NDHSAA Board Synopsis: March 31 Meeting

By Tom Mix
NDHSAA Media Specialist

VALLEY CITY, N.D. – The North Dakota High School Activities Board of Directors met on Tuesday, March 31 via conference call for a regularly scheduled meeting.

Highlights of the March 31 NDHSAA Board of Directors Meeting included:

• The Board of Directors voted to extend the active suspension of Spring Sports indefinitely in accordance with Governor Burgum’s Executive Order 2020-10 requiring the closure of all public and non-public K-12 school facilities until further notice. The Board’s Tournament Committee will meet to review currently suspended Winter Basketball State Tournaments and Fine Arts contests and will report back to the Board on April 14, 2020. 

• The Tournament Committee approved sites for the 2021 Winter Regional Tournament Sites and future Fine Arts State Sites. List of approved NDHSAA Tournament Sites for the 2020-21 season found here: https://ndhsaa.com/calendar/tournament-sites/current. Be sure to click the “2020-21 Tab” at the Bottom of the Current NDHSAA Tournament Sites Page. 

• The Football Committee reported to the Board. The Guidelines and Preliminary Division Assignments for the 2021 NDHSAA Football season were approved. Teams will have until September 18, 2020 to option up or down a division.
  
  APPROVED FOOTBALL GUIDELINES (STARTING FOR 2021 SEASON)
  PRELIMINARY FOOTBALL DIVISION ASSIGNMENTS (STARTING 2021)

• The Board officially welcomed two new Member Schools - West Fargo Horace High School and Kensal High School - for the 2020-21 school year.

• Board Member Mark Rerick presented an esports update to the Board. Esports has operated in North Dakota at the club level this school year. The Board formed an ad hoc committee to develop a recommendation to the full Board of Directors at a future meeting. 

• The Board received a formal request from Hettinger Superintendent Ryan Moser requesting the Board to consider the addition of girls wrestling as a separate division in accordance with the current Board Regulation of Sponsoring a new activity. The Board approved a motion to review girls wrestling as a NDHSAA-sponsored sport for the 2021-22 school year in March 2021.

• The Board accepted the resignation of Fessenden-Bowdon Principal Warren Strand effective at the end of the academic year. Strand is in his third year of a four-year term on the NDHSAA Board of Directors representing the North Dakota Association of Secondary School Principals. The Board appointed previous NDASSP representative Dr. Todd Bertsch, principal at Fargo South to serve the remainder of Strand’s term on the Board.

• With the suspensions of remaining 2020 Winter State Basketball Tournaments being extended, refunds for the 2020 NDHSAA Class B Boys Basketball State Tournament are being accepted through Bismarck Event Center and its online ticket distributor Etix.

2020 Class B Boys Basketball State Tournament Refund Policy:
The 2020 Class B Boys Basketball Tournament remains suspended indefinitely.  Ticket holders may obtain a refund if desired via Etix's Phone Center (1-800-514-3849) or at the Box Office.  If requested, we anticipate that credit card refunds should be made in the next 30 days. Tickets purchased with cash at the Box Office will need to be returned to the Box Office for a refund. At this time, the Box Office is not open for business due to the COVID-19 Pandemic so cash refunds will be made after it reopens.

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