Brett Nanninga, superintendent of schools at Tri-Center, Neola since 1998, has accepted the position of Associate Director at the Iowa High School Athletic Association. He will join the IHSAA staff effective July 1.

Mr. Nanninga brings 31 years of educational experience to the position. He received his Bachelor Degrees in Business Education and Business Administration from Peru State College in 1983 and completed his Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and his Specialist Degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1988 and 2002 respectively.

He started his educational career with five years as a teacher and coach in Nebraska serving at Trenton High School and Arlington High School. In the fall of 1988 he became the Principal at Tri-Center High School in Neola and in July of 1998 was chosen as the Superintendent of Schools for the that district.

Active in and honored for his work in state and national organizations for administrators, he also is a member of the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, the Iowa Association of School Boards and the National School Board Association. He has spoken at Iowa and national meetings in education, financial leadership, and at technology summits. As a conference leader he was instrumental in expanding the number of schools in strengthening the Western Iowa Conference. He has been active in community projects throughout the Tri-Center District. He served two five year terms on the IHSAA Board of Control and twice was the chairperson of that group while also being a member of joint committees with the Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union, and the Executive Committee of the Iowa Hall of Pride. He will be a 2014 Bernie Saggau Award of Merit recipient at this year’s State Basketball Tournament.

At Tri-Center he has overseen numerous facility projects that have expanded campus-wide technology, the development and renovation of physical facilities that has enhance student learning, and has been active in community projects and clubs within the Tri-Center district. He is well known for being a strong advocate for the education and activities of students under his charge.

“We know Mr. Nanninga will be a great fit in our administrative team,” said IHSAA Executive Director Rick Wulkow. “He is a visionary leader and has a passion for educational based activities and brings a wealth of experience as a teacher, coach, official, principal and superintendent to this position.”

Nanninga is known for his strong communicative leadership. He engages people and dialogues and focuses on common sense when solutions are not always clear cut, while maintaining a clear emphasis on “what” is right as opposed to “who” is right.

He and his wife Sally of 32 years have three grown children – Matt, Amy and Laura, each active in high school activities, a college graduate and employed in a variety of occupations.

He proudly acknowledges that educational-based activities have always been a part of his life and lives of those in his family. “I consider being named to this position to be an honor and a privilege; and I can think of no greater way to influence the quality of the student and athlete experience in Iowa.”

“I am thankful for this opportunity to work with the outstanding folks at the IHSAA and to continue my service to the member schools and communities that make up our great state,” he added.

He added, “I appreciate the confidence that Mr. Wulkow and the Board of Control has placed in my skills and abilities and look forward to being an integral part of the IHSAA’s leadership and commitment to excellence.”

A petition urging the D-N-R to no longer accept deer killed with lead bullets as donations to its food program that helps feed the needy was denied Thursday by the Natural Resource Commission. The D-N-R works with the Food Bank of Iowa in the Help us Stop Hunger or Hush program, which allows hunters to shoot a deer then donate it to be processed and fed to the needy. The N-R-C voted to reject the petition because commission members said there was not enough evidence to show the bullets caused lead poisoning. Cynthia Hansen, the manager of the “Lead Is Poison Coalition” testified that people eating venison are at risk when a deer is shot with lead.

“Many of the fragments are too small to see with the naked eye or to feel when the meat is being processed. But the lead is there as shown in the x-ray and CAT scans during the research studies,” Hansen says. Hansen cleaning the wounds won’t prevent lead poisoning. “So when deer is shot with lead the fragments are scattered beyond the wound channel,” according to Hansen. “And that lead can be dispersed anywhere from two inches to eighteen inches outside the wound channel based on research. “ While the commission recognized people are poisoned by lead in Iowa, the secretary of the N-R-C, Kim Francisco , says this lead often comes from other sources.

Francisco made the motion to deny the petition, saying there is no strong proof that the venison donated to HUSH contained toxic lead.  “There are some legitimate concerns, and we heard it today, the presenters did a really nice job, about sub-lethal levels. Certainly understand that but 800,000 meals a year and we haven’t had any public health issues come up, “ Francisco says. The D-N-R reports five-thousand-281 deer were donated to the program in the 2012-2013 season. Kim Francisco, says HUSH serves a couple of purposes.

“The value of the program both to the people who are utilizing the meat and discussing the deer management problem in the state. And so providing an outlet for that meat that way,” Francisco says. The commission also made the point that it was not the right venue to address the problem — instead it should be taken to the legislature. The D-N-R says just over 56-thousand deer have been processed in the program from 2003 to 2012, which resulted in 10 million meals being provided.

(Radio Iowa)

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In its monthly meeting, Wednesday, January 22, the Board of Control acted on football recommendations coming from the Iowa Football Coaches Association and the IHSAA Football Playoff Committee. The recommendations had been tabled by the Board of Control from their December meeting.

At the center of discussions and action was a proposed 8-game regular season which would allow the playoffs to fold into a weekly format.  Since December, Board members had contacted constituent groups and in a unanimous vote agreed to stay with the 9-game regular season format.

Other football items that were approved included: (1) discontinuing “sister districts” for the regular season and post season classes in 8-player through 3A and to have a 125-mile limitation for first round games; and (2) no preset pairings will be made for the playoffs and pairings will be determined after each round of the playoffs. Reasonable attempts will be made to find non-district playoff opponents for the first and second round games, but district match-ups could reoccur if an opponent cannot be found within a reasonable distance.

The Board of Control also approved allowing one practice session of no more than four hours during the heat acclimatization period with nor more than three hours of physical activity allowed. The Board also granted an allowance of up to four teams to be at a scrimmage site, with each team only being allowed to scrimmage one other team. All current scrimmage rules would remain in effect.

A change in the forfeiture of season policy was also approved to read “The continuation of the season for a team forfeiting a regular season game shall be determined by the IHSASA administrative staff and the school administration.”

(Bud Legg, IHSAA)

The Iowa High School Athletic Association, Thursday, released its district football assignments in all six classes, which are effective for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. The Daily Nonpareil reports three schools are moving up at least one class: Lewis Central (Class 3-A to 4-A), A-H-S-T (Class A to 1-A) and Underwood (A to 1-A).

Four southwest Iowa schools are moving down at least one class: St. Albert (1-A to A), Tri-Center (1-A to A), Clarinda Academy (2-A to A) and East Mills (A to Eight-Man). Also from the region, Charter Oak-Ute will play a JV-only schedule for the next two years.

The next step is for schools to submit priority lists for non-district opponents. The IHSAA then takes that information to formulate the non-district portion of the schedule. The complete schedules are expected to be released by late February.
Here are the new districts involving schools in southwest Iowa:
Class 4-A
District 1: Ames, Ankeny, Des Moines East, Sioux City North, Southeast Polk, Thomas Jefferson.
District 2: Des Moines North, Des Moines Roosevelt, Johnston, Lewis Central, Sioux City East, West Des Moines Dowling.
District 3: Abraham Lincoln, Ankeny Centennial, Des Moines Hoover, Des Moines Lincoln, Sioux City West, West Des Moines Valley
Class 3-A
District 1: Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley, Denison-Schleswig, Le Mars, Sergeant Bluff-Luton, Sioux City Heelan, Spencer, Storm Lake.
District 8: ADM, Atlantic, Creston, Dallas Center-Grimes, Glenwood, Harlan, Winterset.
Class 2-A
District 8: Carroll Kuemper, Clarinda, East Sac County, Prairie Valley, Red Oak, Shenandoah, West Central Valley.
Class 1-A
District 1: A-H-S-T, IKM-Manning, Missouri Valley, OA-BCIG, Treynor, Underwood, West Monona.
Class A
District 1: Audubon, Griswold, Logan-Magnolia, Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto, Riverside, St. Albert, Tri-Center, Westwood.
District 8: Bedford, Clarinda Academy, Earlham, Martensdale-St. Marys, Mount Ayr, Nodaway Valley, Pleasantville, Southeast Warren.
Eight-Man
District 1: Ar-We-Va, Boyer Valley, Exira-EHK, Kingsley-Pierson, Newell-Fonda, River Valley, West Harrison, Woodbine.
District 8: CAM, East Mills, Essex, Fremont-Mills, Lenox, Nishnabotna, Sidney, Stanton

BOYS BASKETBALL
Lenox 55, Central Decatur, Leon 29
Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto 69, East Sac County 63
Martensdale-St. Marys 66, West Central Valley, Stuart 37
OA-BCIG 71, Siouxland Community Christian 61
Wayne, Corydon 36, East Union, Afton 32
Corner Conference Tournament
Semi-Finals
East Mills 59, Fremont Mills, Tabor 50
Sidney 53, Heartland Christian 50

GIRLS BASKETBALL
Bishop Heelan Catholic, Sioux City 52, Sioux City, East 39
Central Decatur, Leon 71, Lenox 23
Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto 67, East Sac County 63
OA-BCIG 65, Siouxland Community Christian 30

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State is refuting reports that it prevented guard Bubu Palo from transferring to another school by delaying the decision in his student-conduct case. The university says Thursday that athletic director Jamie Pollard told Palo’s attorney, Matt Boles, that Iowa State would support a waiver for Palo to transfer. That’s after Palo was kicked off the team Aug. 30 by President Steven Leath.

Iowa State also says that Palo would have been able to transfer after the fall semester had started, but that neither Palo nor Boles gave the university an official transfer request. Palo was reinstated by a district court judge last week in a decision publicly criticized by Pollard. Palo is listed on Iowa State’s roster for its home game Saturday against Kansas State.

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PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — Walt Lemon, Jr. scored 28 points, shooting 50 percent from the field, to lead Bradley to a 69-65 victory over Northern Iowa on Wednesday night. Auston Barnes had 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Braves (8-12, 3-4 Missouri Valley Conference). Omari Grier added nine points and four rebounds.

Northern Iowa led 32-29 at the half but Lemon came out of the break to score eight points in the first three minutes of the second period to put Bradley up by one. With 30 seconds left to play, Lemon hit a jumper and sank 2 of 2 from the line to help give the Braves the edge they needed to win.

Seth Tuttle scored 20 points with seven rebounds for the Panthers (10-9, 4-3) who hit just 36.7 percent from the field overall.