For the City Times

STEVENS POINT – Eric Coleman, student services supervisor of Milwaukee Public Schools, presided over the first meeting of the 2018-19 Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Control last week.

The Board conducted its 2018-19 officer elections. Dennis Birr, superintendent of the New Lisbon School District, will serve as the president-elect, and Eric Russell, superintendent at Baldwin-Woodville, was elected to the role of treasurer. In addition, Willy Chambers, superintendent in the Black Hawk School District, was introduced as a new member of the Board.

Among the actions taken by the Board included a vote to approve edits to the Administrative Staff Handbook, including the protocol sections for Appeals/Due Process, Contribution to Victory Considerations, Conference Realignment and Conference Calls. The Board also approved a request to dissolve the crossover requirements for the Capitol and South Central Conferences for football, boys and girls basketball, softball and baseball following the 2018-19 seasons.

In other action, the Board gave its approval to the new appointments to the 2018-19 Coaches Advisory Committees, editorial modifications to the 2018-19 Media Policies Guide and the annual renewal of the Association’s membership in the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Representatives of the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association presented the football-only conference alignment recommendation created and distributed in July. The objective of the proposal is to bring uniformity to the number of schools aligned within conferences and the number of conference games played in a season. It was the first review of the plan before it is presented at the Area Meetings for membership feedback and discussed at the various levels of committees.

Among the other topics shared in the executive staff reports to the Board were reports on the New Athletic Directors Workshop, the final State Summer Baseball Tournament, the conference realignment task force, a support staff vacancy and an update on the HeadStrong concussion insurance program.

Other topics discussed were the agenda for the 2018 Area Meetings in September, development of the 2018-19 operational budget and the NFHS Summer Meeting. The Board also received liaison reports from Jeremy Schlitz of the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association and Pam Foegen of the National Federation of High School State Associations Board of Directors.

The membership of the WIAA oversees interscholastic athletic programs for 511 senior high schools and 40 junior high/middle level schools in its membership. It will sponsor 27 championship tournament series in 2018-19. For more information, please contact the WIAA office at (715) 344-8580.