By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

The first level of suspense is over.

            The GHSA released initial full-time enrollment figures from the Department of Education for its member schools, the first step in the latest round of reclassification, for 2020-2022, starting with the next school year. The Reclassification Committee will meet next Tuesday in Thomaston for appeals and requests to move up, and then once that is completed and the enrollment figures ratified by the GHSA with the changes, the GHSA office will start to formulate the regions.

            That process changed with the GHSA doing more reclass work to take perceptions of favoritism and politics out of the equation from committees with school officials making the decisions and inspiring concerns of bias.

            “We went to a less biased approach,” Mary Persons principal and GHSA executive committee member Jim Finch said. “There’ll never be zero bias. …  In the past, you’ve had head football coaches in there … you’ve had athletic directors in there, you’d even have principals in there …

            “We really felt like the GHSA was more of a neutral body to handle it.”

            The GHSA returned to a two-year cycle after one four-year cycle.

            There is some very notable shuffling, at this stage, of some Central Georgia schools, but it remains fluid and may not be the same way in a week. Schools are likely to take the rest of the week to make a decision whether to play up a class or appeal.

            The biggest, which athletics director Roger Holmes has predicted in conversations with The Sports Report, is Dublin dropping down to Class A, where it currently is the second-largest school in that class.

            Mary Persons falls from 4A to become the fifth-largest 3A school, while Central moves up from 3A to 4A. 

            Finch and Holmes said Tuesday night they were likely to stay in the new classifications, but there will be conversations the rest of the week. Holmes reiterated Tuesday night that one consideration for staying in Class A for a few years was to bolster the rest of the school’s athletics program.

            The football team is a favorite in Class AA this year, having finished first in Region 3 and being ranked first and third in the two major polls. The boys basketball team contended for and won region titles, and been a regular state contender. But other sports have struggled with consistency, and perhaps two years in Class A will allow some of them to improve and grow.

            The Central Georgia public schools with the largest number of out-of-zone students are Central (304), ACE (258), Houston County (166), and West Laurens (138).

             The multiplier affected only one area school, Central. Its actual enrollment of 975 puts it in the lower half of Class AAA. And Central officials are in the research mode to appeal to jump, enrollment affected ostensibly by the attractiveness of Central’s international baccalaureate program, among other things.

            “IB, the band, orchestra classes,” Central athletics director Andre Taylor, also the head boys basketball coach, said Tuesday night. “The kids are coming for academic reasons.”

            Taylor said the school will likely see out schools who have appealed, and prepare for the appeal next week.

            “We’ll find the right way,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with trying. Nothing might come of it, but you’ve got at least try. It’s a big play to athletics, period, moving up a classification.”

            Upson-Lee is the smallest 4A school on the list.

            The actual enrollment in most cases differs from the figure used for reclassification because of the out-of-zone multiplier.

            Students who attend a school but do not live in that school’s zone – private schools abide by the public school zone it is located in – are counted twice. Student may attend an out of zone school for a variety of reasons.

            The Central Georgia public schools with the largest number of out-of-zone students are Central (304), ACE (258), Houston County (166), and West Laurens (138).

             The multiplier affected only one area school, Central. Its actual enrollment of 975 puts it in the lower half of Class AAA. And Central officials are in the research mode to appeal to jump, enrollment affected ostensibly by the attractiveness of Central’s international baccalaureate program, among other things.

            “IB, the band, orchestra classes,” Central athletics director Andre Taylor, also the head boys basketball coach, said Tuesday night. “The kids are coming for academic reasons.”

            Taylor said the school will likely see out schools who have appealed, and prepare for the appeal next week.

            “We’ll find the right way,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with trying. Nothing might come of it, but you’ve got at least try. It’s a big play to athletics, period, moving up a classification.”

The multiplier affected only one area school, Central. Its actual enrollment of 975 puts it in the middle third of Class AAA.

            The top three out-of-zone figures in each of the classes containing area programs:

            6A – St. Pius, 1,090; Carrollton, 579; Chamblee 555

            5A – Woodward Academy, 1,030; Blessed Trinity, 728; Cartersville, 279

            4A – Greater Atlanta Christian, 661; Marist, 622; Kipp-Atlanta, 591

            3A – Hapeville Charter, 406; Westminster, 356; Benedictine 332

            2A – Riverside Military, 294; Lovett, 231; Bremen, 211

            A Public – Elite Scholars Academy, 306; Gordon Lee, 277; Trion, 259

            A Private – Holy Innocents, 374; Savannah Christian, 363; Wesleyan, 356

            The full list of classifications is here.

            Schools will not drop down from 7A, nor be moved up from Class A. But all schools have the option to play in a higher classification. Reclassification is for all sports, not just football.

            Here are the Central Georgia schools in the new classifications, with the largest and smallest school in each class, and its reclass figure. Again, notes the GHSA:

“Please note that schools in classes 1A and 7A were classified based only on their FTE or enrollment numbers because the rules adopted by the State Executive Committee do not allow schools to be forced up into 7A or out of 1A because of the multiplier. Schools in classes 2A through 6A were classified based on their Student Reclassification Count, which is derived using a multiplier of 2.0 on students residing outside the school’s designated attendance zone.”

In the chart is each classification with Central Georgia teams. FTE is the standard full-time enrollment. OOZ is the out-of-zone figure (students from outside of the school’s zone are counted twice, and the figure is the actual number of out-of-zone students) and Reclass is the figure used for reclassification.