Edwardsville (Ill.) High School athletic director Amy Boscolo is hoping for a proposal change regarding the travel policy for Illinois High School Association teams.
As reported by The Edwardsville Intelligencer, IHSA by-law 2.180, which states, “School teams may travel out of state any distance, provided the participating students can miss no more than two school days, including travel to and from the competition. The number of instances that any single school team can use this provision is limited to two per school year per occasion.”
Boscolo seeks some discretion for schools as to how they allocate the four total days away from the classroom.
“The by-law proposal was written to modify a by-law that is currently in place,” Boscolo said. “The current by-law allows for student-athletes to travel for four days out of that, but they can only use two at a time. I’m asking to remove the two-day stipulation, so that if you want to go out of state and miss three days in a row you can. We’re not changing the amount of days kids are allowed to travel out of state and miss school. We’re just changing how those days are allocated.”
Boscolo pointed to costs and logistics as reasons for her proposal change, Matt Kamp of the Intelligencer reported.
“Travel has become really difficult,” Boscolo said. “It has become really expensive and sometimes it is cheaper to leave that morning instead of after the school day is over. Also, not all tournaments fit into the window of two days. If you’re travelling for a basketball tournament, it’s usually only two days and the traveling requirement works. If you’re travelling for baseball, soccer or dance nationals, it doesn't really fit.”
If passed, Boscolo said she believes the new by-law wouldn’t be used too often.
“In reality, if you are missing four total days of school, you’re going to need approval from your athletic department, principal and superintendent," she said. "Nobody is just going to allow kids to miss four straight days of school to do anything athletic unless it’s a very big deal,” Boscolo said. “It’s not something that schools will utilize often. When it is used, it would be for a reason.
“Speaking for Edwardsville, it’s something we’ll utilize with extreme discretion with what we allow and don’t allow.”
The proposal was one of nine passed by the Legislative Committee on Nov. 25 to go to a state-wide vote of member schools Dec. 2-16. There were 26 proposals discussed at Town Meetings throughout the state Nov. 7-20.
“I’ve been following this very closely throughout the state,” Boscolo said. “Some groups are saying that it’s a no-brainer. Others are a little leery.
“It passed with flying colors in the area. We did a straw poll a few weeks ago. It has passed in some areas and not others.”
If Edwardsville’s proposed change passes the state-wide vote, it will go into effect 30 days after passage, Kamp reported.
