It will be status quo — a six-team format — for state high school football Division 1 and D-II championships, at least for the time being.

A proposal to switch to an eight-team format was withdrawn after preliminary discussion at the Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association conference on Hawaii island.

Unfortunately, a separate measure to create a three-tiered football alliance of the Oahu Interscholastic Association (OIA) and the Interscholastic League of Honolulu (ILH) was not brought to the table.

Still, we’re hopeful that the OIA-ILH talks on the three-tiered system will continue.

Obviously a need for ethics director

It can be so very hard to do the right, ethical thing — especially when the boss is doing the wrong, unethical thing.

But please, Department of Transportation and other state workers, try hard.

The state Ethics Commission has fined a Hilo superintendent of the state Highways Division $3,000 for misusing state vehicles, resources and subordinates to help fix his personal truck, most of it during work hours last August.

And just last month, it was announced that Jadine Urasaki, a former DOT deputy director, had paid a $13,000 fine over alleged ethics violations for acting on a dozen contracts with consulting firm Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc., where her husband worked.

With hiring now underway for a new Ethics Commission executive director, clearly there’s no time to lose.