CONSTITUTION
of the
SOUTH CAROLINA HIGH SCHOOL LEAGUE
ARTICLE I - NAME
The
name of this organization shall be the South Carolina High School League.
ARTICLE
II - PURPOSE
The
purpose of the League, a voluntary organization, is to formulate and maintain
policies that will safeguard the educational values of interscholastic
competition, to cultivate high ideals of sportsmanship, to develop and direct a
program which will promote, protect and conserve the health and physical welfare
of all participants and to promote uniformity of standards in all
interscholastic competition.
ARTICLE III - MEMBERSHIP
Section
1. Who May Join
A.
Public high schools accredited by the State Department of
Education whose principal or superintendent, with the approval of the governing
board, agrees to conform to the rules and regulations of the League shall be
eligible for membership.
B.
Private high schools accredited by the Southern
Association of Secondary Schools whose principal or superintendent, with the
approval of the governing board, agrees to conform to the rules and regulations
of the League shall be eligible for membership.
C.
Junior high schools and middle schools accredited by the
State Department of Education and 7th and/or 8th grades housed in the same
building with a senior high school shall be eligible for associate membership,
provided they fall under the governing board of a member school.
The principal, with the approval of the governing board, agrees to
conform to the rules and regulations of the League.
D.
Any high school not accredited by one of the
above-mentioned agencies, and presently a member of the League, may retain
membership as long as it is approved by the Executive Committee of the League.
E.
All sections of the Constitution not so noted will apply
to members and associate members.
Section
2. How to Join
A.
Application for membership shall be made in writing to the
coordinator of the region in which the school wishes to compete and to the State
Conference. Before being admitted,
the application must be approved by two-thirds majority of the schools in the
region and by the State Conference Executive Committee.
The League’s Executive Committee must grant final approval.
B.
If a school is unable to comply with the above, the
League's Executive Committee may accept the school as a Member-At-Large.
NOTE: An at-large member may
participate against other member schools. They
may participate for a state championship if it does not require qualifying
through the region.
C.
Middle and Junior high schools, under the control of the
local governing board, may obtain membership by applying directly to the
Executive Committee.
D.
A school becomes a member when final approval for
membership is approved by the League Executive Committee and upon payment of its
dues according to Article X, Section
Section 3.
Membership Renewal
A.
A school's membership is
renewed upon payment of its dues according to Article X,
Section 1.
B.
If a school fails to pay its
dues by the date due, the school will be fined $50.00.
C.
If the dues and fines are not
paid within thirty days, the school will have allowed its membership to
lapse and will have to apply for membership under Section 2-A above.
D.
The League year shall be from
July 1 to June 30.
ARTICLE
IV – ADMINISTRATION
Section 1. Officers
and Executive Committee
A.
The officers shall be a president, vice-president and the
commissioner.
B.
The governing body shall be the Executive Committee
composed of the president, the vice-president, the immediate past president, and
the following:
1.
Four administrators (superintendents, assistant
superintendents, secondary principals or assistant principals) representing each
class and elected by their class delegates to the Legislative Assembly.
2.
The State Superintendent of Education or their
representative.
3.
An elected representative of the South Carolina
Association of School Superintendents.
4.
An elected representative of the South Carolina
Association of Secondary School Principals.
5.
An elected representative of the South Carolina School
Boards Association.
6.
An elected representative of the South Carolina Athletic
Coaches Association.
7.
An elected representative of the associate members.
8.
An elected representative of the certified game officials
of the South Carolina High School League.
9.
An elected representative of the South Carolina Athletic
Administrators Association.
10.
Up to three members at large, representing any three of
the above categories, may be appointed by the Executive Committee to insure
gender and ethnic representatives.
NOTE: Places a member of the SC Athletic Trainers Association
on the Activities Committee of the League.
This delegate does not have voting privileges on Executive Committee
decisions.
C.
The president and vice-president shall be elected at the
annual meeting of the Legislative Assembly.
(The practice of the League is to rotate the presidency and
vice-presidency among classifications.)
D.
It shall be the duty of the president to preside at the
Legislative Assembly and all meetings of the Executive Committee.
Section
2. Qualifications and Terms for
Executive Committee
A.
Superintendents, principals and other school
administrators of member schools shall be eligible to hold office in the League.
The president and vice-president must be superintendents, principals or
other school administrators at the time of their election.
B.
With the exception of the State Superintendent of
Education, the officers and the members at large, the term of office for each
executive committee member shall be four years. The terms of office for the members at large shall be two
years. Elections shall be staggered
so one class representative and at least one association representative will be
elected each year.
C.
An executive committee member, other than the State
Superintendent of Education and the members at large, shall not serve successive
terms in any capacity. After a
person has been off the committee for four years, they will be eligible to
return. This restriction does not
apply to the vice-president.
Section
3. Vacancies on Executive Committee
A.
Should a vacancy occur in the office of the President in
the interim between Legislative Assembly meetings, the Vice-President shall
succeed him. Should any other
vacancy occur, the President, with the consent of the majority of the Executive
Committee, should appoint a successor.
B.
If an Executive Committee representative changes his
status so that he is no longer directly connected with the group which he was
elected to represent, he must relinquish his place on the Executive Committee
and a new representative will be selected in accordance with the above
provision.
Section
4. Meetings
A.
The Executive Committee will have four scheduled meetings
each year. They will be held on or
around August 15, November 25, January 15 and February 25.
B.
Other meetings of the Executive Committee shall be called
at the discretion of the President or at the request of any five members of the
Executive Committee.
Section
5. Power and Duties of the
Executive Committee - Appeals
The Executive Committee shall have
general supervision of the affairs of the League, deciding all questions and
performing all duties not provided for in the Constitution.
A.
The Executive Committee will have the authority to
interpret sections of the Constitution using notes and examples where
appropriate.
B.
The Executive Committee shall be the final authority in
all appeal procedures involving member schools.
1.
The State Executive Committee shall hear appeals from
conference executive committee decisions and protests between schools in
different conferences.
2.
The Executive Committee shall hear appeals to decisions
made by the commissioner. Decisions
of the Executive Committee shall be final.
3.
Appeals may be heard at any properly convened meeting of
the Executive Committee. Appeals to
be heard at regularly scheduled meetings on or around August 15, November 25,
and February 25 must be filed in writing seven days prior to the meeting.
4.
Any school granted a special meeting of the Executive
Committee to hear an appeal to a ruling shall pay the expenses of the meeting if
the ruling is sustained.
5.
The Executive Committee can grant reconsideration to an
appeal of its decision only if new evidence is shown that could not reasonably
have been known at the time the Executive Committee rendered its decision.
6.
When an appeal or reconsideration of a decision is
granted, the superintendent and principal of all schools involved in the matters
leading to the hearing shall be notified in advance of the hearing.
The
Executive Committee Requires That The Following Procedures Be Used When Making
Appeals:
A.
Each appeal request must be made in writing by the
superintendent or principal of the school(s) involved.
It must include the reason(s) for requesting the appeal and must contain
all the known facts pertinent to the appeal.
The information accompanying the request must be complete to the point
that it will be possible to reach a valid decision without further
investigation.
B.
Copies of the appeal brief must be supplied in advance,
either mailed or hand delivered, to the Commissioner, the members of the
Executive Committee and to all other parties involved.
All parties are to be offered an opportunity to appear before the
Executive Committee. If time is
short and the parties to be notified have not received copies of the appeal
brief, sufficient copies of the brief must be available to all parties by the
scheduled beginning time for the hearing.
C.
The school presenting an appeal will be limited to a
ten-minute presentation. In the
event that another school is present to present a refutation, the period will be
extended to twenty minutes, provided that school has requested time on the
agenda. If either school desires
additional time, it must apply in advance, stating the reasons why the
additional time is needed. An
administrator or school official must represent all schools.
D.
At the conclusion of the presentation, members of the
Committee will permit a brief period of time for specific questions.
E.
Persons presenting appeals should be businesslike in their
presentations and should refrain from socializing with members of the Committee
within the hearing room.
F.
Decisions by the Committee will be voted on in open
session after the presentation of the case.
Section
6. Duties of the Commissioner
A.
The Commissioner shall be employed by the Executive
Committee who shall determine the term of employment, duties, salary and
expenses.
B.
The Commissioner will have charge of all funds of the
League and he or his designee will make a detailed report at the Legislative
Assembly of all monies collected and paid out by the League.
He shall pay out all monies under instructions from the Executive
Committee, and shall furnish bond in the sum of $100,000.00.
The League will pay this premium.
C.
The Commissioner shall have control of all contests, but
the Executive Committee can, for cause, overrule his decisions.
D.
The Commissioner may set aside the Constitution concerning
eligibility if special conditions exist.
Section
7. Special Conditions Eligibility
A.
Ordinary cases of ineligibility shall not be considered as coming under
the "special conditions" eligibility category. Ordinary cases of
ineligibility are defined as those scenarios set forth and provided for in the
Constitution.
1.
Each request must be made in writing by the
superintendent or principal of the member school and contain all the facts
pertinent to the case and demonstrating why the request is not an ordinary case
of ineligibility. An application form supplied by the League Office will be
used.
2.
The request must include sufficient data to make it possible to reach a
decision without further investigation. All documents necessary to reach a
conclusion on the request must be attached to the request. In the event it is
determined that a document necessary to reach a conclusion was inadvertently
omitted, the Commissioner may contact the superintendent or principal to inform
them that a conclusion cannot be made based upon the information submitted or
that the conclusion will be adverse to the school without the supporting
documentation. The superintendent or principal may then supplement the request
provided the supplementation occurs within five (5) working days or two (2) days
prior to the Executive Committee meeting (whichever comes first).
B.
Rulings made by the Commissioner may be appealed to
the Executive Committee.
C.
The Executive Committee's cause for granting
"special conditions" eligibility shall be recorded in the minutes of
the meeting.
D.
Ignorance of the rule on the part of the school
shall not be considered sufficient cause for setting aside the effects of the
rule and shall not constitute a case of ordinary ineligibility.
E.
The decision of the Commissioner (whether appealed
to the Executive Committee or not) or the decision of the Executive Committee to
set aside the effects of a rule shall not be considered as setting a precedent
for other cases of somewhat similar nature.
F.
The League may not set aside the age rule.
G.
All
parts of the Constitution that are in conflict with this article pertaining to
the Executive Committee shall be null and void.
ARTICLE V - LEGISLATIVE
ASSEMBLY
Section 1. Delegates
A.
The legislative power of the League shall be vested in a
Legislative Assembly, composed of delegates representing the membership.
B.
Each classification will have a maximum of eight delegates
including one from each region.
C.
Each classification will be permitted one vote for each
1,000 (or major part of 1,000) students represented by the class.
D.
Associate members will be permitted two delegates, each of
whom will have one vote.
E.
At the time of his election, a delegate to the Legislative
Assembly must be a superintendent, a principal, or a school administrator
officially designated as such by the governing board.
If the administrator is neither principal nor superintendent, he must
have at least six years experience certified by the State Department of
Education.
F.
By November 15,
delegates and alternates to the Legislative Assembly for the ensuing year shall
have been elected by all conferences and submitted to the Commissioner.
Failure to submit the delegate(s) by this date may cause the loss of the
delegate(s) for that year.
Section
2. Annual Meeting
A.
The annual meeting of the Legislative Assembly shall be
held on or before the second Wednesday in April.
B.
The purpose of this meeting shall be to consider
legislative proposals and resolutions.
1.
Proposed amendments to the Constitution must be submitted
to the Commissioner by the principal or superintendent of a member school prior
to January 1.
2.
The Commissioner shall submit the proposed amendments to
the State Executive Committee for recommendation or non-recommendation prior to
January 15.
3.
Proposed amendments shall be publicized in the January
Bulletin of the League.
C.
The President and the Commissioner or his designee shall
be speaker and secretary respectively of the Legislative Assembly.
The secretary shall record the minutes of all Legislative Assembly
meetings and mail copies to each school.
D.
The Legislative Assembly, by majority vote, may edit any
amendment or resolution submitted for legislative action.
1.
A two-thirds majority shall be required for adoption of a
proposed amendment and a majority shall be required for the adoption of a
resolution.
2.
The President, in case of a tie vote, shall cast the
deciding ballot.
E.
A delegate must be present at the Legislative Assembly in
order to vote.
F.
Any delegate speaking must first give his name and the
school area represented.
G.
The League, as determined by the Executive Committee, will
pay expenses of the delegates.
H.
Any superintendent or principal who has submitted a
proposed amendment may speak to the amendment if he has made the request in
writing at least one week prior to the annual meeting of the Legislative
Assembly. The above presentation to
the Legislative Assembly is limited to five minutes by one person for each
proposed amendment.
I.
Robert’s Rules of Order will
govern the procedures of the Legislative Assembly, and the Executive Committee
will employ a parliamentarian.
J.
The Executive Committee will have the responsibility of
clarifying amendments by using interpretations and notes.
ARTICLE VI – CONFERENCES
Section
1. Classification and Membership
A.
The
membership will be divided into a minimum of three classifications determined by
enrollments in grades 9-12. The
enrollments used in the reclassification process shall be the 135 ADM for each
school in the year 2008-2009.
NOTE: The number of
classifications will be determined by the Executive Committee.
B.
Representatives of the schools in each class will meet and
determine the divisions that are necessary. By vote of the Legislative Assembly, this may be delegated to
a single committee representing all classifications or to a separate committee
for each classification.
Section
2. State Conference and Region Constitutions
A.
The Executive Committee of all conferences will consist of
the region coordinators and designated officers.
B.
At least 50% of the members of each executive committee
must be principals or superintendents.
C.
State Conference and region constitutions must be in
compliance with the League's Constitution and must be filed in the League
Office.
D.
Conference and region organization must be perfected and
reported to the Commissioner by May 1 of each year.
E.
Constitutions of new regions become effective the date
that the constitution is ratified if there is not an effective date written into
the document itself.
NOTE: No conference may take any action during a
reclassification period that will affect a new member without that member having
the opportunity to fully participate in that decision.
Section
3. Transfers and Combinations of Schools
A.
A school may transfer from one region to another in the
same classification with the approval of a majority of the member schools in
both regions.
B.
A school transferring from one region to another will be
entitled to its share of any funds in the region, but may expect to pay a fee
equal to a member's share in the treasury of the new region.
C.
A school may also transfer from one classification to
another, but will need a majority vote of the Executive Committees of the
respective State Conferences in addition to the approval of the individual
regions involved.
D.
Two or more high schools under the same superintendent and
governing board may combine for any activity sponsored by the League, provided
the combination is approved by a majority vote of all schools in the region in
which they desire to compete and by the Executive Committee of the appropriate
State Conference as well as the Commissioner of the League.
1.
To obtain permission to combine, the principals of all
schools concerned must apply in writing to the region, to the president of the
conference in which they wish to compete, and to the Commissioner at least 30
days in advance of the planned combination, clearly stating the reason for the
combination.
2.
This must be done for each year that the schools plan to
combine.
3.
Combinations where the combined enrollment exceeds the
upper limits of a classification will be approved by the Commissioner for
regular season play only unless approved otherwise by the State Conference.
4.
For activities decided by open competition, only the
approval of the Conference Executive Committee is needed.
If a region champion is determined, the affected region must approve the
combination.
Section
4. Region Championships
A.
When a majority of the schools in a region request a
championship in any activity, the region executive committee must provide a
method of elimination.
B.
No school will be forced to compete in any activity of the
League, but a school fielding a team shall play the teams required by the
region.
C.
If a region representative(s) is not declared by the
region executive committee, the Conference Executive Committee may declare a
region representative(s).
D.
When a committee arranging for elimination contests names
the teams to take part, the teams so named are released from any conflicting
games on their schedules.
NOTE: A contest having a bearing on a play-off position may
not be forfeited if it is possible to play the contest.
Section
5. State Championships
A.
The Commissioner shall arrange schedules for region
representative(s) to play for State championships.
B.
The League shall sponsor and control all championships.
A championship shall be held in any activity in which more than half the
members taking part vote in favor of it.
NOTE: The League will sponsor a championship in each
classification that has a minimum of 12 of its schools participating.
If this requirement is not met, but a minimum fourteen schools in two
adjoining classifications participate in a sport with a majority of the number
coming from the higher classification, the League will sponsor a state
championship for the combined classification.
NOTE: Sixteen members must sponsor teams in a sport before an open State Championship may be declared.
ARTICLE
VII - STUDENT ELIGIBILITY RULES
In order to participate in athletic
activities of the South Carolina High School League, a student must be enrolled
in and attending a member or associate member school.
The student must also meet other necessary requirements of all sections
of this article.
A.
A student who becomes 19 years of age prior to July 1,
2007 will not be eligible to compete in any athletic activities during the
2007-2008 school year. Should a
student become too old for a 7th and 8th grade team, he may be considered as
enrolled in the 9th grade for eligibility purposes.
B.
Refer to A-30 for Junior High and Middle School
limitations.
C. The League's age rule may not be set-aside under the special conditions section of the Constitution.
Section 2. Birth Certification
A.
Schools shall have on file a copy of an official birth
document for all student athletes. Any
questions on authenticity will be submitted to the League Office.
B.
Official birth documents must meet the following criteria:
1.
It must be an original certified document.
2.
It must be obtained from the state, county, or city
government in which the student was born.
3.
It must include the given and surnames.
4.
It must be legible and unaltered.
C.
Children born abroad may supply one of the following
documents:
1.
If born abroad of American citizens:
a.
Foreign Service Forms 240 or 545
b.
Department of State Form 1350
c.
Citizenship papers
d.
Passport
2.
If born abroad of alien parents who are now U.S. citizens:
a.
Immigration and Naturalization Service Form G-350
b.
Original Naturalization Papers
3.
If born abroad and still a citizen of a foreign country:
a.
Birth Certificates
b.
Alien Card
c.
Passports issued in foreign countries
D.
The following will not be accepted:
1.
Hospital Certificates
2.
Birth Notices
3.
Copies certified by Notaries
E.
Students participating in programs of member schools will
submit official birth certificates to their principal for approval.
Copies must be kept on file in the school.
Section 3. Academic
Requirements
A.
A student, while participating,
must be a full-time student as determined by guidelines set forth by the State
Department of Education. A student
who is repeating a course for which he has previously received credit cannot
count this course as one required for eligibility.
This is considered as monitoring a course.
B.
To participate in
interscholastic athletic activities, students in grades 9-12 must achieve an
overall passing average in addition to the following:
1.
To b
To be
eligible during the second semester the student must meet one of the following
conditions:
a.
If the student met first semester eligibility
requirements then he or she must pass the equivalent of four, ˝ units during
the first semester.
b.
If the student did not meet first semester
eligibility requirements then he or she must pass the equivalent of five, ˝
units during the first semester.
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