OSAA Rule Change
Kim Kroeger, OMEA Liaison

Mike Wallmark, Associate Executive Director of the Oregon School Activities Association, recently announced a major change in the Oregon School Activities Association Constitution.

On April 14, 2008, the OSAA Delegate Assembly voted to amend the OSAA Constitution to place participants in Music and Speech under the same Individual Eligibility Rules as those that have previously been applied in athletics, beginning in the Fall of 2008 (Wallmark, 2008).

“Individual Eligibility” will replace all references to “athletics” with “athletics or activities” as appropriate. It is important to note that OSAA individual eligibility rules apply to music competitors only, not to concert participants, for example.

Rule eight is the specific eligibility rule referenced above and it can be found on the OSAA web site, www.osaa.org, p. 25. Students must be enrolled full-time, attending regularly, and passing a minimum number of courses listed on page 25. For example, if four classes are offered per semester at your school, the student must be passing three. If five courses are offered, the student must be passing four.

Please check your school specifics against the chart given in the OSAA handbook. All member schools will be expected to confirm the eligibility of their musicians using whatever process that school or district puts in place. Schools will be responsible to make sure that the students competing at OSAA events are academically eligible. However, music will continue to include a class enrollment requirement unique to music.

Also, it is important to note that league festivals, all-state festivals, and all-northwest festivals are not considered music competitions under the OSAA rules. In addition, choirs competing at an adjudicated festival may choose “comments only” and not be required to guarantee their students are academically eligible.

Other exceptions can be found on page 48 of the OSAA Handbook, 2008-09.