METAIRIE, La. – A tentative agreement reached by Executive Committee members of both the Louisiana High School Officials Association (LHSOA) and the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) on July 12, 2015 was formally approved today. The key provisions of the agreement include:
- The LHSAA will immediately begin processes to formally recognize the LHSOA as an approved entity of the LHSAA and to change its existing by-laws so as to provide the LHSOA a seat on the LHSAA’s Executive Committee
- The LHSAA will restructure the LHSAA Sports Officiating Committee so as to establish an equal number of positions on that Committee for representatives of the LHSAA and the LHSOA
- The LHSAA will implement all provisions of the Fee Schedule (Attachment A) as proposed by the LHSOA on May 7, 2015, with such provisions remaining in effect through the 2018-2019 school year, and
- The LHSOA will withdraw their request for executed contracts between local officiating associations and schools serviced by those associations
The agreement further provided that the focus of the Sports Officiating Committee will include three major areas:
- Address issues associated with high school officiating raised by either the LHSOA or the LHSAA
- Enhance communications between the LHSOA and the LHSAA, and
- Develop a process and system to create accountability for officials’ performance
“We believe in terms of improved understanding and communications, a major breakthrough has been achieved between the LHSAA leadership and our officials,” said LHSOA President Paul LaRosa. “The agreement we’ve reached provides significant benefits to both parties which is always a key component to successful negotiations. There is more work to do but we believe the commitment and motivation is there on both sides to immediately apply the required effort to get all provisions of this agreement in place.”
All of the above provisions will go into effect immediately such that the adjustments to officials’ fees per the new Fee Schedule will take place in the 2015-2016 school year for all sports. All provisions of the agreement to be implemented by the LHSAA are subject to ratification of the Louisiana Principals Association at the 2016 Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s Annual Meeting.
The Louisiana High School Officials Association is a non-profit organization established in 2009 with the primary focus of improving high school officiating across the seven sports it represents including baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball, volleyball and wrestling. Through its Executive Committee, made up of regional representatives from all sports across the state of Louisiana, the LHSOA works to achieve improvements in high school officiating. These efforts focus on support for training programs, creating forums for dialogue among its more than 4,000 officials, and by establishing high standards of conduct for all its members.