Athletic director outlines NIL guidance, extended summer contact days and registration changes

Ben Klein, Southern Door's athletic director, updated the board July 21 on athletics operations and policy changes ahead of fall sports. He said the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association now permits high-school student athletes to sign name, image and likeness (NIL) agreements as private individuals, but the district will not be involved in arranging deals or allow athletes to appear in school uniform in paid promotions.

Klein explained rules for contact days changed statewide: the WIA removed the five-day limit and now allows unrestricted contact June 1–30 and July 7–31 (excluding July 1–6). He said his guidance to coaches was to avoid "maxing out" contact days, to preserve student rest and family time, and to keep most teams to modest weekly contact rather than intensive daily practices.

Klein also told the board the district migrated athletic registration from "our school" to Arbiter to streamline registration and officials assignment. Families will need to register as new users in the Arbiter system this year; Klein said the district customized fields to reduce duplication between school registration and athletics.

Klein reviewed several athletic-code clarifications: a half-day attendance expectation for participation (with case-by-case exceptions), an updated honesty clause that specifies students must report violations to the athletic director or principal instead of any coach, and timing for the annual athletic-code meeting on Aug. 4 at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium.

Board members raised a practical question about ensuring students personally sign code acknowledgments; Klein said the code meeting will reinforce that practice.