Louisiana Officials
 

Not just basektball, but this forum is getting the most traffic. Will be very interesting to see how this plays out. Would like to hear from La. officials.

No Raises for La. Officials

I fully support the stance taken by the Louisiana officials in this. I hope that they don't work this Fall, if the schools don't reinstate their rainout pay and give them the small raise requested.

I tried to get some feedback once before: https://forum.officiating.com/basket...louisiana.html

Now that the"great recession" has passed and municipalities are collecting more property taxes to fund the schools, you are going to see more of this type of activity. Teachers salaries have begun to creep up (in Florida anyway) so it should follow that coaches, AD's and officials soon follow suit. It'll be interesting to see how far the LHSAA is willing to push this...No officials for football season? That could get ugly.

Maybe they can get parent volunteers for the games. Parents think they can call the game better than officials anyway. :rolleyes:

In an area in which I was officiating basketball, the volleyball officials decided to refuse to work the HS season, if they were not given a pay raise. The HSAA met the challenge to their authority by simply asknig for volunteers from the stands to officiate the games. It wasn't great, but the games/season went on, ant the officials eventually conceeded.

There will be officials not working the "big games" that will gladly walk over the backs of other officials. Happens all the time.

One year we tried to get a raise for our adult umpiring league. Almost half of the umpires would've kept right on working and some tried to shame us for thinking about not working.

Don't know where you're located but THAT would be entertaining to watch.

^^^ This is how NYC solved the problem for public school officials. When the teachers get a raise, so do we. I don't know how they managed to get the deal but it's in place. We just received a raise last season and I think another is coming up this season or next.



No offense to volleyball officials but if you get bad officiating in a volleyball match chances are no one will get hurt. Bad officiating in a football or basketball game can lead to kids getting hurt and/or fights. Heck, even good officiating can't stop those things from happening sometimes. If the LA folks stick to their guns something ridiculous will happen in a game officiated by volunteers - if the LHSAA goes that route - someone will be sued and the problem will solve itself.

That might work for volleyball. It would not work out nearly that well for football.

Though what will likely happen, and we saw as much before in Louisiana, is that enough officials will keep working anyways and undermine the efforts of the others.

If the local associations do not assign games, then the schools are going to have to figure out how to get in touch with the officials who will continue to work. There's a good chance that the associations will kick those officials out if they work.

I wouldn't bet on anything right now. I do know that in Texas, IF (and that's a big if) officials didn't show up to a large number of games on the first Friday night of the season, whatever demands TASO (in this case) had in all sports would be satisfied by 8:00 a.m. Sat. morning.

And that might be the best thing to happen. When they have screw ups and people working games they are not ready for, that can also send a message. That was the claim when the NFL used replacements.

Peace

For basketball, if they ever use volunteer parents for officials, a group of officials should attend the game as spectators and, together, chant "Call it both ways" over and over. Also, they should all get up together, hold out a pair of glasses and yell, "Hey ref - you wanna borrow my glasses?"

Oh yeah, don't forget to yell every time they misinterpret a rule. :D

"It's all about the student-athletes." What nonsense. I cringe upon hearing this phrase because we all know it's not true.

I hope the LHSOA doesn't budge. Let the fanboys officiate. What a fun story that will be.

Fixed it for ya.