The following are questions and answers pertaining to the MSHSAA Constitution, By-Laws and Board of Directors policies. These are provided as an aid in interpreting the rules and regulations which MSHSAA member schools have adopted. If you have a specific area and/or question which you would like explained, contact the MSHSAA executive director. Your attention is called to the fact questions and answers regarding interpretations of the MSHSAA Constitution and By-Laws appear on pages 64-86 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 Questions
This will be the fourth summer in which summer school courses and credit earned may count toward academic eligibility if specific requirements are met. The individual school district 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 school courses and electives do not meet this requirement.
The following questions and answers should be helpful and shared with your school counselors.
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 office 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.