
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 22, 1994                   TAG: 9411160077
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN SURPRISE VOTE, VHSL RETAINS GOVERNING STATUS QUO

A proposal that would have changed the way the Virginia High School League is run was soundly defeated at the legislative council meetings that ended Thursday in Charlottesville.

By a 154-74 vote, league principals rejected a plan to run the VHSL by a 49-person executive council. The principals surprisingly ignored the recommendation of the VHSL's executive council, which had voted 19-2 in favor of adopting the proposal.

Each principal will continue to vote on all VHSL measures rather than a proposed executive council of principals, school superintendents, athletic directors, state legislators and citizens.

The outcome was a defeat for new VHSL executive director Ken Tilley, though the proposal for a new form of government came from his predecessor, Earl Gillespie.

``My reaction includes surprise and a little disappointment,'' said Tilley, who supported the measure while serving as programs supervisor for Gillespie.

``In going around state area meetings, I felt there was more support than indicated by the vote.''

The first move toward an executive council was made a couple of years ago under a threat by the state legislature to move the VHSL into the department of education if new governance wasn't enacted. Tilley said it is too early to tell whether a revised proposal is possible.

``I'd like to go around [to the folks] and find out what the story is,'' Tilley said.

William Byrd principal Bob Patterson, a member of the executive committee, said he was told by one opponent that if each principal didn't have a vote as they now do, they wouldn't attend meetings. Patterson was shocked because the executive committee vote indicated the measure would pass.

``What concerns me is what could have happened if the regions instructed their representatives how to vote,'' Patterson said. ``I think the regions were not communicating their desires to representatives on the executive committee.''

In another move, the VHSL approved on first reading to count enrollment in grades 9 through 12 when determining a school's classification. Currently, only the top three grades are counted.

If the measure passes a second vote in March, the VHSL will have to draw up new numbers for the three classes. Presently, Group A consists of schools with enrollments of 0 to 499, Group AA 500 to 999, and Group AAA 1,000 or more students.

``One of the things we'll be doing as quickly as we can is to attain those figures [of a new count] and make them available to membership,'' Tilley said. ``We knew there was a lot more work to do on the proposal. There are going to be a lot of questions. We have to develop the information, discuss it and see what the impact is going to be and if this is a good change.''

by CNB