Racist behavior becomes a talking point at meeting of Minnesota State High School League's board

Recent high-profile incidents of racially insensitive and offensive behavior at Minnesota schools became a major topic of conversation at the Minnesota State High School League's board of directors meeting Thursday in St. Louis Park.

Board members said the talk would lead to action.

The MSHSL swiftly issued responses denouncing incidents involving such schools as New Prague, Prior Lake and Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta, among others, in recent months, but board members talked at length about continuing to address growing concerns.

"This is not happening at just a few schools, it's something we need to deal with at every school all the time," MSHSL Executive Director Erich Martens said. "It's happening at all levels, and we need to address it."

The league is developing student listening sessions in the hope of setting protocols for student behavior and increasing communication between students. The plan is to create four or five listening session groups of students with an eye toward having the students take the lead in ending hurtful behavior.

Associate director Charlie Campbell said schools are looking for a defined set of rules and consequences to deal with offensive behavior but added that they are also seeking guidance toward "repairing hurt feelings and helping students understand why it hurts."

Roger Aronson, the MSHSL's paid lobbyist at the Legislature, said there is strong interest among members of Minnesota's House of Representatives and Senate in how the league deals with these issues.

"We don't have a lot of control over student behavior, but we can positively influence it," he said. "And it's something we'll have to do over and over and over again. There is always pressure on the league to respond and act when incidents occur."

Also Thursday:

The board approved two action items to be voted on by the Representative Assembly when it meets May 10. One involves eligibility for athletes, and the other is whether to sanction a new sport.

The eligibility vote addresses changes to Bylaw 110, which sets the length of time, based on consecutive semesters, of eligibility available to athletes. Now, athletes are allowed 12 consecutive semesters of eligibility from grades seven through 12. New language would change that to "four consecutive school years beginning with the initial entrance into ninth grade" while also limiting eligibility in seventh and eighth grades to one year in each.

The Representative Assembly also will vote again on whether to sanction boys' volleyball. A proposal to sanction it failed narrowly in 2021.

The board also heard proposals for changes in Alpine skiing, basketball, dance and wrestling that will be addressed before the Representative Assembly meets.

The board approved the hiring of two new associate directors: Lisa Quednow, the Austin activities director, and Phil Archer, the Cretin-Derham Hall athletic director.