Today’s interviewee is Glenn White, the president of the Georgia High School Association’s board of trustees. White has served on the GHSA’s executive committee for 26 years and became the board president in 2014. He has been an educator for 38 years and is a former principal at Model High. He’s now interim superintendent and the director of student services for the Floyd County School System. His wife, Jennifer White, is also an educator and serves as the math coordinator for the Floyd Schools.
Glenn White, GHSA board of trustees president
1. What’s the current consensus of the board of trustees as far as football games starting the week of Sept. 4 as scheduled? “I think we have support to do that. We have school systems that have a high number of COVID-19 cases, and that’s slowing them now. It’s a different situation in metro Atlanta, like in DeKalb County, than most other parts of the state. It could cause other systems in that area to say, ‘Look, we’re may not be able to play right now.’ And that’s something we’ve got to consider. But I also think they can shut down and get back in time to play a region schedule and make the playoffs. That’s why we are not shutting down the whole state. Those who can play will go on with their schedules. That’s what I’d like to see happen.”
2. How is the board of trustees chosen, and what is its role? “The trustees are elected by their classification. We have two at-large members – Michelle Masters and Candace Mitchell. Then the president and vice president [White and Curt Miller] are elected by the executive committee. The other members are elected by class. There are seven classifications, but we’ve just expanded for Class A. We now have one board member for public and one for private.
“The board has the authority to make decisions that would carry the full weight of the executive committee. The board considers issues that might require an immediate response and can’t wait for our [executive committee] meetings in October or April. We had this recently when we were going to start summer workouts in June. That was an issue that went through the board of trustees with the support of Dr. Hines [Robin Hines, the GHSA’s executive director]. It also could be a situation with player eligibility, or the legislature, something they’d want us to consider and give an immediate response.”
3. The GHSA has a board of trustees, an executive committee and an executive director. Which has ultimate authority? And which would decide the ultimate fate of the football season? “The executive committee [with 74 members, one per region plus 10 at-large members] passes rules and bylaws. The executive director implements policies and procedures with his staff. Dr. Hines runs the daily business of the GHSA.
“If we were to stop a season, and particularly football, it would be a cooperative situation. We’d work with Dr. Hines for a recommendation. Robin’s in touch with many other people in the state – athletic directors, superintendents, all of our stake-holders – and does a great job communicating and knows what they’re thinking. He can make that decision, but if we shut down something like football, that ought to go through the board of trustees so that one person doesn’t have to take all responsibility. Because of the importance of football in the state, I feel we should use that group for that because of the criticism. I’m not advocating shutting down football, not at all. But if that were to happen, I think it should go through the board of trustees.”
4. What makes you hopeful that there will be a football season? What makes you concerned? “I am hopeful because I’m an optimistic person and believe this is going to get better. I believe in our coaches, our student-athletes, our school administrators and our department of health, and I believe in the American spirit. We have faced worse situations in the history of our country and come through with flying colors. I believe we can get through this and play football and play it safely.
“On the flipside, if COVID-19 continues to grow and we have more and more cases and have to shut down schools, that could stop football. And let’s be honest, the Big Ten and the Pac-12 and other conferences have shut down, and we can’t sit here and say that’s not having a bearing on what we do. What I hope is that the SEC and ACC don’t shut down. This is Glenn White speaking, and it’s only me, but if the SEC were to shut down, that would put intense pressure on us to stop football. If you think about Georgia, where they have great facilities and resources, and if they say we can’t do it, and we say we can, that would be hard to explain.”
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