Meeting Minutes for SCBOWBO

April 23, 2003

Meeting minutes for Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 7:00 PM: Alfy's Pizza in Snohomish The ratings compilation done by Glenn Dunbar and Dick Rodland was presented. Ratings are now finalized and approved. Kevin will send them out to all officials along with a newsletter (and the observations from Coach Charlie Cobb and Todd Hoxsey) next week. It was discussed that a couple more categories are need for the ratings system. Jim and Gunther will bring their suggestions along with the descriptors for those categories to the next meeting. FOLLOW-UP: Jim, Gunther, Kevin. It was suggested that perhaps the integrity of officials in their ratings might be improved if a ratings committee was established. Officials would then know that their ratings would be looked at by other officials and make it more difficult for them to intentionally "cutthroat" other officials and "protect their buddies." We need to discuss this more as their are negatives to having ratings looked at by active officials as well. FOLLOW-UP: Gunther The board finalized the salaries for the school assignor and the financial advisor for next year. The board also approved the purchase of new assigning software from the Sportspak company to replace our outdated and unsupported package. The new software has additional functions that will make our assignor's job easier. Additional expectations for the school assignor include: Printing two copies of each schedule and requiring officials to accept or reject their schedules. E-mailing the completed schedules to each school's A.D. for confirmation. Posting each gym's schedule at each meeting so that officials can see who else is working at their gym that day. The school assignor also needs to ensure that experienced J.V. officials are assigned at "priority games" in case of an injury to either of the varsity officials. Kevin will complete performance evaluations and expectations for the school assignor as well as the recreation assignor. Jason will provide Kevin with a form that spells out the repercussions of failing to meet the expectations (termination). FOLLOW-UP: Jason and Kevin District assignments: This item was tabled until next meeting so that Pat could be included in the discussion since he has expressed concern on this issue. The board will create guidelines for the assignor to use when making district assignments. The guidelines will need to be fairly flexible as we do not know how many games we are given until the end of each season. FOLLOW-UP: Everyone There is an NASO conference in Portland in June that looks like it would have value for at least a couple of our board members to attend. We were unclear on the exact cost and duration so Jim will follow-up with Todd Stordahl for clarification. FOLLOW-UP: Jim Long-time Lake Stevens coach, Steve Berg, is retiring from coaching. The Lake Stevens community is having a retirement party for him next Saturday, May 3. Kevin, Glenn and Jim will represent our association with their attendance. We will provide Coach Berg with a set of rulebooks, a whistle, and perhaps a token gift. FOLLOW-UP: Jim, Glenn, and Kevin. The evaluator program. Part of the new ratings system was the observer program. In addition to giving our officials feedback for the first time in years, it also provides an opportunity for retired or injured officials to stay involved in the association and continue to receive some income. It also provides a training ground for us to provide evaluators to the various state tournaments. The observer program is also intended to offset the "buddy system" and "cutthroat rating" of some of our members by providing unbiased input. We need to figure out the specifics of having the observer program work next year and provide input to the ratings system. We also need to figure out how to make it affordable. FOLLOW-UP: Everyone Jason was unsure if the shirt order finally got all straightened out. Kevin will talk to Rick Byrum and find out if everyone ended up getting their shirts. FOLLOW-UP: Kevin Our end-of-season party has been poorly attended for the past several seasons. We have moved it to many different days and times and worked hard to make it as desirable as possible. Since it does not seem to be a priority, we will give out awards at our final meeting next year at the Everett Elks Club rather than having a party at a restaurant. We were informed of an "incident" that was alleged this year by one of our officials that we are investigating. We will gather more info about it before discussing it at the next meeting. FOLLOW-UP: Jim Many of our schools have a "senior night" at their final home game. After warm-ups and prior to the start of the game, they take several minutes to honor their seniors. An opposing coach this year requested additional warm-up time after the senior night proceedings since his team had to sit during that time. It was granted and the home time was not happy about it. We will ask the WOA if they have specific guidelines in regard to this situation. FOLLOW-UP: Kevin We have had a "rotating invitation" to different coaches at our meetings in the past. Many associations in many sports do the same thing. It has always been valuable to both the coaches and our officials. This year, another coach protested and took it to his A.D. The A.D. asked us to discontinue inviting officials to our meeting. We offered to invite ALL coaches to a meeting, but that was rejected as well. The Snohomish County Boys Basketball Official's Association is opposed to ending the practice as are we. We will ask the WOA for their input on the matter. FOLLOW-UP: Kevin Gunther has completed the letter to be sent to all the scholarship applicants announcing the winners and thanking them for their participation. He will find out the times of each winner's assembly where the scholarships will be given out so we can make sure to have a board member in attendance to present the awards. FOLLOW-UP: Gunther Jim needs to know who to send the ref camp scholarships to for this summer. FOLLOW-UP: Jason NEXT BOARD MEETING: Wednesday, May 28 at 6:30 PM Alfy's Pizza in Snohomish