According to a recent press release (March 2001) from the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO), a near crisis situation exists regarding the lack of qualified high school sports officials. In a study conducted by NASO, 90% of state level high school sports leaders who responded, reported that there is a shortage of officials in their state. One of the primary reasons reported for why sport officials are choosing not to officiate is the verbal and occasional physical abuse that they experience. The purpose of this study was to examine high school sports officials’ perceptions of the extent of such problems in Mississippi. This study was undertaken with three broad objectives: (1) To examine Mississippi high school sports officials’ perceptions of athlete, coach, and spectator misconduct (verbal, nonverbal, and physical) occurring at or as a result of school athletic events and to determine if differences exist between sports; (2) To determine the extent to which officials are considering terminating their services as a result of the officiating environment; (3) To determine if officials’ years of officiating experience and perceptions of misconduct are related to their reported intent to continue officiating. A survey instrument was utilized to collect demographic information, perceptions of misconduct, and reported intent to continue officiating. Also, several dichotomous (Yes, No) and open-ended survey question responses were used to obtain information related to officials’ experiences and concerns about the officiating environment. Data were analyzed (N = 840) using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, logistic regression and exploratory data mining. Among the findings were that 47% of responding officials indicated they were likely to quit officiating if they perceived misconduct by athletes, coaches, and/or spectators to worsen. Categories of misconduct perceived to be most serious by officials were verbal misconduct by spectators on official (47%), followed by verbal misconduct by coaches on officials (40%) and verbal misconduct by athlete on athlete (31%). Also, nonverbal misconduct by spectators on officials were perceived to be a serious problem by 31% of respondents. Results of logistic regression analysis indicated that officials’ experience and perceptions of misconduct were not strong predictors of their likelihood to quit officiating.Keyword(s): athletics/sports, high school issues, violence/prevention