[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by fiasco

The officials aren't the ultimate authority at the school, even while the game is being played. Officials are hired to administer the game itself. The AD, in most cases, is responsible for the overall athletic contest. The ins and outs, the goings on. This includes fans, the band, concessions, tickets, etc etc etc.

Actually this is not always true and certainly not the case in all situations I have worked games in two states for sure. And various schools give ADs different responsibilities and they are not always in charge of the band or concessions as you stated. I remember an AD told my football crew he had no say over the concession stand and the Booster Club ran and controlled all the proceeds or what is sold.

Originally Posted by fiasco

So, in most cases, with the exception of situations you talked about earlier (having an athletics board, for example), the AD could walk out onto the court, call the contest over and tell everyone to go home if he really wanted to, and the officials really couldn't do a darn thing about it.

I said nothing about an athletic board, I said the school board. In many cases the school board is the one that makes a decision about their coaches and who is hired and who is fired. The AD might can make some recommendations, but not all school districts here give ADs that much power. I know they do not have say over how we are paid and they have no say over many extra-curricular events. I am sure this is going to vary across the country as well as how different we are all assigned and who can or cannot hire the officials.

Originally Posted by fiasco

We work for the school, not the other way around, and the AD is who has authority over the athletic contest as a whole in almost all situations.

And not every case is we work at a school. I just got through finishing working a tournament over several days that was not run by any school. It was run by an organization and the organization made all the decisions about many things as to who had access to the courts and what standards must be followed. And in most cases I am personally hired by an official's conference supervisor who sends me to a school in the conference they are hired to assign the official. The schools has to follow rules of a larger body (IHSA) or be subjected to their rules and regulation, which as an official I must follow by having a license with them or suffer similar consequences or have to answer to them for not following rules. And if an AD steps out of their role they can be written up for their actions and they will have to deal with IHSA and possibly be disciplined. So there is a protocol at least where I am from and if those standards are not followed. And if a AD came out of the stands I would not hesitate to address that issue with the IHSA and let them deal with it, like I did a few weeks ago with the actions of an AD and Principal that I found to be inappropriate (not specifically related to this kind of situation of course). The schools are not all powerful, they are members of a larger organization and agree to follow by-laws of that organization. And all parties are subjected to following those rules or they can be suspended as a school or on a lesser level be subjected to penalties and suspensions individually.

Peace