IAABO EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2005     

9:00 AM

CONCORD BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB – CONCORD, NH

MINUTES

Attending:  Beauregard, Benjamin, Dedopoulos, Fronk, Jenness, Kyle, Marcotte, Mason, Mayo, McCarthy, Peterson, Rossetti, Roy, Strand, Talcott, Vickery, Ordway (observer).

Absent: Driscoll, Walsh, Wolff

Call To Order: By President Peterson @ 9:00 AM.

New Members: Bob Benjamin (122) attended his first meeting as the replacement for Pete McKenney. Steve Strand (118) and Kevin Talcott (128) also attended their first meetings as 32 members; Brad Wolff (118) was announced as a new member, but was not in attendance. Larry Guile, Ron Feely and Dennis Reisch also completed their service on the 32 board.

September 18, 2005 Meeting Minutes:  Reviewed, motion made to accept (Vickery/Mason), approved.

Secretary/Treasurer: Mayo distributed current financial information with the meeting Agenda, which included a detailed list of payments made during the current fiscal year. Mayo advised that the many changes caused by the merger of the two basketball boards resulted in a few errors in the NHIAA master list (questions pertaining to that list were directed to several people, and the current status of the officials in question was resolved).

Motion was made to approve Mayo’s report (McCarthy/Mason), approved.

Apprentice:  Rossetti reported that a total of 32 applicants passed the written test statewide with 1 earning the right to retest in the spring.

            117:25/12        118:12/11        122:11/6, 1 retest         128:3/3

Supervisor: Rossetti reported that he went to all four District Board meetings in an effort to meet as many officials as possible during the pre-season. He also advised that the media (Nashua Telegraph) has written about the merger and its promise to increase female involvement in officiating, and asked that the District Boards keep that in mind as they go about their work.

With respect to the alternate gray shirt worn by many officials, Rossetti asked for direction with respect to the fact that some shirts have black and red patches (old style) and some have black and white patches (new style, Honigs). After significant discussion, motion was made (Rossetti/Marcotte) to reconfirm that the standard shirt is the black and white striped shirt with an IAABO black and red patch, the alternate gray shirt for 2005-06 only will be allowed with either the old black and red or the new black and white patch, with the American flag attached at the back of the neck to all shirts. Motion was approved after discussion, and will be revisited at the March meeting.

District Boards reported to Rossetti that 14 officials did not pass the pre-season written exam, and will lose their varsity schedules as a result. All 14 officials were members of 117 (5) and 118 (9).

Rossetti reported that the mechanics test that had been required by 32 in a prior meeting did not arrive from IAABO until late November, eliminating its use as a pre-season test this year. After significant discussion, it was decided that the 65-question test will be required of all officials, to be returned to the District Secretaries no later than January 31, 2006. The 86% passing grade requires that 56 questions be answered correctly.

Rossetti reported that partner evaluations can now be done on the Arbiter. If done regularly, this should improve the ability of 32 members to accurately and timely complete the evaluation forms. After discussion, motion was made (Marcotte/Strand) to use the partner evaluation process on the Arbiter, motion passed.

Rossetti also reported that the Arbiter system allows for coaches evaluations to be performed; after discussion, consensus developed that this should be encouraged during the 2005-06 season on a voluntary trial basis only.

Assigner: Rossetti reported that so far, things have gone well with the Arbiter system; although a few people do not check their emails frequently enough, the first major snow day of the year (12/9) went quite well.

Rossetti also reminded 32 members to spread the word that there is a surplus of good basketball officials in the State, and the result is fewer games for all officials; if an official wishes to work some sub varsity games, they will have the opportunity to add to their schedule.

With the NHIAA tournament assignments approaching, Rossetti wanted to confirm that 32 has no rule against dropping a regular season game to accept a tournament game if the NHIAA wants an official for that date (confirmed); Rossetti agreed to let officials know in an email that this practice is acceptable as they provide NHIAA with their open dates for the tournament.

Interpreter:  Marcotte advised that he provided rules interpretations to all 4 District Boards, the Coaches Association, and a makeup session (with 1 makeup to follow as of the meeting date).

Marcotte also reported on 2 specific situations that have arisen that call for a specific interpretation; these items will be placed on the website for review by 32 officials.

John Burke Award: After further discussion of the addition of a female athlete to this prestigious award, motion was made (McCarthy/Jenness) to keep the John Burke Award named for both the male and female athletes selected, motion passed. Rossetti agreed to pickup the John Burke plaque, deliver it to the winner’s school and get smaller plaques for each winner.

The March Agenda will reflect the need to decide how to honor the female winner at her school; should a second large plaque be purchased ?

Rossetti agreed to modify the partner evaluation form to ask each official completing the form to suggest a possible nominee for the John Burke Award as part of the evaluation process, hopefully resulting in more legitimate nominations for the award.

Election Reminder: It was noted that the Secretary/Treasurer and Supervisor positions are up for election in 2006. District Board 122 will also submit the name of their nominee for President/Elect at that time.

All members were reminded that if anyone is interested in running for these positions, they are requested to provide a letter to President Peterson no later than February 1, 2006, so that those names can be included in the Agenda prior to the March election meeting. While the letter is appropriate as a letter of intent, nominations can and will be allowed from the floor at the March meeting.

Website:  Marcotte reported that the last update to the website occurred in early November; he agreed to place the Executive Committee listing and the minutes of the 32 meetings on the website if approved by 32; after discussion, motion was made (Strand/Kyle) to do so, motion passed.

NHIAA/Sex Offenders: Mayo reported that he did not speak with Jim Desmarais of NHIAA since the last meeting, as each had called the other several times unsuccessfully.  Census developed that Dedopoulous should write a letter to NHIAA asking them to specify if they want 32 to take any action regarding this issue.

NHBWBO Life Members:  It was reported that George Twigg, Rudy Urban and Paula Dickinson were the only officials in this category; 118 reported that Urban and Dickinson were listed as honorary life members on their District Board, but no one had successfully contacted Twigg yet. Ordway agreed to send a letter to Twigg, telling him that he could be listed as an honorary life member if Twigg so chose.

District Board Concerns:

            117:     None

            118:     Wanted to know if any further discussion or action needed to be taken on an individual holding two Officer positions in 32 (no discussion ensued), and whether regional assigners needed  further discussion or action (no discussion ensued).

            122:     Also wanted to discuss regional assigners; Rossetti responded that while he had nominated them in the past when he needed to leave the state for ECAC business, he did not plan to do so this year and therefore saw no issue developing.

            128:     None

New Business:

118:     Jenness wanted to raise the possibility that the geographic spread of his District Board made it impossible to have effective in-season meetings; he also discussed whether games should be assigned more frequently to the officials living in a specific geographic area near the schools involved. Discussion centered on the desire of all members to make things fair for everyone; consensus was to allow District Board Executive Committees to consider these questions, and bring up the topic for discussion at the March meeting.

Next Meeting: March 19, 2006 at 9:00 AM at the Concord Boys and Girls Club

Adjournment: Motion made (Jenness/Mason) and approved at 11:40 AM