Notes from Monday's AIA board meeting

May 18, 2015 by Jose Garcia, AZPreps365


Below are notes from Monday's Arizona Interscholastic Association's final board meeting of the 2014-15 school year. 

The executive board unanimously elected Mike DeLao, the board's current vice president, as the board's next president.

DeLao's new role begins in August of 2015. The next vice president will be Dr. Ana Battle, the 5A representative on the board.

---Dr. Harold Slemmer, the AIA's executive director, presented a proposal that would allow the Division I football champion to participate in a championship bowl-like series against other out of state champions.

High school sports teams in season can't participate in non-AIA sanctioned high school events without the approval of the board. Sister Lynn Winsor of Xavier Prep mentioned that the national bowl series could help put Arizona and some of its teams on the map.

But the board raised questions about catastrophic insurance and who will cover it during the bowl series. The board decided to table the bowl discussion until its August board meeting.

---Some details still need to be worked on, but the board agreed to continue playing the Sollenberger Classic, which honors the AIA's late historian Barry Sollenberger. Unlike previous seasons, the Sollenberger Classic will take place a week after the AIA's football playoffs are completed.

---Mountain Pointe football still needs one more game to complete its 10-game schedule. Mountain Pointe's requests to play a 10th game have been declined by teams it's asked so far.

The AIA might have to break up a game already scheduled to accommodate Mountain Pointe, Dr. Slemmer said.

---A proposal with the exact number of teams that will reach the postseason in every team sport was approved with the exception of Division I boys basketball. A basketball advisory committee proposal to allow all of Division I's 27 boys basketballs teams to reach the playoffs was scratched after the board discussed the proposal.

The board voted to allow only 24 teams to reach the postseason instead. A decision hasn't been made on who will host the early playoff games next year in all sports.

To view the number of teams that will qualify for each sport during the 2015-16 school year go here and here

---A survey for the AIA's members to gauge what bylaws need to be changed or added for the coming school year is still in the works. Some of the changes that were mentioned during Monday's board meeting: adding more executive board seats and a transfer rule and changing the language of the non-school participation rule.

---During Dr. Slemmer's executive director report, the new board members, St. David superintendent Mark Goodman, Monument Valley athletic director Jacob Holiday, Round Valley superintendent Travis Udall, and Chandler Superintendent Camille Casteel, for the 2015-15 school year, were welcomed by Dr. Slemmer and current board members.

---The board voiced its concern about the high hotel prices for teams that travel to Prescott for the state wrestling tournament. Dr. Slemmer and his staff will look into seeing if the prices can be reduced. 

---The board lowered the student ticket prices from $6 to $5.

---The board recognized the outgoing board members, Class 3A conference representative Brenda Mayberry and Class 1A conference representative Ken VanWinkle, as well as the AIA's Lorie Tranter, Dr. Slemmer's executive assistant, and Pam Eckert, an AIA accounting department assistant, for their dedicated service to the AIA and its member schools. 

Tranter and Eckert are retiring, and the board terms of VanWinkle and Mayberry expired.