to say
“open facility for softball play”.