CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- State Board of Education members unanimously turned down controversial proposals Thursday to add a fourth classification in three high school sports and a longer summer practice schedule.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- State Board of Education members unanimously turned down controversial proposals Thursday to add a fourth classification in three high school sports and a longer summer practice schedule.
They agreed 8-0 that the state's largest high schools should not compete in Class AAAA for football, girls basketball and boys basketball, and cited the opportunities athletes already have to reach the state playoffs.
Some coaches and principals favored a fourth class, and said large high schools often dominate smaller schools in the same class.
Board members also agreed 8-0 to not extend the summer high school practice schedule from three weeks to eight weeks. Board member Barbara Fish was absent.
Ron Spencer, a state Board of Education member and its representative on the Secondary School Activities Commission, argued against both proposals.
Spencer and others have said a longer summer practice schedule would cut into time athletes should spend with families. Although practices would be voluntary, Spencer said it's pretty clear that students would feel pressure to attend.
SSAC executive director Gary Ray has said some coaches wanted to spend more time with their players during a stretch when AAU and other summer-league coaches already have the freedom to work with students.
High school coaches have a few weeks during the summer - before football and other fall practices start in August - where they can work with athletes who want to lift weights or train during the off-season.
Ray said the proposal would have opened that up to a nine-week period from June to early August, with the week of the Fourth of July holiday off limits.
Also Thursday, board members unanimously agreed to let sixth-graders play football in school. That rule will be effective in 2009 so all parents, children and school officials have time to prepare.
All three proposals drew more than 70 pages of public comment.
University High School football coach John Kelley wrote that children need time away from coaches. Student injuries would also increase with more summer practice, he wrote.
Tyler Hodge of Kermit said more summer practice gives children something to do during the summer other than "just laying around eating, or doing something that isn't healthy."
This spring, Paden City High School Principal Warren Lee Grace Jr. posed the Class AAAA idea to high school principals and athletic officials who propose new SSAC rules. They approved it 78-37.
In April, they also approved the extended summer practice period 81-30.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- State Board of Education members unanimously turned down controversial proposals Thursday to add a fourth classification in three high school sports and a longer summer practice schedule.
They agreed 8-0 that the state's largest high schools should not compete in Class AAAA for football, girls basketball and boys basketball, and cited the opportunities athletes already have to reach the state playoffs.
Some coaches and principals favored a fourth class, and said large high schools often dominate smaller schools in the same class.
Board members also agreed 8-0 to not extend the summer high school practice schedule from three weeks to eight weeks. Board member Barbara Fish was absent.
Ron Spencer, a state Board of Education member and its representative on the Secondary School Activities Commission, argued against both proposals.
Spencer and others have said a longer summer practice schedule would cut into time athletes should spend with families. Although practices would be voluntary, Spencer said it's pretty clear that students would feel pressure to attend.
SSAC executive director Gary Ray has said some coaches wanted to spend more time with their players during a stretch when AAU and other summer-league coaches already have the freedom to work with students.
High school coaches have a few weeks during the summer - before football and other fall practices start in August - where they can work with athletes who want to lift weights or train during the off-season.
Ray said the proposal would have opened that up to a nine-week period from June to early August, with the week of the Fourth of July holiday off limits.
Also Thursday, board members unanimously agreed to let sixth-graders play football in school. That rule will be effective in 2009 so all parents, children and school officials have time to prepare.
All three proposals drew more than 70 pages of public comment.
University High School football coach John Kelley wrote that children need time away from coaches. Student injuries would also increase with more summer practice, he wrote.
Tyler Hodge of Kermit said more summer practice gives children something to do during the summer other than "just laying around eating, or doing something that isn't healthy."
This spring, Paden City High School Principal Warren Lee Grace Jr. posed the Class AAAA idea to high school principals and athletic officials who propose new SSAC rules. They approved it 78-37.
In April, they also approved the extended summer practice period 81-30.
"The difference in AAA enrollment ... from the largest AAA school to the smallest is enough to warrant the change," wrote Bill Dobbins of Nicholas County High School.
Chad Davidson of Monongah wrote that the gap between the top five or 10 AAA schools is "growing wider and wider from those at the bottom."
Bernie Dolan of Wheeling Park High School said the proposed rule change would benefit the small AAA schools and the small Class A schools. Wheeling Park, one of the state's largest high schools, would have surely been in Class AAAA for football and basketball.
Dolan argued that states with a smaller population - such as Nebraska, Idaho, Maine and New Hampshire - have more classifications than West Virginia.
Janet Morris of Romney wrote that a fourth classification would help Hampshire Senior High School.
"It is difficult to compete with schools that have twice as many students but are in the same classification," she wrote.
Melvin Brooks and Kelly Cline of Class A Gilbert High School also favor the four-class system.
"[This] is a proven system in states smaller than ours," Brooks wrote in the public comments. "We need parity in our system and this is the positive option we have been searching for."
Kelley, the University High coach, strongly disagreed with the proposed change.
"In this era of 21st Century learning where we are raising the bar and challenging students, why would we want to lower these standards by watering down the current system and making it easier to obtain success?" Kelley wrote.
Eric Ellis of Chapmanville High School posed a different approach.
"The problems we need to correct are updating our tournament formats and eliminating private schools from public school tournaments," he wrote.
Riverside Principal Paula Potter wrote that the student-athletes at Riverside would have a difficult time trying to meet a Class AAAA travel schedule, while "travel expenses would increase tremendously for our athletic program."
Spencer believed a fourth classification would have watered down the competition, increased travel for the largest schools and led to longer girls and boys state basketball tournaments.
Reach Davin White at 348-1254 or davinwh...@wvgazette.com.
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