2011-2012 AAA Handbook - Arkansas Activities Association

Sanction of Events - NASSP - Out-of-State Events
standards or qualify through local or district
competitions. Students of non-member schools
must qualify for region or state competitions through
local or district competitions outside AAA member
school competitions unless approved by the
administration of the AAA member school.
E. There shall be no activities on the state level (state
championship or statewide invitational) for junior high
students except programs listed on the NASSP Advisory
List of National Contests and Activities that permit junior
high participation. (See Rule 7G – Jr. High invitationals and
Rule 9 – NASSP list.)
F. Any district or regional junior high activity that is not an
official event of an affiliated organization must be limited to
participation of junior high schools assigned to the activity
district in which the event is scheduled except when AAA
sanction is requested and approved by the established
procedures.
G. Exceptions. One or more of the following circumstances
shall be required before exceptions to the 3:30 rule may be
granted, and then only for official district, region, or state
events.
1. Facilities - If it is not possible to secure the needed
facilities on a non-school day.
2. Scheduling of Events - If the essential activities involved
in the event require more than one day’s duration.
Saturday must be used before requesting approval of an
additional day during the school week.
3. Number of Participants - If there are more participants
scheduled to compete than can be accommodated in
one day. Saturday must be used before requesting
approval of an additional day during the school week.
4. Staffing - If a sufficient quantity of qualified officials,
judges, etc. cannot be secured for the event on a nonschool
day.
5. Financial - If the cost of officials, guest conductors,
judges, etc. would be prohibitive to involve only nonschool
days.
Rule 7. CRITERIA FOR SANCTION (APPROVAL). The
following criteria shall be considered for approving events.
A. All invitational events must be scheduled to begin after
3:30 p.m. with no part scheduled to begin after 9:00 p.m. if
held on weekdays, or may be scheduled any time on
holidays or Saturdays.
B. Invitational tournaments shall be scheduled to conclude in
one week. Early rounds of such tournaments in athletics
may begin on a Saturday if the finals are scheduled to be
on or before the following Saturday.
C. The purpose of an event shall not be in conflict with the
purposes of the AAA and any social activities should
conform to the student personnel policies of a majority of
the participating schools.
D. Worthwhile educational benefits resulting from the activity
must be realized by students who are to participate.
E. Awards shall be appropriate in number, kind, and value
(Athletics: see Art. III, Sec. 1, Rule 8). In non-athletics,
equipment awards relating to the student’s skills are
acceptable. Scholarships are always recommended and
cash awards are discouraged.
F. Entry fees shall be proportionate to the total cost of
conducting the event without a profit being realized at the
expense of the student or school.
G. Events will not be approved that are commercial in nature
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requiring special tour packages and/or theme park
admittance fees.
H. Junior high invitational events that occur on Saturday or a
school holiday may be sanctioned for selected junior highs
outside the activity district in which the event occurs, but a
statewide invitation may not be issued.
Rule 8. APPLICATION FOR SANCTION (APPROVAL)
A. An application for approval of a contest, festival, meeting, or
other activity must be made in writing to the Executive
Director at least thirty (30) days prior to the date of the
event. An exception to this rule may be made if it can be
determined that all involved administrators had knowledge
thirty (30) days prior to the event and that all necessary
preparation had been made prior to the request.
NOTE: Events approved after July 1 will not appear on the
annual calendar but will be published in the AAA Bulletin.
B. An application for approval may be submitted by an
authorized faculty representative of an affiliated student
organization or a sponsor of an event.
C. The application shall include the following:
1. Name of school and/ or organization wishing to sponsor
the event.
2. Name of the faculty representative or event manager or
director.
3. Title or name of the interscholastic event.
4. Awards to be offered and their value.
5. Entry fees, if any.
6. Time schedule and date of event.
7. Schools to be invited.
8. Agenda, program and general rules of the event.
Rule 9. NASSP ADVISORY LIST OF CONTESTS AND
ACTIVITIES. The AAA Executive Director shall
automatically approve any event or activity included in the
NASSP Advisory List of National Contests and Activities.
Those events for which the NASSP has taken no action or
has not included in the list may be approved if the host
state’s authorized association approves the event. If there
is no organization in the host state authorized by the
schools to have jurisdiction over an activity, the Executive
Director may approve the event if it meets AAA criteria for
approval.
Rule 10. OUT-OF-STATE EVENTS
A. Out-of-state events shall be approved on the same basis as
in-state events.
1. Participation in school-sponsored interscholastic
activities shall be restricted to the states contiguous to
Arkansas. School groups are allowed to participate with
states that are not contiguous to Arkansas if the site is
within a 300-mile radius from the individual school in
Arkansas.
2. School groups may not spend more than one school
night out-of-state. (Monday - Thursday.)
3. Athletic events exceeding 600 miles round trip require
National Federation approval.
4. An AAA member school may not participate with an outof-state
school that is not in good standing with their
state association. The member school is responsible for
ascertaining the status of such school.