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48-638: All of the schools are also members of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). The conference is divided into two divisions. The West Suburban Conference is the fourth oldest Illinois League that is in existence today. It was formed in the winter of 1924 and was the direct successor league of the DuPage County Conference that expired the previous year. Old DuPage County members Hinsdale, Glenbard, York, Downers Grove, and West Chicago, joined with Maine to form

96-552: A University of Illinois sponsored state meet from 1952 through 1957). Few of these series were self-supporting, but the ever-popular basketball tournament – sometimes referred to as the "goose that laid the golden egg" – paid the freight for all. Of the many challenges faced by Whitten during his 20-year career, the one with the longest-lasting repercussions was the reorganization of 1940. Prior to this time, two large groups of Illinois high schools remained outside of IHSA control: private schools, which were not eligible for membership, and

144-745: A cause other than war. On November 1, 2007, the Illinois Press Association (IPA) and two newspapers (the Northwest Herald and the State Journal-Register ) filed for a temporary restraining order to prohibit the IHSA from enforcing its policy restricting the use of photographs taken at its state final events. The IHSA's policy, similar to those adopted by the NCAA , colleges such as Illinois State University and

192-470: A cornerstone to the IHSA is its policy on grouping and seeding tournaments: 1. The State Series is designed to determine a State Champion. The State Series is not intended to necessarily advance the best teams in the state to the State Final. The IHSA is built upon the concept of geographic representation in its state playoff series. The IHSA was founded on December 27, 1900, at a rump session of

240-500: A handful of other state associations had sponsored track meets, none had ever attempted to organize a statewide basketball tournament. The first tournament, an 11-team invitational held at the Oak Park YMCA, was a financial success. Subsequent state tournaments, which were open to all member schools, provided the IHSA with fiscal independence, an important new vehicle to spread its message, and ever-increasing name recognition among

288-496: A new league. In 1928, Riverside (now Riverside-Brookfield) left the disintegrating old Suburban League and joined the West Suburban League. As the western suburbs grew during the 1920s the schools grew in size. In 1935, Lyons Township (LaGrange) joined the league, and the following year West Chicago dropped out. The league membership stayed stable until 1951, when Arlington joined the league. When it withdrew from

336-415: A persistent problem, and among schoolboy sports, football was a special concern. In this period, severe injuries and even deaths were not uncommon, and there was much talk of banning football completely. In 1908, the IHSA's mission expanded in an unforeseen direction when its board was convinced by Lewis Omer of Oak Park and River Forest High School to sponsor a statewide basketball tournament. Although

384-469: A preliminary injunction on November 16 as talks continued. On December 5, 2007, the IHSA announced that it had filed a countersuit to the IPA seeking a resolution to the ongoing issue, citing a failure on the part of the IPA to continue talks, and the ongoing sale of photographs. In January, 2008, it was announced that State Representative Joseph Lyons had submitted Illinois House Bill 4582, which would prevent

432-548: A program to test for the presence of performance-enhancing drugs in student athletes participating in select State Series competitions. While details have not been worked out, based on the vote of the principals, the membership would not favor forcing a team to forfeit in the event of a positive test, though the membership, which voted overwhelmingly favored to support a period of ineligibility for athletes testing positive, and narrowly supported forcing schools to adopt education programs if an athlete tested positive. Technically, with

480-533: A team champion until 1936, but the IHSA sponsored individual tournaments from 1912 to 1915, and then from 1919 onward. The seventeen state titles in Girls Track and Field were won by Lincoln High School in East St. Louis . This school closed after the 1997–98 school year. East St. Louis Senior High School is the caretaker of these records, though the school has not won any state titles in this sport since

528-486: Is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois . It is a charter member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). The IHSA regulates 14 sports for boys, 15 sports for girls, and eight co-educational non-athletic activities. More than 760 public and private high schools in

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576-434: Is based on team scores, which are standard for wrestling tournaments, based on individual advancement. The individuals then compete in individual sectionals and an individual state championship. Afterwards, the teams that won their regionals compete in a dual team sectional tournament, with sectional winners advancing to state. Music competition is held in a sweepstakes format. Competing schools perform at sites throughout

624-600: Is described by the Illinois state government's website as an agency that "provides leadership and resources to achieve excellence across all Illinois districts..." Governor JB Pritzker appointed eight new members in February 2019. He re-appointed Susie Morrison who had been appointed by Governor Bruce Rauner . 39°48′8.6″N 89°39′15.8″W  /  39.802389°N 89.654389°W  / 39.802389; -89.654389 This Illinois school-related article

672-495: Is led by an eleven-member Board of Directors. All eleven members are high school principals from member schools. Seven of the ten are elected to three-year terms from seven geographic regions within the state of Illinois. Three other board members are elected at-large. A treasurer, who does not vote, is appointed by the Board. The Board of Directors determines IHSA policies and employs an executive director and staff. They also work with

720-469: Is permitted. The IHSA stopped recognizing team champions in debate after the 1971–72 school year. Individual competition continues to the present. Although Football and Wrestling are boys' sports, girls can play in both of these sports. Illinois State Board of Education The Illinois State Board of Education ( ISBE ) administers public education in the state of Illinois . The State Board consists of nine members who are appointed by

768-597: The Governor with the consent of the Senate . Board members serve four-year terms, with State Board membership limited to two consecutive terms. The board sets educational policies and guidelines for public and private schools, preschool through grade 12. It analyzes the aims, needs and requirements of education and recommends legislation to the Illinois General Assembly and Governor for the benefit of

816-846: The Illinois General Assembly , the Illinois State Board of Education , the Illinois Principals Association, the Illinois Association of School Boards, the Illinois Association of School Administrators, the Illinois Athletic Directors Association and the North Central Association . The IHSA also has a 35-member Legislative Commission, consisting of 21 high school principals, seven high school athletic directors elected from each of

864-515: The Interstate Eight Conference proposed a bylaw that the IHSA should exclude private schools from competing in state tournaments, though the membership voted this proposal down. In 1995, Mt. Carmel (Chicago) , under coach Bill Weick , entered the end of the wrestling season ranked third in the nation by USA Today , and was poised to win its fourth consecutive state dual team title. Just prior to their Regional tournament,

912-645: The University of Chicago and effectively shut down his national tournament for high school basketball champions. Porter served on several NFHS committees and helped develop the molded basketball and the fan-shaped backboard, among other inventions. Porter later became the first full-time executive of the NFHS. As the Association matured, member schools requested sponsorship of state tournaments in sports other than basketball. The first such move came in 1927, when

960-417: The University of Illinois , and other state high school associations, allows news-gathering organizations to sell photos that are published but prohibits the sale (usually through a Web site) of the many photos taken at the event that are not published. A circuit court judge denied the motion on November 5 and encouraged the parties to renew talks to resolve the impasse. The plaintiffs withdrew their request for

1008-418: The Association's name. 1941 saw one of the first serious challenges to IHSA authority, when the association banned high school bands from competing nationally. When a bill was introduced in the Illinois General Assembly to transfer the IHSA's authority to the state superintendent's office, the IHSA moved to change the ban, and give local athletic directors a greater voice in decision making. Also that year,

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1056-510: The Constitution and By-Laws are a number of policies. These policies are generally of greater interest to the public, as they more specifically deal with issues that affect the day-to-day operation of sports and activities. Examples of policies include individual athlete eligibility, rules governing the addition of new sports and activities, the classification of schools (1A, 2A, 3A, etc.), and media relations. The key policy that has been

1104-415: The IHSA allowed private schools to participate for the first time. In 1942, as World War II started to have an effect on American life, many schools began dropping less popular sports as transportation and hiring qualified coaches became a serious issue. The association polled its membership to investigate the possibility of ending the spring sports season. The poll supported keeping the season. All over

1152-484: The IHSA does not sponsor tournaments in these events. Other academic competitions, such as Academic Decathlon , Science Olympiad , and DECA are not sponsored by the IHSA, and are governed by their respective national and/or state agencies. Twenty-three Illinoisans are members of the National High School Hall of Fame sponsored by the NFHS. The honorees include: The total of 52 counts

1200-482: The IHSA from enforcing its ban on press outlets from selling pictures of IHSA events. In April, 2008, the IHSA and the Illinois Press Association jointly announced a cessation of hostilities that gave the press permission to sell photographs without hindrance from the IHSA On January 14, 2008, the IHSA announced that, based on a survey of 54% of its principals, it would move forward to design and implement

1248-483: The IHSA learned that the school had competed in too many invitational tournaments, and disqualified the school from further competing as a team. Mt. Carmel did not deny the assertion; however, they claimed that one of the varsity tournaments had only had JV and frosh-soph wrestlers competing. Mt. Carmel won a temporary injunction from the Cook County Circuit Court to permit their team to compete in

1296-723: The IHSA took over control of the Illinois Interscholastic, a festival of high school track, golf, and tennis run by the University of Illinois . The meet continued to be held on the campus in Champaign–Urbana , but as with basketball, IHSA involvement opened the field to all IHSA member schools and removed non-member schools, including a handful of out-of-state schools. The IHSA subsequently established state series in several other boys' sports: swimming and diving (1932), wrestling (1937), baseball (1940), cross country (1946), and gymnastics (1958) (gymnastics had

1344-704: The Illinois Principals Association. Known as the Illinois High School Athletic Association for the first 40 years of its existence, the IHSA is the second oldest of the 52 state high school associations. Only the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association outdates it, by two years. For the greater part of a decade, the IHSA was concerned mostly with establishing school control over interscholastic athletic programs and setting eligibility standards for competition. Ringers were

1392-683: The Silver Division, and the DesPlaines Valley League became the Gold Division. Together the two divisions form the West Suburban Conference. In this reorganization Proviso East moved into the Gold Division. Each Division had seven teams. According to WSC folklore, the division names were finalized after many hours of deliberation, arguing and negotiation. Their final names were not arrived at with

1440-459: The business affairs of the NFHS, at first unofficially, and after 1927 with the official title of general manager. From this dual stage, Whitten and his assistant manager at the IHSA, H. V. Porter , exerted unusual influence over high school sports, not only in Illinois, but across the nation. In one memorable battle, Whitten took on the "grand old man" of college football, Amos Alonzo Stagg of

1488-464: The conference in 1966, Proviso West took its place. In 1972, charter member Maine East (which began as Maine) left the league. When the Suburban League broke up in the spring of 1975, two of those league members, Oak Park River Forest and Proviso East (which began as Proviso), joined the West Suburban League the following fall. In 1982, Riverside-Brookfield, with a declining enrollment that made

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1536-449: The country, as gas rationing threatened to prevent teams and officials from traveling, IHSA Secretary Al Willis was able to get special exemptions for Illinois teams and officials; a precedent that spread to other states, very likely saving high school competitions during the war. By 1943, the IHSA had to look at making changes to its rules regarding eligible coaches, and the prospect of military veterans returning to high school. Ironically,

1584-487: The country. Other controversies (geographic advancement of teams to the state playoff series, struggles between small schools and large schools, particular rules unique to Illinois competition) are more of a local focus. The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is governed according to the rules of its constitution. This constitution covers the broadest policies of the Association, such as membership, governance, officers and their duties, and meeting requirements. The IHSA

1632-584: The exception of baseball, sports with boys teams having no accompanying girls teams are officially both boys & girls teams. Participation of girls on these boys & girls teams is uncommon, as it is in other states with similar arrangements. Girls teams with no accompanying "boys" team are girls only. On 13 October 2009, the IHSA announced that it would begin sponsoring a state series in lacrosse for both boys and girls starting in 2010–11. Note: Some Illinois high schools field competitive teams in events such as fencing , field hockey , and ice hockey , but

1680-474: The federal government eventually did put a limit to post season travel for high schools in May, 1945; too late to stop Illinois' spring tournaments, and just in time to herald the end of the war. In the end, the IHSA did not curtail its sports tournaments throughout the war. The success of non-public schools in IHSA tournaments has led to considerable debate among the members, 83% of which are public schools. In 1985,

1728-595: The high school association of the District of Columbia and the two associations in Iowa , of which the latter has separate governing bodies for boys' and girls' school activities. The IHSA sponsors three classes of competitive cheerleading. In addition, there is a fourth class for coed cheerleading teams. While boys' golf did not have a team champion until 1938, the IHSA sponsored an individual tournament in 1916, and from 1919 onward. Boys' tennis did not have

1776-448: The intention of ranking one ahead of the other, but came from the color of hair of the athletic directors in each division. The Silver Division's athletic directors were primarily distinguished gray-haired professionals who all happened to have "silver hair locks", thus securing the name. Competition in the reorganized league began in the fall of 1986. Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association ( IHSA )

1824-502: The merger. Football is the only sport to which a team must qualify for entry. 256 teams are accepted based on record, and then opponent wins. These teams are broken into eight groups by size, after which, each team is assigned to one of two 16-team brackets based on geography. Seeding within the bracket is based on record, and then opponent wins. Wrestling teams are assigned to a regional by geography. Individual wrestlers are seeded in each weight class. The team regional champion

1872-841: The more than 2 million school children in the state. Local municipalities and their respective school districts operate individual public schools but the ISBE audits performance of public schools with the Illinois School Report Card . The agency is headquartered at 100 North 1st Street in Springfield . The agency also has offices at the James R. Thompson Center in the Chicago Loop . The ISBE also oversaw private business schools and other vocational schools until 2012, when responsibility for regulating those schools

1920-436: The position of Executive Director. This group is directly responsible for setting up and running the individual state playoff series in each sport and activity. They also supervise annual meetings with advisory committees from each sport and activity to review possible changes in the rules. They also coordinate committees on issues from sportsmanship and sports medicine to media relations and corporate sponsorship. Subordinate to

1968-472: The public schools of Chicago , which were eligible but had joined only sporadically. The new constitution approved in 1940 extended the privileges of membership to non-public schools and gave limited autonomy to the Chicago schools, which subsequently joined en masse. In addition, non-athletic activities such as speech and music were added to the IHSA's menu, prompting the elimination of the word "Athletic" from

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2016-464: The public. By 1922, the affairs of the Association became so time-consuming that its board hired a full-time manager, C. W. Whitten . As vice president of the Board, Whitten had recently reorganized the basketball tournament and reduced the size of the state finals from 21 teams to four. About the same time, the IHSA became a charter member of the National Federation of State High School Associations . In addition to his IHSA responsibilities, Whitten ran

2064-424: The regionals. While the individual tournaments progressed, Mt. Carmel won a court victory, which forced the IHSA to permit the team to wrestle. When the IHSA's appeal was denied, and after temporarily suspending the tournament, the IHSA decided to end the season without a Class AA state championship dual team tournament; the first time in the history of the Association that a state tournament had been cancelled due to

2112-634: The school increasingly noncompetitive, left the league. The biggest change in the history of WSC occurred in the spring of 1986 with a major re-alignment. This took place between the conference and the Des Plaines Valley League with a vote of the Superintendents from the Inter-Suburban Association. This action combined the two leagues under one umbrella conference. The old West Suburban Conference became

2160-590: The seven state regions, and seven at-large members. The commission reviews amendment proposals to the IHSA Constitution and By-laws, and determines which are passed on to a vote of the member schools. Each school receives one vote on any amendments, with voting taking place annually in December. Changes are passed by simple majority of member schools. The day-to-day running of the Association is charged to an administrative staff of nine, one of whom acts in

2208-494: The state of Illinois are members of the IHSA. The Association's offices are in Bloomington, Illinois . In its over 100 years of existence, the IHSA has been at the center of many controversies. Some of these controversies (inclusion of sports for girls, the inclusion of private schools, drug testing, and the use of the term " March Madness ") have had national resonance, or paralleled the struggles seen in other states across

2256-500: The state. Scores are then submitted from each site to the IHSA, who then rank teams according to the judges scores, with the highest score in each Class being the State Champion. Any school earning a "First Division" distinction in judging, irrelevant of their final placement, may purchase an award. While barred from solo performance, music ensembles are the only IHSA competitions in which junior high or middle school participation

2304-507: Was transferred to the Illinois Board of Higher Education . Under the 1970 Illinois Constitution, the modern ISBE board replaced the elected position of Illinois state superintendent , assuming its powers on January 12, 1975. The ISBE describes itself as an agency that "commits to promoting and implementing comprehensive policies, practices, and programs that ensure fair access to quality for all students in our state." The ISBE

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