THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 26, 1995 TAG: 9507260516
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
What if the Beach District was told it had to split ranks?
Or if the Peninsula District was culled from the Eastern Region and placed in the Central Region?
Or if Norcom High, for years a football power in Group AAA, were forced to play in Group AA?
These are just some of the scenarios that the Virginia High School League's Redistricting and Reclassification Committee will likely explore when it meets for a two-day session in Charlottesville today and Thursday.
Among the committee's major concerns:
There are imbalances between the state's three classifications - Group AAA, AA and A - that have begun to bother Ken Tilley, executive director of the VHSL. What can be done to return balance to the system?
Will schools be allowed to continue playing up in classification? Now, schools with enrollments that allow them to play in a lower classification can ask to play in a higher group.
Will schools be allowed to play down? Many traditional Group AA schools are barely over the enrollment limits of Group AA, which would force them to play Group AAA.
Will the classification standards - 500 or fewer students for Group A, 1,000 or fewer for Group AA and over 1,000 in Group AAA - be altered?
``The meeting has a lot of potential and there are different interpretations as to what will take place,'' Ocean Lakes principal and Beach District chairman Jerry Deviney said. ``I know Ken Tilley has played around with the numbers and has some ideas.
``One idea is that where you fall in enrollment is where you'll be for the next two or three years, maybe even four. The Beach schools will tend to remain in their classification.''
Kellam High, with 1,229 students, is the smallest Beach school and is solidly in the top third in state enrollment. But others in the region might be asked to move down. This past season, there were 109 Group AAA schools, 82 Group AA schools and 91 Group A schools.
``One thing we could do is keep things the way they are and let schools continue to play up,'' Tilley said on the eve of the meeting. ``But then the imbalance could become even greater.
``With schools playing up, we could have as many as 120 schools in Group AAA next year, with about 80 in Group AA and 80 in Group A. Then Group AAA would be 50 percent larger than both AA and A.''
One proposal would have the state split into equal thirds, the highest third of enrollment playing in Group AAA and so forth. Tilley said that a unique and intriguing plan has been forwarded to his office that would do just that. He would not go into specifics, but did map out some details.
``It would lead to some fairly radical changes,'' Tilley said. ``But there would be benefits. It would leave about 95 schools in each class and balance the regions pretty well. There has been one plan developed where the regional balance is terrific.''
The plan, if enacted, would also reorganize existing districts and regions so that each region would have between 22 and 27 schools and each district would have between six and eight members.
``That would apply to all three levels and if OK'd would involve quite a few shifts,'' Tilley said. ``It was initially designed with districts of that size to protect some rivalries. With no 10- and 12-team districts, there would be room for cross-scheduling to ensure those rivalries.''
Any recommendations by the committee must be approved by the VHSL's Executive Committee in September.
Currently, there are some rather drastic imbalances in regional sizes. In Group AAA for instance, the Eastern Region had 34 teams last year, the largest number in the state, while the Central Region has 29, the Northern Region 26 and the Northwestern Region only 19.
With expected growth and additions, the Eastern Region could include 38 schools next year. The region's governing body released a plan last week that would divide the region into four districts, with either nine or 10 teams in each district.
That plan included absorbing the two Suffolk high schools, Nansemond River and Lakeland, and adding three schools under construction - Hickory in Chesapeake and Woodside and Heritage in Newport News. Ferguson High in Newport News is scheduled to close.
According to projected enrollment figures provided by the VHSL, 33 of the 34 schools currently in Group AAA's Eastern Region would continue to qualify for Group AAA membership. Only Norcom, with 938 students, is below the 1,000 cutoff.
Nansemond River and Lakeland, which have been Group AA since their creation five years ago and, are well above the 1,000 student cutoff in grades 9 through 12. Nansemond River has 1,354 and Lakeland has 1,333. Yet there is strong sentiment at both schools to remain Group AA.
While many in the VHSL want to begin counting enrollment in all four grades - those were the figures distributed to principals throughout the state - the VHSL may revert to existing standards of grades 10 through 12. That might drop Nansemond River and Lakeland below the 1,000 limit.
Under current classification guidelines, there are 101 Group AAA-size schools, 88 Group AA and 92 Group A. Two Group A schools, Bland and Rocky Gap, are expected to consolidate and remain Group A.
``We might slide the scale,'' Tilley said. ``Maybe we move the 1,000 limit to 1,100. Maybe we slide the 500 limit to 450.''
All three Portsmouth schools, under such a plan, could be dropped to Group AA and told to join the Bay Rivers District which now includes Nansemond River, Lakeland, Poquoson, Smithfield, Southampton, Bruton and Franklin. Churchland (1,029) and Wilson (1,017) are both just above the 1,000 mark.
Of course, Bruton and Franklin are below 500 in enrollment and would be forced into Group A, leaving a six-team Bay Rivers District if Nansemond River and Lakeland were bumped up.
One scenario that seems sure to happen is the realignment of Regions I and II at the Group AA level. Region I, which includes the Bay Rivers, currently has 14 members while Region II has 29.
Don Bock, principal of Poquoson High and the Region I representative for the meeting, said a likely scenario would have the nine-team Battlefield District move from Region I to Region II. by CNB