LITTLE ROCK — Cleveland County Schools Superintendent Johnnie Johnson is one of nine administrators across the state who have each been presented an Arkansas Activities Association Citation Award.
The awards are presented to administrators whose contributions have impacted high school activity programs. A longstanding and distinguished record of involvement with high school activity programs at local, district and state levels, as well as the admiration and respect of their colleagues are factors in determining recipients.
One administrator from each of the nine activity districts is selected during the AAA’s governing body meeting. Johnson, whose school district includes Rison High, was selected for District 8.
Five of seven proposals were passed during the governing body meeting at the Peabody Hotel on Thursday.
The body voted 120-1 to extend spring football practice to three weeks but keep the maximum at 10 practices, giving schools more flexibility to work around testing, regional and state athletic events and other spring school activities.
The board also passed proposals: to keep schools refusing to play in a regional tournament without just cause from advancing in championship play; to keep the state volleyball finals on the 17th week of the AAA calendar, a week in which the national ACT testing date presents conflicts; to leave it up to school districts with Class 7A high schools to allow freshmen to compete on the high-school level; and declaring that a home-schooled student is not guaranteed participation in an interscholastic activity, only the opportunity to try out for one, effective in the 2013-14 school year.
The board rejected a proposal to assign seven, eight or nine teams to a conference in all classifications, which would have allowed more flexibility in assigning teams and drastically reduce travel. A measure to set classifications based on enrollment so that no one school must play anyone more than twice its size also failed.