Greetings from the IHSA office!
We hope the excitement surrounding the return to fall sports and activities has begun in your school community! Wishing you all a successful start to your school year!
Mask Mandate and ISBE Recognition
Since Governor Pritzker’s announcement last week regarding the mask mandate for PreK-!2 schools, our office has received numerous questions regarding how schools can navigate this with some schools meeting the mandate while other schools choose masks optional. During the regular season and until schools would become unrecognized by ISBE, schools may compete in the regular season under the following guidelines for indoor competition:
- Schools choosing masks optional for their students must communicate with their opponents in advance of the day of competition the parameters surrounding competition and spectator attendance. If schools cannot agree on the terms of competition, the scheduled contest will be deemed “no contest.” This is a local decision.
- If the mask mandate for indoor sports remains in place during the IHSA State Series, all schools will abide by the mask mandate including students, coaches, officials and spectators.
- Should a school become unrecognized by ISBE, the school would no longer meet the requirements for membership (1.200) and be eliminated from regular season and state series competition in all sports. Reinstatement to IHSA membership is immediate upon notification of Recognition by ISBE.
IDPH All Sports Policy updated
This week IDPH updated the All Sports Policy with the latest guidance for outdoor and indoor sports. They have additionally provided recommendations on screening and testing for COVID should schools choose to adopt this locally. The IHSA does not have access to any tests and IHSA is not aware of any distribution plan for tests.
Football
As we begin regular season competition in a couple of weeks, I want to share that this year we will designate forfeit wins and forfeit losses in football where games cannot be played as a result of a quarantine of a team/players. A team that is not able to compete due to a lack of available players will take a forfeit loss while their opponent accepts a forfeit win. This is a result of the qualification process for the IHSA State Football Play-offs.
Hate Speech and Harassment Policy
The IHSA Board of Directors approved a recommendation from the Do What’s Right! (DWR!) advisory committee requiring administrators, all school coaches, and officials to view a presentation on the Hate Speech and Harassment policy every two years. This will be provided in the schools and officials center areas for viewing and credit. Please note that the application of the policy includes the regular season and the IHSA state series. Head coaches will find the link to the video in their sport/activity tracker. Assistant coaches have access in their schools center under the Forms and Other Resources tab. The link is at the top of this page. We ask that you pass this information along to your assistant and volunteer coaches for an awareness of the policy.
Membership Assessment
This is a reminder that you can find your membership assessment invoice in the schools center for the 2021-2022 assessment. The deadline for submitting the assessment to IHSA is September 1, 2021.
IHSA Board of Directors and Legislative Commission Nominations
Nominations for IHSA Board of Directors and Legislative Commission are open today in the IHSA Schools Center. Nominations will close on Wednesday, September 15, 2021. Use the Voting and Town Meeting tab to access the link to the nominations.
We know many of you are facing local challenges within your districts. We are thinking about all of you as you create the safest return for your students to school and their sports and activities.
My best,
Craig Anderson Executive Director, IHSA (309) 663-6377