PIAA board shows willingness to tackle transfer issues

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, March 30, 2018 | 7:09 PM

Two rules enacted this week showed that the current PIAA board of directors views transfers as a serious problem, said WPIAL president Scott Seltzer.

“I think the people are trying to get their heads wrapped around all of it,” said Seltzer, who represents the WPIAL on the PIAA board. “More kids transfer now than ever. Even talking with chairs of other districts, they're getting more and more. It's stuff they're not use to having. If you have five or six a year, that's one thing. But when you're starting to get 30 or 35, you have to wonder.”

The regulations approved Monday address midseason transfers. One rule says transfers must sit out 21 days after switching schools to allow district committees a chance to examine the move.

“We're hoping that they'll look at transfers and see that they're legitimate,” Seltzer said. “That gives districts a chance to see what's going on.”

That rule takes effect Sunday.

The second says that if an athlete transfers after at least 50 percent of the season already was completed at the previous school, that player is ineligible for the remainder of the season at the new school.

It comes on the heels of recent high-profile midseason transfers, notably football star Micah Parsons' switch from Central Dauphin to Harrisburg two years ago.

The Neumann-Goretti girls basketball team won a state title Monday with help from a late-season transfer. Point guard Diamond Johnson, who transferred to the Philadelphia Catholic school in February, scored 14 points in a 63-46 victory over Bishop Canevin in the Class 3A final. Johnson played 19 games and averaged 33 points for Phoebus High School in Hampton, Va.

A district committee may grant a waiver to the 50-percent rule if “the transfer was not materially motivated by an athletic purpose and the transfer was necessitated by exceptional and unusual circumstances that compelled a transfer prior to the end of the season.”

However, the rule's language states that “transfers to address academic needs and desires, or for social reasons, are not considered exceptional and compelling circumstances.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.