2019 Letter regarding Sectional Availability from Section 1 Executive Director Todd Santabarbara

October 22, 2019

Dear Presidents of Fall Section 1 Officials Associations,  

I hope this email finds you well. As the new Executive Director of Section 1, a component of my entry plan has been focused on meeting with a variety of stakeholders within the Section 1 community.  With that said, I have met with a sub-committee which included representation from all four counties. In addition, I continue to meet with Presidents of the various associations to discuss topics of importance to their membership. Based upon the feedback received from our member schools, and as part of on-going discussions with each of you, along with valuable input from the Section 1 office staff, I would like to bring your attention to the following amendment to our post-season sectional assigning procedures that we will be piloting this fall.

As a pilot program for the fall 2019 post-season, officials may be granted a waiver for one round of the sectional tournament up until the semifinals. In other words, an official is allowed to block out one date during the tournament (except the semifinals and finals) and still be eligible to be considered for future post-season assignments. The round must be blocked in accordance with the contractual turn-back fee structure to avoid any charges.

• Data will be reviewed at the end of the fall season to determine if this practice will be adopted as part of our permanent assignment procedures in the future
• If an official (who has been assigned and has confirmed their assignment) is subject to a weather-related cancellation and is now no longer available on the date the contest was moved to, as a result of this weather-related cancellation, the official would still be eligible for continued post-season assignments.
•  As a reminder, it is the responsibility of the official to maintain their availability in SportsPak to avoid any fees.

It is my hope that through continued conversations and review of our current practices and procedures, we will continue to streamline our efforts and refine our processes as a Section. While we are working on a more comprehensive document that will outline our post-season assignment procedures, I wanted to be sure to share this pilot program with you as we begin the 2019 fall Sectional Tournaments.

We hope that amending this procedure will allow for some flexibility, yet still provide us with the appropriate staffing to cover contests while providing the most highly qualified individuals the ability to be assigned to the most significant games of the tournament. I look forward to continuing our work together to best meet the needs of the student athletes, coaches and athletic programs we serve and support.

Please be sure to relay this information to your membership. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly.

Sincerely,

Todd Santabarbara

Executive Director, Section One Southern Westchester BOCES
Center for Interscholastic Athletics
450 Mamaroneck Ave.
Harrison, NY 10528
(914) 592-2526 ext. 3521