GHSA: Two-year reclassifications may return

By Michael Carvell

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Georgia High School Association announced its new regions Wednesday, but the bigger news was a proposal to adjust the process again. The GHSA had announced new classifications in November.

Under the new plan, the state’s 445 member schools will remain in the same classification and region for the next four years, beginning in September.

The four-year cycle for this reclassification was approved last year. However, the reclassification committee has requested a return to the former long-time method of a two-year cycle. “Change is happening too quickly in education these days, and it is probably not in our best interests to go to a four-year cycle,” said Dr. Ralph Swearngin, the GHSA’s executive director.

“When we came up with the four-year idea a few years ago, we never could foresee all these changes in terms of growth, adding new schools, and people re-districting.”

That proposal, along with the final region assignments, will be voted upon by the GHSA’s executive committee Jan. 12. The reclassification committee will meet again Dec. 16 to hear any appeals about new region placements.

Here are some of the main story lines from Wednesday’s list of regions:

● The state’s largest division, Class AAAAA, has the fewest number of schools with 62. However, it’s an awkward situation for the GHSA.

“What we’re trying to communicate is this: If you ask schools that have 1,700 or 1,800 students to play against schools that have 3,000 or more, it’s really unfair,” Swearngin said. “With more schools opening up to relieve overcrowding conditions, we are beginning to see a drop in Class AAAAA schools.

“How can you be fair with who you compete against? How can you keep the numbers reasonable between the larger Class AAAAA schools and others? I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to do that now.”

● Also in Class AAAAA, Gwinnett’s 17 largest schools will be placed together in Regions 7 and 8. It means fewer playoff spots, but more intense rivalries. “I like this as it brings that ‘Gwinnett-only’ feel back to the region,” North Gwinnett athletics director Mark Karen said. “It has been a while since we have had that ... the way it should be, in my opinion.”

The north Fulton and Forsyth schools, which currently mingle with the Gwinnett powerhouses, will join together in Region 6. It works for Centennial athletics director Phil Thomas. “The GHSA did an excellent job in a relative close geographic proximity. With the budget crunches in regards to travel, we have the ability to keep our travel distance to a minimum.”

● Travel will likely be an issue for several regions, including Region 2-AAAA. Its members are spread about 200 miles along part of the state’s eastern border. “It’s kind of crazy stuff,” Swearngin said. “We’ve had some informal discussions to address the distances for crossover games between the subregions. For example, we’d like to try to avoid having the people in Brunswick to have to go to Augusta, if possible.”

● Ware County and Liberty County had Class AAA numbers, but they were too far away from similar-sized schools. The GHSA forced both to move up to Region 2-AAAA under the isolation policy.

● With 25 Atlanta private schools, Region 7-A might be the largest in state history. The GHSA will survey the schools to see which sports they are committed to playing next year. No other Class A region has more than 13 members.

“It probably has only 10-11 football-playing schools,” Swearngin said. “Some of the schools play only one or two sports, while some play everything. We’re going to research it and see how we can help make that work in the other sports.”

St. Francis athletics director Chad McConnell said he is unlikely to appeal, hoping that the GHSA will resolve the matter on its own. “It may require that they get creative and break away from the traditional eight regions and 32-school playoff system.”

No proposals will be finalized for nearly another month. However, it clearly has been a tedious process for the decision-makers. “It’s the most challenging reclassification process in the 17 years I’ve been with GHSA,” Swearngin said. “There are just a number of new schools, a whole bunch of changes in population numbers and lots of growth in North Georgia.

“We had 12 schools open up last year and this year, and about six more that are going to open in 2010 or 2011. ... We try to keep a certain core of schools stable, and put the new people where they fit in. All things considered, I think it is going well.”