The rule, which will go into effect on the second day of the 2008-2009 school year, will require high school student-athletes to sit out for one school year of their sport if they transfer after the start of their sophomore year.

Last month, the public comment period regarding the proposal was extended to April 30.

Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association executive director Kevin Charles said last week that, of 17 letters or e-mails received during the comment period, 11 were against the proposal and six in favor of it. But board members, which consist of superintendents, school district board members, principals, athletic directors and six public members (two from each county) were largely in favor of the new rule.

“We’re not stopping the transfers,” board member Dr. Jeffrey E. Hawtof said. “We’re just putting more scrutiny [on them].”

Hawtof is a University of Delaware graduate and public member of the board who is a physician with Beacon Medical Group in Sussex County.

“We look at it as what’s best for the student-athletes as a whole, what’s best for them academically and how does sports fit into that mold, in propelling them further, and to try and pull away from [a student-athlete’s view that] ‘it’s only about me getting a college scholarship.’ “

Sanford School athletic director Joan Samonisky was one of two DIAA board members to vote no.

“I just think it’s, just across the board, too stringent,” she said. “I just feel that the problem is in a minority, but we’re making a very strict rule that’s going to affect the majority of kids who transfer, and many of them for the right reasons.”