LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL AGENDA

March 17, 2010

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

1. Roll Call

2. Approval of Minutes of the Last Meeting

3. Old Business

1. The Legislative Council, at its December 9, 2009 meeting, tabled the legislative proposal change to allow full-time classified employees of a school system to serve as a coach and not fall under the non-faculty coaches category. The proposal was as follows:

A full-time employee, certified or non-certified, who is employed

by a board of education a minimum of 100 schools days. Certified

is defined as having a valid Tennessee state teaching license or

the equivalent.

Council members asked the state office staff to study the coaching requirements and present a recommendation as to how to address classified employees. Supplement #1 contains a re-written version of Article I, Section 9 of the TSSAA Bylaws. We will discuss the options during the meeting.

2. Article II, Section 9 (Age Limit) reads as follows:

No student shall be eligible to participate in any athletic contest during any school year if he/she becomes 19 years of age on or before August 1. The age rule may be waived for the Tennessee School for the Blind when this school is competing with other schools for the blind provided such schools are permitted by their state associations to waive the age rule in competing with other schools for the blind.

The state office staff was asked to survey surrounding states and find out their age rule. We have contacted 10 states and will present this information. This will, hopefully, help Council members make an informed decision as to which direction we should go with our rule as far as a cut-off date.

4. New Business

1. Proposal to Change the First Football Practice Date

Supplement #3 contains a letter from Liberty Technology Magnet High School requesting a change in the Sports Calendar to allow football practice to begin Monday, four full weeks, prior to the first official contest date.

2. Proposal for a Change in Article II, Section 8 (Eighth Grade Participation)

Supplement #4 contains a letter from Oak Ridge High School proposing that all eighth grade athletes be ineligible in all sports in Class AAA. The same letter was submitted to the state office by the administrations of Lenoir City High School, and Clinton High School.

3. Proposed Addition to Article II, Section 16 (Tuition and Financial Aid)

The Division II Committee met on January 6, 2010. They considered two additional financial aid services our member schools are currently using to determine family need. These services are Smart Tuition Aid and Private School Aid Services.

Regardless of how many services are listed, all Division II schools must select one service to use when determining financial need for its potential student-athletes.

4. Proposed Addition to Article III (Board of Control) and Article IV (Legislative Council) of the TSSAA Constitution

5. Proposed Addition to Rule #6 (Participation/Division) of the TMSAA Bylaws

Rule #6 (Participation/Division) of the TMSAA Bylaws reads as follows:

A school with teams in any combination of the Senior High Division, Junior High Division, and Middle School Athletic Association may certify a student for any division in which he or she may participate. A student may participate in only one division at any time. A student who has been certified as a member of the Middle School Athletic Association or Junior High Division may be advanced to a higher division at any time, provided the state office is advised to remove his or her name from the lower division eligibility report and a new eligibility report is filed to show that the student has advanced to a higher division.

The TMSAA Committee and state office staff recommend the following language be added:

Once an eighth grade student who is enrolled and in regular attendance at a high school participates in a sport at that level, he/she will be ineligible to participate in the same sport for a member middle school.

5. Litigation Report