School board pushes forward proposal for making athletes who transfer sit out a year

TROUTMAN, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — In an age when college athletics feel like the Wild West with a lack of regulations, one local school district is taking steps to implement a previous policy the NCAA once enforced.

On Monday night, the Iredell-Statesville Board of Education passed a second reading to make high school students who transfer within the district indelible to compete in sports for the next year. The board will make an official vote to approve at a later date after approving it 6-0.

Students who have already transferred within ISS would stay at their current school.

There are two exceptions:

• If student returns to the school within their attendance zone from a choice school or program with the system
• If the student’s parent or guardian is an ISS employee who transfers to another school, and their child follows them to the new school.

Until 2020, NCAA athletes who transferred from one institution to another would be required to sit out for a year, with graduates being the most common exception. But since the pandemic, no one has to wait anymore, creating a tidal wave of transfers, only exasperated by name image and likeness allowances.

Deputy Superintendent Billie Berry said that although state authorities have their own rules for inter-district transfers, the N.C. High School Athletic Association leaves internal moves up to the districts.

“There’s no athletic association to appeal to in this situation,” he said.

An ISS committee will consider appeals of eligibility decisions initiated by a transferring student athlete and parent. Upon such an appeal, the committee shall determine whether  the student athlete is immediately eligible for interscholastic athletics within the district. The committee’s decision is final.

There were some reservations on changing the appeals process, and involving either the school board or superintendent.

“I really want to get away from the good-ole boy way of doing things,” Board Member Doug Knight said.

Board Member Mike Kubiniec abstained from voting without providing a reason.

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