House to investigate MSHSAA

A special Missouri House committee will investigate the regulation of high school sports in response to repeated complaints about how the Missouri State High School Activities Association polices its members.

The House panel will convene this summer after the regular legislative session ends, said state Rep. Gayle Kingery, R-Poplar Bluff. Kingery, a former high school football coach and retired principal, will chair the committee.

Kingery said he's recommended the names of 18 lawmakers to serve on the committee. House Speaker Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill, has yet to appoint the other members.

A spokesman for Jetton said the speaker likely won't appoint the committee members until this session ends May 18.

The House investigation comes amid a growing chorus of public concern about MSHSAA's rulings in cases involving the eligibility of student athletes, lawmakers said. "Every year we keep hearing more and more complaints," Kingery said.

Kingery said the committee likely will hold hearings in mid- or late summer. "I would like to see it wrapped up by October," he said. That would give lawmakers time to craft legislation, if warranted, to regulate MSHSAA, he said. Any such legislation wouldn't be considered until the 2008 session.

Kingery said the committee will not be on a witch hunt. At the very least, its efforts could prompt the activities association to do a better job regulating high school sports, he said.

At most, the committee's work could lead to legislation that would give the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education administrative oversight of the association, he said.

State Rep. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, has introduced legislation that would require MSHSAA rules to receive legislative scrutiny and open the door for possible oversight by DESE. But that bill isn't expected to win legislative approval before the end of the current session.

Cunningham said her bill is a response to "horror stories by parents whose kids were abused by MSHSAA."

"This is a totally nonaccountable group that is making rules over our children," she said.

Kingery said the hearings likely will be at the state capital for the convenience of the legislators. The committee will meet with MSHSAA officials and ask them to provide any documentation the lawmakers feel is needed, he said.

MSHSAA executive director Kerwin Urhahn told the Southeast Missourian in February that he would testify before the committee and seek to answer lawmakers' questions.

The Columbia-based association has about 700 member high schools and junior high schools. A 10-member board of high school principals, superintendents and athletic directors oversees the association, with policy changes subject to member approval, said board member Paul Kinder.

"The organization is run by its membership," said Kinder, superintendent of the Blue Springs School District near Kansas City. "There's a misunderstanding among some of our elected officials."

But the superintendent of the tiny Naylor School District in the Missouri Bootheel said in reality the association's board of directors and its top officials make decisions when it comes to policing member schools. Naylor superintendent Stephen Cookson has repeatedly complained that association officials aren't consistent in handling complaints involving eligibility of student athletes

"If there is no consistency then there is no fairness," Cookson said.

MSHSAA punished the Naylor School District in January over alleged student eligibility violations of association bylaws. The association board ordered Naylor to forfeit all of its high school girls basketball and softball games played last year, including its girls basketball district championship. The Naylor girls basketball team also was barred from playing in the post-season district tournament this year.

Cookson contends that MSHSAA's board severely punished the Naylor School District while ignoring rules violations in other school districts, including Bell City.

Association officials, Cookson said, operate in secrecy when it comes to disclosing or investigating complaints.

In February Naylor school official filed a complaint against the Bell City School District alleging student eligibility and other bylaw violations. Cookson said MSHSAA officials have said little about the progress of that investigation so far.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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