MINT HILL, NC – The Board of Directors concluded its winter meeting recently. They formulated some action items that were voted upon and implemented as we approach the beginning of high school sports currently scheduled to go into full swing in January.
Below are some of the key takeaways of decisions the Board of Directors agreed upon as we move forward in the COVID-19 environment.
- Approved the allocation of $4,000,000 in funds from the NCHSAA Endowment as a one-time subsidy for schools offering athletic programs during the 2020-2021 academic year. How the funds will be distributed will be discussed by a subcommittee who will make this determination.
- No alterations to the 2020-2021 Modified Athletic Calendar.
- Updated 2020-2021 Modified Sports Manual for certain designated sports which includes Basketball, Football, Lacrosse, Soccer, Swimming, and Diving.
- Approved the creation of a 60-second official’s timeout in each quarter for basketball. The idea is to give the athletes an opportunity to adapt to wearing masks during competition.
- Approved virtual monitoring as an option in place of face-to-face monitoring of the Concussion Return to Play Protocol.
- Eliminated subdivisions in football effective August 2021.
- Reduced the number of regular-season games in football to 10 contests, to become effective August 2021. Meanwhile, the Board implemented a stipulation the first game may not occur more than two days in advance of the final Friday in August.
- Approved the elimination of each member school’s highest ISP data point in the three-year window considered for the 2021-2025 Realignment Formula due to some anomalies in the data caused by natural disasters, such as a hurricane. The ISP percentage will be calculated by using the lowest two ISP data points from the three-year period.
Overall, Commissioner Que Tucker and President Simmons are totally unified with these changes recommended by the Board of Directors. The Realignment information has already been reported with our four local area high school’s remaining unchanged in their classifications for the 2021-2025 seasons.
