CHSAA Legislative Council closes out agenda items for 2022-23 year

PARKER – The final CHSAA Legislative Council meeting of the 2022-23 school year tied a bow on the procedural issues for the administrative body of high school athletics.

Among the various agenda items were the approval of specific sports committee reports and the approval of two new members to the board of directors.

The overall meeting was relatively uneventful which is almost an ideal scenario for the CHSAA staff and Legislative Council members. The 2023-24 budget was approved and can be found in the LC Agenda posted on CHSAANow.com.

In the commissioner’s update, CHSAA commissioner Mike Krueger recapped the association’s continuing rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic and the upward trajectory of the association both in terms of policy and financial standing.

He also stressed an increased to desire to rein in sportsmanship issues that he sees throughout the state. Part of the issue, according to Krueger, is that poor sportsmanship needs to have defined boundaries on a state-wide level.

“If you sit next to me at a state championship event, I can point out various things that are concerning to me when it comes sportsmanship,” he told the Legislative Council and other gathering athletic directors.

If there was any bit of drama that came out of the meeting, it was Denver’s withdraw of Administrative Proposal 2.

The proposal as it appeared in the Legislative Council:

Brief feedback suggests that it was withdrawn due to the confusing nature of the verbiage of the proposal as it was presented to the council.

Several athletic directors privately expressed that their leagues intended to vote in favor of the proposal.

During the approval of the committee reports, the one issue that was defeated was CR Amendment 14b, which had the Class 6A basketball teams opting out of the neutral site Great 8 games at the Denver Coliseum and being shifted to home sites.

Cherry Creek district athletic director Larry Bull stressed that there are a limited number of schools that would meet capacity for the games and finding a venue to accommodate those games on three days’ notice is a difficult task.

The Legislative Council soundly voted down the amendment (4 yes, 64 no), keeping the 6A games at the Denver Coliseum along with the 5A and 4A games.

The meeting finalized with the acknowledgment of the departing members of the board of directors and the naming of their replacements, along with the announcement of a new board president.

In District 7, Elizabeth principal Bret McLendon departs his chair which will be filled by Coronado athletic director Jimmy Porter.

In District 10, Deer Trail superintendent Mike Jobman assumes the seat that is opening up with the departure of Platte Valley athletic director Travis Stinar.

Departing president Luke DeWolfe announced the election of Englewood principal Ryan West as the new president of the board. West gave his brief thoughts on his new position and as his first official act, adjourned the meeting.

The next Legislative Council meeting will take place in January 2024.