By Dave Dyer

Staff Writer

Ever wonder who exactly is in charge of school sports in Maine?

This year will mark the 17th year of the Maine Principals’ Association, a nonprofit, volunteer organization comprised of school administrators, athletic directors and coaches who regulate and organize interscholastic activities in the state.

Maine Principals’ Association Executive Director Richard Durost said all 153 public high schools in the state are members of the MPA. The association is broken into two divisions: the Professional Division, which gives guidance as well as legal counsel to superintendents and principals within the organization, and the Interscholastic Division, which handles after-school activities.

Durost said there are 12 members that comprise the Interscholastic Committee, with equal representation for large, medium and small schools throughout the state. He said the group not only makes decisions for rules regarding athletics, but also for drama competitions, student council, music competitions and speech and debate competitions.

For sports, Durost said the MPA organizes state competitions, as well as present the Class A, B, and C state championships every sports season. He said the benefit of being a member of the MPA is every member is eligible each season to possibly be recognized as a state champion in his or her specific extracurricular activity.

Each sport has a committee, represented by school principals, athletic directors and coaching liaisons that recommend any changes they feel need to be made in rules or policies regarding their sport to the Interscholastic Committee.

Scarborough High School Principal Patricia Conant, who in the past has been chairman of the MPA field hockey committee and is currently the chairman of the basketball committee, said the groups also make decisions on the logistics of games and try to ensure sportsmanship.

“One of our jobs is maintaining a positive, friendly environment [at sporting events],” Conant said. “We’ve made rules in the past about not allowing noisemakers or signs on a stick during games for fan safety.”

Conant said although much of the media attention goes toward the Interscholastic Committee, she said the Professional Division has been just as important, as the MPA provides chances for school administrators to meet together and provide guidance on any sort of school issue.

Durost said the MPA gains revenue to organize its events from membership fees, as each school pays a $1.50 per student fee for all students who participate in MPA activities, as well as gate sales at MPA-sponsored events. He said gate money taken in at bigger events, such as the state basketball championships, helps organize state competitions that don’t bring in as much money, such as the state cross-country championships.

Durost said members of the sports’ committee are supposed to be present during MPA-sponsored events to ensure athletes and teams follow MPA rules. 

Some of the rules within the MPA include a code of conduct for coaches, eligibility rules for students to participate in interscholastic activities, eligibility rules for coaches and a policy defining when a sports season begins and ends.

Berwick Academy, a private kindergarten through 12th-grade school located in South Berwick, is the state’s oldest learning institution. Although the school has athletics, it is not part of the MPA system. 

Berwick Academy Athletic Director Rob Quinn said there are three reasons the school is not a member of the MPA. Berwick Academy plays private schools from other New England states in athletics. It also has different start and end dates than the MPA for  sports seasons.

Quinn said the MPA also has rules against recruiting students from other schools to theirs, which as a private school is their goal every year. 

Kennebunk High School Athletic Director Martin Ryan, who also is the executive director of the Maine Interscholastic Athletic Administrator’s Association, said the organization is happy with how the MPA is run, as well as the representation of athletic directors in each of the sports committees.

According to its Web site, the Maine Interscholastic Athletic Administrator’s Association is an organization of athletic directors that conducts conferences and workshops to keep each other notified of recent information and give guidance on any issues regarding interscholastic activities in Maine.

“Should we have more say? I feel pretty good [about athletic director representation],” Ryan said. “If it’s a four-person committee, generally the majority is principals.”

Ryan said he is one of two non-voting athletic director representatives on the Interscholastic Committee. He said it’s not possible at this time for only athletic directors to regulate sports in Maine. 

“The [Maine Interscholastic Athletic Administrator’s Association] would have to make significant changes, and we’re not capable of that right now,” Ryan said. 

Durost said recent suggested changes of shortening sports seasons, cutting scrimmages and reducing playoff teams brought attention to the MPA. He said last fall Gov. John Baldacci indicated state subsidy for schools would be curtailed, forcing the MPA to create an ad hoc committee of 15 athletic directors, coaches and superintendents to come up with ideas to save money for schools.

Durost said the committee recommended six changes to the Interscholastic Committee for its January meeting. The first would be to put a cap on games that do not count toward the season, such as scrimmages and holiday tournaments, from an unlimited amount of games to two. 

The group also recommended hockey and swim seasons be shortened by one week to save money on ice and pool time for schools, shortening sports seasons by one or two games, a moratorium on raising the price for officials for two seasons and reducing the amount of teams that may qualify for post season playoffs from two-thirds of teams in a conference to half.

It was also suggested by the committee to have Maine schools no longer participate in any New England tournaments.

“We originally heard nothing but positive responses,” Durost said. “In January, athletes, parents and some [athletic directors] had more of an outcry.”

Durost said during the Jan. 26 Interscholastic Committee meeting, all but two of the adhoc committee’s suggestions were rejected. 

The only two recommendations accepted were the number of extra games before the regular season, which was raised from two to five, and the number of qualifying playoff teams from two thirds of teams in a athletic conference to half.

 “There was a real cry from the public that they weren’t being heard,” Durost said. “We are an association, represented by principals. In situations like this, they have the ear of the principal and the [athletic director]. The process that we have works.”

Durost said there has been talk amongst the association of finding ways to save money for the future. Among the ideas is the possibility of having junior varsity and freshman games closer to home, or having double-header games for more than one team to travel together for games.

Ryan said he is concerned about the number of qualifying teams for the playoffs as well as keeping games closer to home. He said with the reduced number of playoff qualifiers, team’s schedules will be more important than ever, because of the MPA “Heal Points,” a system which includes a certain number of points given to a team after beating another team based on the school being in Class A, B or C.

Durost said the two-thirds rule has only been a recent change, as he said before the 2001-2002 season, half of the teams would be playoff eligible.

Staff writer Dave Dyer can be reached at 282-4337 ext. 219