Recently a parent emailed me that her 10th grade daughter, going to Stattler HS, (for 9th and 10th graders)
on the SAME campus, (and I think in the same multi-story bld) as the 11th and 12th grade HS, Plano North wanted
to play on the Plano North Team at our regional tournament. Well, as the rules the Texas Chess Assoc has for such are
quite clear, this request was denied. In a way, I can “see” her point in that say, when I was growing up, this was the
same HS, but for “football purposes, ie being able to play in a lower school attendance category, and dominate with
11th and 12th graders this seemed to be the design to follow”. And as well known, in Texas above all else, football is
King. Mom even mentioned to me, that her daughter plays on the Plano North girls basketball team, sooo---- why not
chess as well?? Interesting thought, sorting it through in my head-thoughts???
Rob Jones
For a number of years there was a 10-12 HS and a 7-9 junior high school sharing the same building in east Lincoln. Completely separate administrations, though.
There are well over 100 combinations of how the K-12 grades are grouped into administrative units around the country. Among the more unusual was a school district that had K-1 in one building, 2-5 in another building, 6 in a third building, 7-8 in a fourth building and 9-12 in a fifth building. Having multiple administrative units sharing a building, a campus or some facilities just adds to the complexity.
This sounds like an issue the Texas state association needs to figure out what they really want, I don’t know that rulings from on high (eg, the US Chess EB) would be appreciated much less honored by state chapters and schools.
The formation of teams in any scholastic event is up to the organizer. Since this is a TCA event, it is up to them. That said, many state organizers will default to what is in the National Scholastic Chess Tournament Regulations. That document is meant for the national scholastics but as I said, often used for state and regional events by state or local organizers.
The Scholastic Council is charged with maintaining that document. The EB approves any changes prior to posting. There was a story on CLO in November or so that included the changed document. That story quickly scrolled off the home page so was probably missed by many.
In January I noticed that the document was no longer on the Scholastic page of the website. (Scroll to the bottom black and click on ‘Scholastic/College’.) It was maintained there when I was on the Council and EB. I pinged the SC chairs and received a “We’ll take a look.” reply but I still don’t see it.
Getting back on track, a school is generally defined as a single brick and mortar building or campus with one administrator. Here is the definition from the November 2019 Scholastic Regulations:
13.2 Team Composition
In National Scholastic Events (i.e., the Spring Nationals and the K-12) a team is comprised of students who attend the same school. (See Rule 13.2.4 for further clarification of player eligibility.)
13.2.1 A school is defined as an institution which is under one Head of School and serves one student body. A school may be located in one or more buildings, and on one or more campuses. A school must provide core curricular instruction as defined by state or local law or regulation. Schools with students on multiple campuses must seek prior approval from the US Chess Director of Events at least three weeks before the start date of the tournament to compete in a US Chess national scholastic event.
Something may have changed since 2019 but I’m not sure without access to the current version.
The reason for these rules is to not allow all-star teams to form. We had a request from a home schooler in Pittsburgh to form a team with another home schooler in Erie. Denied.
I agree with Mike, give me any configuration of a range of grades between K-12 and somewhere in the country that range exists. We had an Illinois K-2 school want to grab onto “graduated” third graders to form a team for the K-3 section of the National Elementary. Sorry, denied.
More background. While we agree with the National rule, in IL we’ve allowed such exceptions between “off-grade” feeder and receiver schools. Feeders can grab a player that used to be from their school if the player is still in the same boundary area, or receivers can grab from any feeder schools - within the tournament-grade limits. This is a bit of a challenge to manage locally. It would be impossible nationally.
At the HS level, it might be smart just to follow the rules each state uses for sports eligibility. Not sure if these would work at lower grade levels but they should be something the 9-12 schools are familiar with.
Home schooling present different challenges.
Our job is not to second-guess how schools are structured. If two schools are established, whether for football purposes or otherwise, then two schools are established, whether for chess purposes or otherwise.
Shenanigans have consequences.
I would say our job is to make sure that the school district’s organizational structure doesn’t either confer an advantage on or penalize students compared to students in other school districts.
Requiring a HS team to only have 11-12 students because the 9th and 10th graders are in another building or under another administrative structure might qualify as such a penalty.
But IMHO the best place to look for rules that have been through the meat grinder that is sports politics is the state HS athletic association’s rules, at least at the HS level. They’ve got experience with local organizational structures that US Chess cannot match, and in most cases they’ve already had lengthy discussions of what’s fair and what’s not.
I don’t know the specifics but I would be surprised if that 11-12 school does not have 9th and 10th grade students on its sports teams.
Rob,
I believe your decision was correct and in accordance with previous decisions by the Texas Chess Association. I also recall from past experience that TCA likes their own rules and doesn’t want to have to follow USCF rules used at national events. I remember a major and unpleasant uproar regarding such a situation (USCF rules vs. TCA rules) a few years back.
Moogy aka Brenda