Greater St. Helens League Moves All Season 1 Sports to Modified Season 3

Rory Oster, Camas High School Athletic Director, issued this statement today regarding sports programs:

On Wednesday, August 12, 2020 the athletic directors of the Greater St. Helens 4A/3A League voted to move all high school athletic programs offered during season one to season three of the modified WIAA calendar. While league officials strongly believe in the growth that interscholastic education based athletics provides and want to return student-athletes to the field as soon as possible, we also believe this decision is best for the health and safety of the student athletes, coaches and communities which is always the top priority. 

Updated modified schedules for all sports within the league will be released during the early winter months of 2020 on the league website.

Here is the modified calendar:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRBAgnCcbDMb6B4eo9iwow1JXZ3iKJ1gngUi3JajLfBJH-Lc1TYE23tJWsGwZhe1Xbjr06lrQjSpNr6/pubhtml?gid=258814753&single=true&urp=gmail_link

Athletic Eligibility

Oster also answered frequently asked questions about athletic eligibility. He said the folllwing:

Camas High School has been receiving questions in regards to transferring schools and how that affects athletic eligibility moving forward as a Papermaker. Here are some insights to those questions based on the current WIAA handbook. Please remember that all transfer eligibility rules are for varsity competition only. All registered Camas High School, Hayes Freedom High School and Discovery High School students are eligible to participate at the non-varsity level of the programs offered. 

18.11.2 The following students who are attending a member school shall be deemed to meet the residence rule requirement and transferring student rule requirements: A. A student whose transfer is based on a bona fide change of residence to a new school (district) due to an actual physical relocation of and with the entire family unit to a different residence and preceded by termination of all occupancy of their previous residence.

FAQ: Can our daughter begin school in Arizona since they are allowing students to attend regular class, but transfer back to Camas High School once they return students to the classroom and be eligible for athletics?

Answer: As long as the entire family unit (everybody that currently lives in current home) moves to Arizona to attend school, and then has the entire family unit move back to Camas is eligible for varsity competition. Please note that entire family unit must move, one parent cannot stay at the house in Camas while another is with the child in Arizona.

FAQ: Can our son enroll in a local private school this fall that is offering in person learning and return to Camas School District once they return to in person learning and be eligible?

Answer-As the WIAA handbook currently reads, the answer is no. They made the move for academic purposes and in that choice forfeited varsity eligibility for one calendar year upon the return to CSD.

18.13.3 There can be no evidence that either the student transferred for the purpose of participating in interscholastic athletics or transferred as a result of having been recruited for the purpose of participating in interscholastic athletics.

FAQ: Can my son who is a senior transfer to play football this fall in South Dakota and return to Camas High School in January to participate in football in the spring?

Answer-Any student who is deemed to transfer strictly for athletic purposes are ineligible to compete at the varsity level for one calendar year.

A student-athlete may always apply for a waiver/hardship exception when they are deemed ineligible. Those cases are heard by a local committee and decided upon at that time. They fall under the rule listed below:

18.13.0 RESIDENCE RULE WAIVER – Transferring students, unless eligible via 18.10.0 through 18.11.0, shall be deemed to have transferred at will and must apply to the WIAA District Eligibility Committee for a waiver of the Residence Rule. Such an application shall be processed under the appeal provisions contained in Article 19 of this Handbook. The procedure for evaluating a transferring student’s application will be as follows: 18.13.1 The student must meet all other eligibility requirements of Article 18 of this Handbook. 18.13.2 The student must establish a hardship as defined under the provisions of Article 19.1.0 and as determined by the District Eligibility Committee. 18.13.3 There can be no evidence that either the student transferred for the purpose of participating in interscholastic athletics or transferred as a result of having been recruited for the purpose of participating in interscholastic athletics. 18.13.4 In addition to the above requirements, the District Eligibility Chairperson shall, as an added condition of eligibility, require that a transferring student submit a WIAA Previous School Statement. A copy of the signed form must be retained on file in the school office for the duration of the student’s attendance at that school.