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: May our school count courses taken
through the University of Missouri High School toward
earning and maintaining eligibility? Answer:
No.
These courses are considered correspondence courses and thus would not
be counted in as part of the 2.5 or 70% credit requirement.
Question 2:
Our school district supports three high schools. Our Board of Education will permit and
grant requests from students to attend a high school in which their parents’
residence is not located in that high school’s established geographic
attendance area. The family does,
however, reside in the school district.
Would this scenario fall within the requirements of residence in MSHSAA
By-Law 238.2? Answer: No.
The by-laws carefully define residence as being within the established
geographic attendance area for the individual member school and not an entire
school district of multiple schools at the same level. In the situation described, the students
would have restricted eligibility in all sports if freshmen or restricted
eligibility by sport if transferring high schools after the ninth grade.
Question 3:
Our school encourages our students to use our weight room for out of
season conditioning. Our athletic
coaches take roll of their student athletes and expect them to participate in
this program. If
the students do not attend the coaches counsel with them that they should be
there for the good of the team.
Is this appropriate action by our coaches? Answer: No.
Participation in an out-of-season conditioning program is completely
voluntary and must be open to any student who desires to attend. Taking roll for team attendance is
signaling to the students a record of team member attendance is being kept even
though the activity is voluntary.
The follow-up with the students and so called “counseling”
to attend has definitely tied participation with team responsibility outside of
the season. The adults have implied
to the students they are expected to attend and this is a responsibility to the
team.
Because
there is a fine line that can be crossed, school administrators must educate
their coaches of what is appropriate and must monitor carefully the
out-of-season conditioning programs.
Question 4:
Our school would like to sponsor a basketball team camp this summer and
invite surrounding schools. Is this permissible? Answer:
Yes. By-Law 241 provides that a member
school may sponsor a team sport camp during the time school is not in session
(summer time) in which teams from different schools may participate.
Students from another school or school district may attend a school-sponsored
camp only if it is a team camp. A school coach of the respective schools
involved must attend this camp with his/her team.
Nonschool
Competition
Question 5:
Who cannot coach a nonschool team during the school year outside a
particular sport’s school season? Answer:
No member of the coaching staff of any
sport (not just the sport in question) from any school that any student on the
nonschool team currently attends or will attend the following year can coach
this particular nonschool team during the school outside the specific
sport’s school season (MSHSAA By-Law 235.2d).
Question 6:
Is there a difference to the rule mentioned in the question above if the
nonschool competition occurs in the summer after school is dismissed for the
summer? Answer: Yes, during the summer months, the
nonschool team participants in any sport may be coached by a member of the
schools coaching staff of the school the nonschool participant has attended the
previous school year or will attend the next school year (MSHSAA By-Law 235.2d
Editor’s Note).
Question 7:
Who can sponsor a nonschool basketball league (competition) during the
school year outside the designated sports school season or during the summer? Answer: This
nonschool competition must be sponsored by a nonschool entity (civic
organization, parks and recreation department, a local college, etc.). Member schools or school booster clubs
may not sponsor any nonschool competition in any sport in which their school
participates interscholastically in which they include students from any member
school as participants (MSHSAA Board of Director Policy on Nonschool Competition).
Summer
School
This
will be the fourth summer in which summer school courses and credit earned may
count toward academic eligibility if specific requirements are met. School districts must first adopt an
official position that summer school credit shall be accepted. The policy on summer school credit
should be placed in writing and readily provided for informational purposes to
parents and students. It should be
made clear that correspondence courses and electives do not meet this
requirement.
Question 8:
Will students be able to count summer school credit toward meeting the
academic eligibility requirements for the first semester of the 2006-2007
school year? Answer:
Yes.
By-Law 213 provides students may count up to 1 unit of credit from summer
school toward establishing their eligibility for the fall semester. Only classes, which are required for
graduation from the local school, may be counted toward meeting the academic
requirement. Electives are not
accepted.
Question 9:
Should we have some type of a form that our counselors may want to use
to advise the student and parents if the class(es) being taken in summer school will or will not count
toward regaining academic eligibility? Answer:
Absolutely. The counseling department and the school
athletic and activities directors must all work together to be certain students
are advised properly before taking the class. If any questions arise the MSHSAA should
be contacted.
Question 10:
If a student needs 1 unit of credit in physical education and has earned
that credit by the end of the sophomore year, may the student take physical
education during the summer after the junior year as an elective and count this
credit toward re-establishing his academic eligibility? Answer: No.
Only classes required for graduation as set form by the Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and/or the local school may be
counted in summer school. Electives
would not count toward regaining eligibility.
Question 11:
May one of our students take summer school in another district and count
the credit earned towards eligibility? Answer:
Yes, provided the class is required for
graduation and your school is going to accept the credit and place on the
student’s transcript.
Question 12:
If one of our student’s fails Algebra I must that student take
Algebra I in summer school or could the student take a required science class
if Algebra I is not being offered? Answer: No.
If a student is academically ineligible he/she need only take a required
class for graduation which may or may not be the same class the student did not
pass during the regular school year.
Question 13:
Is it mandatory that our school accept summer school credit for
determining academic eligibility for the fall semester? Answer: No.
This like all other requirements of student
eligibility are the minimum essential requirements and each local Board
of Education/Governing Body has the right to establish more stringent
requirements.
Question 14:
Can a student take a correspondence course during the summer and count
this toward re-establishing his/her academic eligibility? Answer: No.
This provision is specific to summer school and not the season of the
year outside course work could be taken.
Correspondence courses are separate from summer school.
Question
15: What is meant by the core classes
required for graduation by DESE? Answer:
In order for all students across the
state to meet a minimal curricular program it was adopted by the schools to
rely upon core courses and required credits for graduation as required by the
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Currently these minimum requirements are
as follows: Practical Arts = 1
credit; Fine Arts = 1 credit; Physical Education = 1 credit; Science = 2
credits; Mathematics = 2 credits; Communication Arts = 3 credits; and Social
Studies = 2 credits. In addition a
student may also count other required classes.