By Todd Black
In 2013, the select schools challenged the Executive Director and Executive Committee multiple times on the legality of the football split proposal. In January, Principal’s John Kiser of Karr and J.T. Locke of Newman informed the membership the proposal contradicted the Association’s constitution.
In March 2013, then Executive Director Kenny Henderson said the legal opinion the LHSAA received about those constitutional issues was inconclusive. “A handful of select school representatives attended the meeting and waited until the committee took a break to question Henderson about the constitutional opinion the LHSAA received Tuesday afternoon.”
“We did (get the opinion),” Henderson said. “And that’s to be shared with the board (executive committee). There has not been a definitive, clear answer. It depends on how you want to interpret it. With that being said, that’s why we’re going to go back and leave it up to the schools.” In other words, whether it’s legal or not is insignificant. We are going to do what the schools want to do.
That was a blatant lie.
Insert from Nola.com 3/2013 – At a meeting last month, select schools pointed out contradictions within the LHSAA’s constitution that do not agree with the select/nonselect plan that calls for five nonselect playoff classes and two select playoff classes. – The LHSAA constitution also states that teams can only play above their enrollment-based class and the select/nonselect plan as approved would require 5A schools to play down to face 4A and 3A schools.
In 2016, we would come to know for certain that Henderson misled the membership. New LHSAA Executive Director, Eddie Bonine, was notified by his legal team the proposal to expand the split playoffs was out of order. Since this proposal piggybacked off of the 2013 football split proposal, the membership then would be notified that the football split is ‘null & void’, and the expanded split proposal would no longer be voted on at the 2016 Annual Convention.
Was this a concern for member schools? Absolutely not. One principal claimed Mr. Bonine was undermining the Principals. Another requested the Constitution be changed to reflect what the membership wanted!
Instead of doing the right thing, the membership, starting with the Executive Committee, put Bonine on the chopping block. Behind Bonine’s back, Jane Griffin, Tommy Hodges, and others sought advice from a former commissioner on how to fire Bonine and why? For attempting to follow the Constitution.
Since the membership has been publicly notified these proposals were out of order, the membership still insists on following proposals that go against the best interests of the entire organization. Better yet, our state has 37 parishes without a select school in their boundary, yet these parishes have continued to support an unconstitutional playoff system. In 4 votes, public schools in these parishes have voted 355 in favor of the split opposed to 29 against. There have been 22 of the 37 parishes that have block voted to stay split via the unconstitutional proposals. Meaning never once have they voted to reunite the Association.
Another point to consider, one of the topics of concern at the 2013 Convention, was the unfairness of the private school attendance zone. Now, for the first time in the history of the LHSAA, schools are separated, based on attendance zones as close to ‘apples to apples’ as you can hope. The results of the attendance zone-based playoff structure? The most competitive playoffs in football and basketball (both GBB & BBB) in recent memory. A major win for the student-athletes in our state after dealing with such trash as a playoff system for 9 years.
And with that, you have 9 schools (6 from an open enrollment parish and 3 that use a traditional attachment zone) who for the last 9 years did not care about the LHSAA Constitution become constitutional scholars. These 9 schools knew the playoff system in which they have played for the last 9 years was outside of the bylaws of the LHSAA Constitution. Call it hypocritical, call it contradicting, call it self-serving, but of all people, for these 9 principals to question the legality of anything is gutless.
For years, public schools wanted to level the playing field, make the playoffs ‘fair and equitable,’ and create competitive balance. Last September, Mr. Bonine and the Executive Committee served that very request to them on a silver platter and these 9 principals spat in their face by asking the membership to undo competitive balance, undo the level playing field, and undo ‘fair and equitable.’
In 2013, Magnet schools and Charter schools were included as select because their attendance zone was the entire parish. In 2022, open enrollment schools were included in select because their attendance zone is the entire parish.
Today needs to be a vote for the student-athletes; today does not need to be about 9 schools who don’t want to compete, but rather what is best for all the student-athletes who wish to compete at a higher level than whats been offered the past 9 years. For once, do the right thing and vote to keep the select definition as offered by the 2022 Executive Committee.
Side Note: To make things perfectly clear, the judgement against the LHSAA came not because the LHSAA did anything wrong. The injunction was issued because the judge felt the membership did not understand the consequences of moving definitions to the glossary.