Policy for Inclement Weather and Other Emergencies

Guiding Principles and General Rules

It has generally been the philosophy of the league that our top priority is to encourage the involvement of as many students as possible in a challenging mathematics experience while insuring that everyone is treated fairly. Whenever it becomes necessary to make a decision not covered in these rules, this philosophy will be used to arrive at a decision. Rescheduling a meet is not possible; delaying the announcement of results at the conference meet is not practical. As fairness cannot be served with substitute questions, all make-up questions must be the same as the actual competition.

This policy is for situations where normal participation is not physically possible or where concern for the safety of students and coaches prevents normal participation. It is imperative that all schools submit accurate contact information to the league so that in the event of an emergency, schools can contact one another and can be contacted by the president.

Any decision made under these rules is subject to review by the president and the board. These rules must be revisited after any significant application, particularly if parts of a contest are taken after the scheduled date, with special attention to any statistical anomalies.

Any school making habitual or apparently abusive use of this policy may be subject to sanctions at the discretion of the board.

School unable to get to site, stuck on the way to site

The school must keep the host school apprised of their predicament and must contact the president before 11pm on the night of the scheduled meet. The school will be allowed to administer the contest at their own school, under proper contest conditions, within three school days of the meet. Coaches should direct students to avoid any improper contact with students who have taken the contest and should emphasize the importance of integrity to students taking the make-up competition.

School unable to get to site, stuck at home

The school must keep the host school apprised of their predicament and must contact the president as soon as possible. The best option is for the contest to be sent (email, fax, etc.) to the school to be administered at home concurrent with the scheduled meet under proper conditions, results to be sent separately to the statisticians. If conditions specific to the school prevent this, follow the "unable to get to site, stuck on the way" rules.

School arrives significantly late to site

The school must contact host as soon as possible and provide updated ETAs when possible. The school should abandon the trip if arrival for the Sophomore/Senior round is not possible (allowing for a slightly delayed start of that round at the discretion of the host). The host school should make every reasonable attempt to administer the contest to a late arriving school under contest circumstances. If this means sequestering contestants for a few minutes, that should be done. If host school can accommodate a somewhat altered schedule for the late-arriving school (e.g. Freshman/Junior round run concurrently with Sophomore/Senior round for the late school only), this should be done. Events missed (Freshman/Junior round only or whole meet) will be dealt with following the "unable to get to site, stuck on the way" rules.

Host school unable to host

The host school must contact the president as soon as possible so that schools scheduled to compete at that host site can be notified and reassigned by the president. The host school is subject to the "unable to get to site, stuck at home" rules with respect to their own team. In particular, the host school should monitor weather conditions in their area and alert the president of potential problems or interruptions of the meet as soon as possible.

If the president can reassign the visiting schools by 2pm, the visiting schools must compete as directed unless otherwise affected. If the visiting schools are not contacted until after 2pm, the visiting schools may compete as directed by the president or opt to abandon the trip and follow the "unable to get to site, stuck at home" or the "unable to get to site, stuck on the way" rules.

Host schools canceling meets habitually or in an apparently abusive manner may be subject to sanctions at the discretion of the board.

Interruption of meet in progress

The host school should attempt to preserve and continue any event already started (running for more than five minutes), as these cannot reasonably be made up. Any part(s) of the meet not held or interrupted within the first five minutes can be made up in accordance with the "school unable to get to site, stuck at home" rules.

Orals

Orals cannot be made up except in groups of four or more schools and must be made up within three school days of the scheduled meet. All arrangements, including qualified judges, must be made by the schools involved, subject to approval by the president. The site and time are to be chosen by consensus of involved schools. (The originally assigned judges are not responsible for this make up meet. Involved schools must arrange to provide qualified judges.) A school is only eligible to make up the oral if they are also eligible to make up at least one of the two rounds of written competition. Coaches should direct oralists to avoid any improper contact with oralists who have taken the contest and should emphasize the importance of integrity to the oralist.

Conference Meet

In the event that the conference meet cannot be held as scheduled due to hosting issues or prevailing conditions, or that more than one third of the schools in the league are not in attendance, schools not attending the meet will be permitted to take the contest following the "school unable to get to site, stuck at home" rules. Results will be announced one week after the scheduled conference meet, with small awards to be mailed or shipped and large awards to be picked up by the recipients.

If results are not delayed as specified above, any schools not in attendance will receive a score of zero for the meet. Results will be announced and awards will be given at the conference meet as usual. Schools not in attendance may appeal to the board through the president to be allowed to make up the meet as specified in the "school unable to get to site, stuck at home" rules, and duplicate awards may be issued at the discretion of the board.