You can't be serious

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by so cal lurker

If they adopt adopt a stupid rule that says they get 15 minutes ...

The CIAC, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, our state high school sports governing body, consists of both active and retired school superintendents, principals, assistant principals, and athletic directors that often make decisions with input of our Connecticut IAABO State Interpreter.

This learned group of educators probably figures that canceling an extracurricular school activity involving two teams of student athletes (one team traveling by expensive bus, that already left to return later in the afternoon for pickup), student athlete cheerleaders, student athlete fans, paid officials, and parents, due to the behavior of one adult who lost his temper and said the wrong word to an official, possibly in the first minute of a game, may not be the best educational plan for all involved. Why punish the many for the mortal sin of one? Why not give the coach (as long as he's not being a dickhead) some time to get a teacher, administrator, parent, police officer in the corner, custodian, or even the other team's assistant coach, to coach, thus allowing the completion of this educationally valuable extracurricular school activity? Isn't that preferable to sending everybody home and turning off the lights in the gym? When ten or fifteen minutes of time can possibly solve a problem?

When David saw the angel striking the people, he said to the Lord, “Look, I am the one who has sinned; I am the one who has done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let Your hand be against me. (2 Samuel 24:17)

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Forum members: What are the written guidelines in your state/conference/league/association, etc.?

[LRZ]

A tangential twist to this issue: if coaches need clearances, must the "coach out of the stands" be cleared? And if so, who checks? If he/she doesn't have clearances, then what?

There was a case where a game did not have a full crew of referees. A cop, who is a DARE contact in the township's high school, is a referee, but HR said his clearances were not on file, so he could not work the game. I may have missed some of the nuances or details of the case, but that's the gist.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by LRZ

A tangential twist to this issue: if coaches need clearances, must the "coach out of the stands" be cleared? And if so, who checks? If he/she doesn't have clearances, then what?

This was the final piece of the puzzle, asked for by my local board. According to the CIAC, the substitute coach doesn't have to have state certification (usually all nonteaching coaches in the state have to have a state issued coaching certificate), so we don't have to ask; can't be a student; must "look like they're at least eighteen" (exact CIAC words).

Originally Posted by LRZ

There was a case where a game did not have a full crew of referees. A cop, who is a DARE contact in the township's high school, is a referee, but HR said his clearances were not on file, so he could not work the game.

Ever since I've been officiating we've been strongly warned not to ever officiate with anybody who is not IAABO certified (Connecticut is 100% IAABO for high school basketball, but there are a few recreation level non-IAABO officials out there with Foot Locker jerseys), even if it means working a one person game (which is allowed in Connecticut, we even have written mechanics guidelines in place). I've been told that it's for legal liability reasons.

Of course, the usual caveat, when in Rome ...

[ilyazhito]

How could a police officer not have his clearances on file? AFAIK, PA officials have to have a background check from the police department, so I would be surprised that a police officer would not have a police background check done on him every year. Or maybe it is just the PIAA misplacing his records (he is a member of a PIAA chapter in good standing?).

[LRZ]

Officials file their clearances with the central PIAA office, but schools here want them sent directly, rather than having to access them on-line through the PIAA website, and some school district HR departments are OOO.

When we are assigned a game at a school for the first time, we email our clearances to the AD, athletic department secretary, and everyone listed on arbiter as a school contact. We then hope that they get to and are accepted by the school district's HR office.

The officer is indeed in good standing, and an excellent official. I'm speculating that he never submitted his paperwork to that school because he would likely never get assigned there because of working in that township and going to the school as the DARE officer.