Constitution

The Charter Athletic Association is a not-for-profit corporation created to provide competitive athletic competition for non-traditional educational institutions. The CAA consists of charter schools, home school organizations and parochial schools. It is our goal to help facilitate communication, provide structure and guidelines, organize tournaments and manage the funds necessary for these activities. Although the CAA is not associated with the Arizona Inter-Scholastic Association (AIA), we seek to provide the same standard of integrity while providing greater flexibility to accommodate non-traditional schools.

As a privately owned corporation, the CAA reserves the right to suspend or expel any group who violates the terms set forth in this document. By joining the Charter Athletic Association, you are agreeing to follow the rules and guidelines as set forth in this constitution.

1. The CAA consists of directors in charge of High School, Junior High, Referees, Tournaments and Website. With a non-director position for a Secretary/Treasurer.
All directors have the same power to make decisions if need be. The responsabilities of the CAA have been divided amongst them to insure proper handling of our league.

3. Only schools who have paid all dues and have participated in the league for one year and played at least one sport in each of the three seasons will be considered member schools and have voting privileges.

4. Schools who only participate in track or cross-country during spring and summer seasons must have at least five participants in two-thirds of the meets, including the championship meet, to be considered a voting member.

6. Junior high schools may not vote in high school specific issues and high schools may not vote in junior high specific issues.

3. Each new director is responsible for the maintenance of the corporation including all state and federal taxes and filings as well as the finances.

4. Directors will be the primary decision making body with the voting members having the right to overrule the director’s decisions with a majority vote.

5. The directors must: maintain a schedule of games, schedule referees, run the league website, communicate important information, compile and publish relevant data and facilitate tournaments when there are four or more schools participating in a sport; unless otherwise decided by the board of eligible schools.

6. The directors will organize seven annual meetings-- two for each sports season, one scheduling meeting and one tournament meeting, and one annual constitution meeting.

i. No proxy votes will be allowed at the meetings. A member of that organization and not another member school must register a schools vote.

b. Schools not attending the three scheduling meetings will not be able to schedule games or participate in the tournament for the season that is represented at that meeting.

i. Schools not completing their master schedules at the scheduling meeting will not be eligible for tournament play.
ii. Teams canceling season after the scheduling meeting or after their Master Schedule has been posted on website, will not receive a refund for the tournament fee and the school will be put on probation. This fee can not be applied to any fines incurred during the school year. Teams requesting to join the league late will independently schedule at the leisure of the other teams.

c. Schools not attending the annual constitution meeting will still be held responsible for decisions made by the voting members.

a. Participating schools must name an individual as athletic director. This individual will be the primary contact person for the league and all schools within the league. .

c. The athletic director is responsible for posting all scores in to website by the Monday immediately after the game was played by no later than noon, even if it falls on a school break, or any other school holiday. A $25 fine for each delinquent score will be assessed to schools that do not comply.

d. The athletic director must create a master schedule for each sport and submit it to the league at the scheduling meetings for each season.

e. The athletic director must notify the league, and the other schools involved, of any changes to the master schedule 48 hours prior to the time of the game being changed. All changes, additions and cancellations to the posted Master Schedules must be made thru the website contact, no exceptions.

i. Failure to do so will leave the delinquent school responsible for all debts incurred due to their negligence, including location, bus rental and referee expenses.

f. The athletic director must check the master schedule when it is initially published and make corrections within 48 hours. Athletic directors must also check the master schedule when any changes have been made to their games to ensure that the changes were made properly.

i. Failure to inform the league of errors will leave the schools responsible for all debts incurred due to their negligence, including location, bus rental and referee expenses.

g. A tournament roster deadline for each season will be set at the beginning of each year. Team rosters will be due on Friday, two weeks after the first day of conference games begin. Cut off date to add and/or delete players will be on Friday, three weeks before tournament begins. Name, date of birth, uniform number and grade are required.

i. Failure to turn in your school’s rosters by the deadline will cause the delinquent school to become ineligible for the tournament.

ii. Schools must provide detailed information on the roster only when requested. Schools must provide proof of age, grade level, school enrollment and academic eligibility if requested by the league. The league will only request these when there is good reason to suspect deception.

iii. If a player not on the roster plays in a tournament game, that game is forfeit.
iv. Rosters will be checked anytime during CAA tournaments by a director or secretary.
v. A fine of $10 per day (including weekends and holidays) for rosters turned in after due date. This fine also applies to rosters turned in on time but are incomplete and are not returned back by deadline.

h. If a school cancels a game within the allotted 48-hour periods, it is the responsibility of that school to reschedule the game at the leisure of the school cancelled upon. Both schools must actively pursue a reschedule and must make all possible efforts to get the game rescheduled. If the school cancelled upon can demonstrate the impossibility of a reschedule, the school that originally cancelled must forfeit. More than two forfeitures in a season will leave the team ineligible for post-season play.

ii. In a student’s last year of high school, they are only required to take as many classes as necessary to complete their graduation requirements in order to be considered eligible.

c. Students transferring into a school after the official start date of a season must sit out that season unless they did not play that particular sport the year before. With the exception of students who change address or domicile to a location closer to the school the student is transferring to. This includes junior high and high school.

f. Players must be in eighth grade or below to play junior high sports. The individual school is responsible for determining the accurate grade level of the student based on their standards.

i. The grade level of a home school student, due to the unique structure of their curriculum, shall be of no consequence and age will be the sole determining factor.

g. Once a junior high student has played a conference game with the varsity or junior varsity team they may not return to the junior high team.

h. A varsity player may only play on the junior varsity in five more games than the varsity schedule. A junior varsity player may only platy at the varsity level in five more games than their regular schedule.

i. In accordance with title 9, women may only participate on men’s teams when a corresponding sport is not offered. A co-ed team must enter the league as a men’s team.

j. A student wishing to play five years of varsity for a team must apply to the league for a waiver in the first of their five years.

a. Any player or coach ejected from one game is suspended from the next league game. Coach or player will not be eligible until they petition the league director for reinstatement.

ii. The league will entertain petitions for redress but is under no obligation to accept them.
iii. Offending school must report the ejection thru the website contact link.

b. The directors maintain the right to suspend players, coaches and teams for any indiscretions they deem serious enough to warrant such action.

c. Athletic directors are responsible for ensuring a safe environment at all events. If schools can demonstrate an event is not safe, the hosting school must reschedule or forfeit the game.

d. League referees are encouraged to maintain the highest level of player, crowd and coach conduct by using technical fouls, ejections and forfeitures as enforcement.

g. All schools must be able to prove that all players are properly insured or waived of school and CAA responsibility of injury.

c. Schools who maintain debts with referees, gyms or anyone affiliated with the Charter Athletic Association will be suspended until these fees are paid.

e. Fees for the referees are decided on at scheduling meetings. All schools must pay referees the amount agreed upon by the voting members.

f. Schools in their first year of the league, or who have been put on probation for failure to follow league rules, must leave a refundable deposit of $100.00 with the league.
g. Fines are separate from tournament fees.

When a director is incapable of making a decision on his or her own, a disciplinary committee consisting of several voting members and possibly an outside arbitrator familiar with the league can be consulted.

3. If no referees show up to a game, due to their own negligence, the referee group responsible must referee the next game for that school for free.

5. Schools are responsible for having the referee sign the official book. No complaints will be entertained about referee performance unless this action is taken.

6. Referees must follow all league specific rules. Referees failing or refusing to enforce policies set forth in the rules section of this document will not be paid.

7. Referees are the ultimate authority at an event. Actions may be protested after the event, in written form, to the directors.

8. Schools who do not have a check to pay the referees at the time of the game shall pay the referee a five-dollar fine for delinquent payment.

10. If one referee shows up for a high school game the game must be rescheduled unless and the coaches reach an agreement to do otherwise.

1. Though the directors will be responsible for organizing the post-season tournaments, they might rely on individual schools to volunteer to host them.

i. All of the above must be an adult, over eighteen, for high school games or a well-qualified high school student for junior high games.

ii. Any team that cannot provide qualified individuals to perform these activities must allow the other team to be the official book or be subject to forfeit.

4. A player can only play in one post season tournament (i.e. a junior high student, having played in the junior high tournament can not be brought up to play in the junior varsity and a junior varsity player cannot be brought up to play varsity.)

5. If a team is more than fifteen minutes late to a game they must forfeit the game unless otherwise decided by the home team.

6. If a team is less than fifteen minutes late they may be penalized with loss of time, a technical foul, loss of warm up time or forfeiture of part of the game a depending on the sport. (i.e. one match of a volleyball game per ten minutes).
7. Teams opting out of tournament will not receive a refund for the tournament fee.
8. Teams removed from tournament will not receive a refund for the tournament fee.
9. Tournament brackets will be created according to standings from Power Rankings. Conference division winners will continue to receive 1st place trophy.
10. 3rd place game will be removed from bracket of six or less teams.

3. Schools may be asked to provide proof of insurance or an insurance rider for facilities that are used during the tournament.

4. It is up to the school’s coaches, athletic director and administration to determine the safety of facilities used prior to events, if a school has concerns the league recommends they do not play.

Probation
Schools failing to follow league rules will be put on probation on their next offense, with a possible dismissal from the league with out any refunds. Schools on probation must leave a refundable deposit of $100 with the league for the following year.