Private school to leave for GIAA after nearly 70 years in GHSA
Savannah Country Day, a Georgia High School Association member since 1957, is leaving for the Georgia Independent Athletic Association beginning in 2026-27, the private school announced Wednesday. The Savannah Morning News was the first to report.
The move comes weeks before the GHSA will place its more than 460 member schools into classifications for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 academic years.
Savannah Country Day, with an enrollment of about 375 students in its high school, is one of 25 football-playing schools in the GHSA’s Class 3A-A Private division.
Four years ago, concerned with the limited number of private schools playing in the former Class A Private, the GHSA allowed smaller private schools to compete with public schools in classes 3A to A after 10 years of state-playoff segregation in Class A.
After those freed private schools dominated state playoffs, the GHSA set up the 3A-A Private state-playoff division in 2024.
Several GHSA schools have moved to the GIAA since 2022. Those have included Brookstone and St. Anne-Pacelli in Columbus and Mount de Sales, Stratford Academy and First Presbyterian in Macon.
Savannah’s smaller private schools — Savannah Country Day, Savannah Christian and Calvary Day — had chosen to remain.
Savannah Country Day has won 24 GHSA championships, though none since 2006, and 14 of them in golf and tennis. Savannah Country Day has not regularly attracted the kinds of major Division I talent that typically goes to the Class 3A-A private schools that are winning state titles in football, basketball and baseball.
Savannah Country Day’s press release announcing the move cited a desire to align “with like-minded schools that share SCDS’s educational and athletic philosophy.”
About the Author
Todd Holcomb has been a contributor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1985. He is currently co-founder and editor of Georgia High School Football Daily.
