Proposal
would let P'burg join Lehigh Valley
Conference
Thursday, July 14, 2005 • By
TERRENCE DOPP • The
Express-Times
TRENTON -- A state assemblyman has
introduced a bill he said will pave the way for Phillipsburg
High School to secede from the Skylands Conference in order
to join the Lehigh Valley Conference.
The New Jersey State Interscholastic
Athletic Association in November and again in January
blocked requests by Phillipsburg to enter into the
Pennsylvania league.
Officials with the NJSIAA cited a rule
requiring teams to play 70 percent of their games against
in-state teams to qualify for post-season playoff
competition.
"They are presently caught up in the
NJSIAA bureaucracy. That rule is well meaning. But I don't
think it takes into consideration a situation such as that
of Phillipsburg," said Assemblyman John Burzichelli, a
Gloucester County Democrat whose hometown of Paulsboro is
nearly a 90-mile drive from Phillipsburg.
The NJSIAA conducts post-season
tournaments and championships in 31 sports. It is funded
primarily by ticket sales and dues paid by 425 public,
private and parochial schools taking part in football,
wrestling, track and boys basketball.
The NJSIAA's "70-percent rule" was
adopted to maintain a level playing field between public
schools and small private institutions that rely on
corporate sponsors and play national schedules.
Under the bill introduced late last
month, any school system on a state border would be allowed
to join an out-of-state league if those competing schools
were closer than others in the state. For post-season
tournaments, the NJSIAA would need to rank the New Jersey
school based on the standing of those schools they played
throughout the season, according to the
legislation.
"I think it's reasonable," said
Burzichelli, a frequent critic of the nonprofit organization
and what he called exorbitant ticket prices of $7 to $12 for
playoff football games. "If the NJSIAA can't come to what we
see as a position of fairness on this matter, then we'll
step up legislatively."
Burzichelli said while state law
prohibits legislation targeted at individual school
districts, he was prompted to introduce the bill after
learning of the town's clashes with the agency.
Phillipsburg Athletic Director Tom Fisher
could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The bill follows almost a year of clashes
between the legislator and the sports group's executive
director, Boyd Sands.
Six top executives at the agency -- all
retired school administrators collecting pensions between
$20,000 and $92,000 -- earn more than $80,000. Sands earns
$142,000 in addition to a $92,000 pension as a former school
superintendent.
Most recently, detractors have attacked
the NJSIAA for spending $24,000 in June 2004 to send 14
people, including the spouses of five staff members, to a
conference in San Diego.
Burzichelli in a letter sent Wednesday to
Education Commissioner William Librera said state education
officials have the power to demand an investigation of the
NJSIAA.
Burzichelli denied claims by the state
Department of Education it is powerless to conduct its own
probe into allegations of fiscal abuse and price gouging at
high school playoff sporting events.
"You indeed have limited oversight
regarding this nonprofit organization," Burzichelli,
D-Gloucester, wrote in the letter.
Burzichelli called for Librera to
re-examine laws governing the NJSIAA to ascertain "the level
of oversight the state may exercise over this autonomous,
voluntary group that indirectly receives money from New
Jersey taxpayers."
So far, Librera's office has said it is
not authorized or responsible to investigate any accusations
against the group. Librera has dispatched Warren County
Superintendent of Schools William King to revisit meeting
minutes and make recommendations.
"We don't have a role in this," said
Kathy Forsyth, spokesman for Librera.
Burzichelli said the uncertainty shows
why the laws governing private, nonprofit entities
overseeing school groups need to be updated to include clear
investigation guidelines.
"We need to have checks and balances," he
said. "How much occurred that we don't know?"
The latest call on Librera follows a
request on Monday by Burzichelli to W. Cary Edwards,
chairman of the State Commission on Investigation, asking
him to conduct public hearings into the NJSIAA.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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