High school board sidesteps major changes

Monday’s annual board meeting of the Montana High School Association that drew more interest than any in recent memory lasted just 20 minutes as every major amendment to the governing body’s bylaws was either denied or withdrawn.

The meeting was held in Kalispell.

The proposals to amend eligibility for transgender student-athletes and change golf coaching regulations were withdrawn after neither got the support needed in subcommittee hearings.

A proposal to end the prohibition of school activities on Sunday was denied by the 128 voting delegates representing member schools.

The board did pass a proposal to increase the amount spent on postseason trophies from $50 to $100 and approved its annual budget.

Much of the attention entering the meeting was focused on the issue of transgender student-athletes competing in high school activities. The initial proposal would have allowed students who identify as a gender other than their sex at birth to apply for waivers to compete in an activity of their identified gender.

“The member schools as we evaluated all the administrative meetings they were holding over the previous two weeks, we saw that there wouldn’t be a two-thirds majority to pass,” association Executive Director Mark Beckman said. “It was reaffirmed today in our [classification] caucuses. They took a straw vote and there was not two-thirds majority. That’s pretty much normal practice.”

Currently, the high school association doesn’t have a policy on the issue. Beckman said if a case arises in the next year, it would have to be handled on a school-by-school basis.

“I think there’s a lot of schools looking to address it,” Beckman said. “Not only can the executive board propose bylaw changes, but so can member schools. You may see members schools and member school districts propose it in the future.

“The schools have OCR [Office of Civil Rights] guidelines that they have to follow. They also would be in contact with their own school district attorneys.”

Similarly, a proposal to allow golf coaches to talk to players during play was withdrawn after low support in classification caucuses.

The proposal would have changed the current regulation limiting coaches to giving their players advice between the time they are finished with a hole and the time they tee off the next hole. The proposal would have given coaches the freedom to give advice at any time of play.

The proposal to end the ban of activities on Sundays was brought about by a lawsuit filed in Oregon against the Oregon School Activities Association. The Oregon association eliminated its ban on Sunday activities shortly before a court ruled in favor of a religious discrimination claim brought by the Seventh Day Adventists.

The Sunday proposal needed just a simple majority to pass, but the overwhelming majority of school officials present in Kalispell voted against the proposal.

“That was harder for us to gauge,” Beckman said. “There was a lot of discussion about that. There will be continued discussion on that to see what are the different things [that can be done].

“We want to make sure we’re not discriminating against any of our kids. In whatever way possible to make sure we’re not holding a particular religion or denomination against another. We also have to be aware of the reality of some of the litigation that is out there.”

Bigfork Activities Director Dave Creamer said the proposal was discussed in meetings with the Western B division, and should the ban be lifted in the future, they have a plan in place to limit activities on Sundays or limit to six days a week the number of days schools are allowed to hold activities.

“It seemed like everybody would have been fine with it either way,” Creamer said. “I believe we’ll continue to have Sundays off even if something is passed. But [having activities on Sunday] opens it up in terms of flexibility, especially for emergency situations ... Once that does change, it won’t be a big change.”

The association’s athletics committee voted to recommend four new proposals to the board:

— If a softball game is suspended after 4 1/2 or 5 innings because of weather or darkness, the game will be resumed at the same point at a later date.

— If a tennis player receives a flagrant misconduct penalty, that player will be immediately removed. The disqualified player’s team will receive credit only for points earned by that player to that point of the tournament. All vacancies created by the ejection will be considered forfeits.

— Track and field athletes will be limited to one specialty [Top 10, Top Eight] meet per season.

— All volleyball teams will use red, white and blue volleyballs for both regular and postseason competitions.

The music committee recommended that eighth-grade students be allowed to participate in state solo and ensemble festivals, matching a policy that is already in place for volleyball, basketball and track and field.

Jackie Fuller, former Whitefish High School coach and activities director, received a service citation from the board for her nearly three decades of service as a coach, activities director, assistant principal, committee member, event volunteer and tournament manager.

She retired as Whitefish activities director in 2013. During her 18-year tenure as head volleyball coach, her Bulldogs teams won five state volleyball championships.

Other recipients of service citations were Conrad Activities Director Jim Carroll, Corvallis speech and debate coach Doug McConnaha and Sunburst Superintendent Tim Tharp. Big Sandy’s Susan Walker was given the National Federation of High Schools Music Award.

Manhattan Christian Activities Director Liz Flikkema was honored with the James C. Haugen Meritorious Service Award.