New York state Policies

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STATE COMPETITION FEE
The state fee for each team competing in the State Tournament has been raised to $125.00
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NEW SCHOOL PROMOTION
Schools that have never competed in Science Olympiad may register for $125.00 and may compete in up to 12 events for one year only. Team members may win medals but no team awards will be given to this team. Click here for a registration form.
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STUDENT NUMBERS AT STATE COMPETITIONS
The following procedure has been passed by the Board of Directors because of the limits on team room space and concerns about safety and liability issues:: .
Each team may bring up to 30 students to a State Competition. In addition to the two team coaches, there must be one adult for each 5 students or part thereof in excess of the 15 official team members. An adult must be in the Team Room at all times. Each incident of failure to comply with these rules will result in a 5 point team penalty. Additional students and adults are welcome to the Awards Ceremony.
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New York Science Olympiad Procedures Adopted February 12, 2011
Note: These policies and operating procedures take effect in the 2011 - 2012 school year
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AMENDMENT TO FORMULA FOR THE NUMBER OF TEAMS FROM A REGION QUALIFYING FOR AN INVITATION TO THE STATE TOURNAMENT
Regions with 1-9 participating teams will qualify 1 team for an invitation to the State Tournament and may qualify a second team according to the bonus rule.
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AMENDMENT TO OPERATING PROCEDURE ON OPEN NUMBERS IN TEAM NUMBER SCHEDULE
If there are open numbers in the Team Number Schedule a regional coordinator may nominate a school for consideration for an invitation to participate in the State Tournament. The school nominated must not have participated at the last 5 State Tournaments. The school nominated must have an established record of performing well in the regional tournament and finished within a few points of the last team that qualified for an invitation. Nominations must be received by the New York State Director by 5:00 PM of the Monday following the Regional Tournament. A committee from the Board of Directors will consider the nominations and make a decision on the nomination.
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Note that a nomination does not insure an invitation. This procedure may not be used to correct scoring errors that have lead to mis-ranking teams.
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DATES FOR REGIONAL COMPETITIONS
The Board of Directors hereby establishes a time period during which regional coordinators should schedule their competitions. C Division coordinators should schedule their competitions no earlier than January 18 and no later than February 15 in a given Science Olympiad year. B Division coordinators should schedule their competitions no earlier than the fourth Saturday in February and no later than the third Saturday in March in a given Science Olympiad year. Written event materials will be provided to regional coordinators who schedule their regional competitions during the prescribed time period. Written events materials will be provided to regional coordinators scheduling earlier than the first date of the time period for their division if the materials are available.
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TEAM REGISTRATION DEADLINES
Teams that are registered after the deadline on the Registration Form will be accepted on a space-available basis, but will not be counted towards the number of teams invited to the State Tournament from their region.

New York Science Olympiad Procedures Adopted June 26, 2010

INVITATIONS TO STATE TOURNAMENTS
The number of invitations issued to a region will be determined, as in the past, on the number of teams registered in the region. To accept this invitation the teams must submit the forms printed on yellow sheets and a check for the registration fee so that they are received at the New York State Science Olympiad's office by 5:00 P.M. on the Friday two weeks prior to the Friday the State Tournament starts. If all of the teams forms and the tournament registration fee check are not received by the specified date, the Board of Directors will withdraw the invitation and remove the team from the list of eligible competitors.
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OPEN NUMBERS IN TEAM NUMBER SCHEDULE
If there are open numbers in the Team Number Schedule a regional coordinator may nominate a school for consideration for an invitation to participate in the State Tournament. The school nominated must never have participated in a State Tournament. This includes schools that have not had a registered team in the past five years. The school nominated must have an established record of performing well in the regional tournament and finished within a few points of the last team that qualified for an invitation. Nominations must be received by the New York State Director by 5:00 PM of the Monday following the Regional Tournament. A committee from the Board of Directors will consider the nominations and make a decision on the nomination. This operating procedure is limited to those regions that have a team registration less than 30.
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Note that a nomination does not insure an invitation. This procedure may not be used to correct scoring errors that have lead to mis-ranking teams.
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MULTIYEAR REGISTRATION
A school registering a new team (schools that have not participated in the past five years are included.) may elect to join for two years. The registered team may renew their registration for a third year and pay only the national registration fee. A school electing this option must file two registration forms and present a check for twice the amount of the prevailing registration fee. A letter stating they are accepting this option must be included with the registration.
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WALK IN SIGNING UP
The Board of Directors has adopted an on-line sign up procedure for walk-in events. The letter of invitation to the teams will contain details of how the system operates.

New York Science Olympiad Policies Adopted February 2, 2008

The Board of Directors hereby establishes a time period during which regional coordinators should schedule their competitions. C Division coordinators should schedule their competitions no earlier than February 1 and no later than February 15 in a given Science Olympiad year. B Division coordinators should schedule their competitions no earlier than the fourth Saturday in February and no later than the third Saturday in March in a given Science Olympiad year. Written event materials will be provided to regional coordinators who schedule their regional competitions during the prescribed time period. Written events materials will be provided to regional coordinators scheduling earlier than the first date of the time period for their division if the materials are available.

New York Science Olympiad Policies Adopted June 19, 2004

Official Measurements
Measurements made by the event supervisor(s) will be the basis of the official result. Measurements or estimation of values made by spectators will not be accepted as a basis for an appeal.

Time Results Become Final
The results of all regional and state Science Olympiad Tournaments will become final at 10:00 A.M. on the Monday following the tournament.

Review of Grading or Scoring for an Appeal
Event supervisors are required to remain one hour after their event ends. The event supervisor is the only person who can explain the grading or scoring of the event and, therefore, any appeals must be made within one hour after the event ends.

Region Without Coordinator and/or Site.
When a region does not have a coordinator or a site identified as of June 30, registrations for that region for the next Science Olympiad year will not be accepted until an approved coordinator and site have been identified

Failure to Perform Proctoring Assignment
A team is composed of fifteen (15) students and two (2) coaches. If a coach fails to perform a proctoring assignment, the team will be scored as a no show, and the team will be scored at n+ 2 (n is the number of teams competing at that tournament). If a coach arrives at a proctoring assignment more than five (5) minutes late the team will be assessed a penalty of 25 points. Extenuating circumstances will be handled through the appeals process.

Health and Publicity Forms
Each student or coach representing a school at a regional or state tournament must submit the following signed forms: (1) a health form; and (2) a release form for publication.

Amended Calculator Policy
New York will follow any rule on calculator use specified in the event description found in the Coaches Manual. If an event description does not provide information regarding calculator type or use, New York will allow only non-graphing or non-programmable calculators in that event.

Retention Policy Proposal

The Board of Directors hereby adopts the following policy concerning the retention of documents by the NYSSO:

Documents, including electronic documents, will be maintained in the custody of the persons listed below for the periods of time also listed below. These documents may be retained in electronic or paper form.

1. Articles of Incorporation and By-laws - Indefinitely - by the Corporate Secretary;

2. Minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors - for 10 years - by the Corporate Secretary;

3. Contracts, Insurance Certificates for Regional and State Competitions and Memoranda of Agreement - for three years - by Corporate Chairman (“Chairman”), except that the Corporate Treasurer shall maintain custody of the insurance contracts for the NYSSSO equipment;

4. Correspondence, including e-mails, sent and received by Chairman, will not be retained unless a document relates to matters which may become the subject of an insurance claim or litigation. In such a case, the correspondence will be retained by the Chairman for three years;

5. Registration Records will be maintained by the Chairman for three years;

6. Financial Records, including Income Tax Returns, will be retained by the Treasurer for seven years;

7. Regional and State Competition Result Summaries (listing all competing teams and their scores) will be retained by the Chairman for one year;

8. Master Test Questions and Answers for each Regional Competition will be retained by the Regional coordinator for that competition for three months;

9. Master Test Questions and Answers for State competitions will be retained by the Chairman for three months;

10. Individual Student Information Forms submitted at the State competitions will be maintained by the Chairman; and Individual Student Information Forms submitted at the Regional competitions will be maintained by the Regional Coordinator for three years;

11. Student Test Papers for the Regional competitions will be maintained by the Regional coordinator or the Coordinator's delegate for two hours after the final event has concluded, and

12. Student Test Papers for the State competitions will be maintained by the Competition Director for two hours after the final event has concluded.

Last updated 10/2/11