The Florida High School Athletic Association approved changes that will loosen transfer rules starting next summer, the organization announced Thursday.
Representatives for FHSAA member schools passed proposals aimed at redefining certain eligibility criteria and streamlining the appeals process during its annual meeting Monday.
These changes — which will take effect July 1 for the 2016-17 school year — give FHSAA director Roger Dearing the power to grant immediate eligibility for student-athletes transferring under hardship.
The new rule arose out of concern voiced during a Florida legislative committee meeting in February. House education committee members grilled Dearing after the FSHAA denied eligibility to a girl who had transferred to a new school after leaving the home of her abusive mother and moving in with her grandparents.
Multiple calls to Dearing were not immediately returned on Wednesday.
On Monday, FHSAA delegates also OK’d the use of video-conferencing for appeals, fixing a provision that previously required those questioning eligibility rulings to sometimes travel unreasonable distances to go before an arbiter.
The FHSAA also clarified a rule related to coaches and their players switching schools. An athlete who has transferred to a new school will no longer be penalized if her coach follows her to that same new school. Coaches, however, are still not allowed to change schools, then have athletes from their old schools follow them.
Of the 31 proposals that went before the FHSAA Assembly on Monday, 21 were approved. In addition to new rules and amendments related to transfers and eligibility requirements, delegates also addressed proposals related to improper contact by coaches, attendance exceptions, pre-participation physicals and insurance coverage.
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