A committee formed by the Hawaii High School Athletic Association will meet this morning to finalize a decision on whether to start the 2009-10 high school athletic calendar earlier by as many as two weeks.

The change was proposed because graduation events have moved to earlier dates.

One athletic director questions the logic. Hawaii Baptist AD Deren Oshiro said only three graduations will be held earlier (in 2010), and two of them will hold ceremonies on Sundays. That means only one graduation will have an affect on sporting events.

“;The rationale is over just one school,”; Oshiro said.

“;We've had conflicts with graduations and state tournaments all these years, but we haven't made any request to change the calendar,”; he said.

Oshiro also questions why the proposal, made last month, comes so late in this high school year. If the changes are made, athletic directors, coaches and athletes have a short time to adjust.

“;It's a drastic change so late in the year. It's unreasonable. It's not enough notice time. By the time the HHSAA executive board meets (in mid-June) to approve this, that's not enough time for our families and students who have already committed to travel to the mainland for tournaments and training clinics,”; Oshiro said. “;A lot of them aren't even going to be on the island come July 12.”;

If the proposal is approved, July 12 is the tentative start date for the new athletic calendar.

“;If we knew about this (proposed) change a month ago, we wouldn't have committed to do all this renovation that'll close our gym in June and July,”; Oshiro added.