A long time ago, our state tried out something called "secession." I wasn't alive then and I'm not much of reader, but I don't think it went too well. Were there fires? It seems like I heard about fires.
Anyway, the same could be on the horizon (on a much smaller, less important scale) in terms of high school athletics in South Carolina. For a long time now, private and charter schools have been fairly dominant over their public school counterparts in the Class A and AA ranks in what are considered "club sports" or secondary sports. As long as it was a busload of teenage girls getting clobbered on a volleyball court, not many people seemed to care. That started to change in recent years, though, when Christ Church (a private school in Greenville County) became an unbeatable whopperjack juggernaut on the football field, winning four straight Class A titles and setting the state record for consecutive wins in the process. Bishop England, a private school in the lowcountry which has specialized in crushing the hopes and dreams of the aforementioned public school volleyball teams for years, won a couple of titles too in the AA ranks. St. Joe's, another Greenville private school, has won back-to-back Class A baseball crowns. Suddenly, a lot of people started caring, but they should have been all along. The numbers are very stark and demonstrate that there are some sports where public schools are totally unable to compete against private schools. In recent years, private and charter schools (which only make up seven percent of the membership) have won 67 percent of all state titles in the state's two smallest classifications and non-public schools won state titles in 12 of the 16 sanctioned SCHSL sports last school year in Class A. Non-public schools have won every single boys Class A state title ever awarded in boys soccer, all but one in girls soccer, nine out of the last 10 boys golf championships and every girls cross-country title. The top seven finishers in that sport last year (and six-of-seven this year) were non-public schools. As already mentioned, Christ Church has won state in football four straight times, while St. Joe's has the last two state baseball crowns. Private schools have 10 tennis titles in-a-row and five volleyball championships. In AA, Bishop England has won 15 consecutive volleyball crowns and a myriad of other titles. If that level of excellence was being attained only because non-public schools had athletes and coaches that outworked everyone, I would have no complaint and no one else would have grounds for one either. That isn't what's happening, though. Public schools have whatever kids live in their fixed attendance zone. Taking players from outside them can (and has) lead to fines and playoff banishment. Private schools don't have to abide by those same rules, drawing from wherever. They can also cap enrollment, which allows them to choose which classification they wish to compete in. Public schools can't do that of course, so if enrollment jumps or the enrollment of other schools drops below them, they can get pushed up a class where there will, as among the smallest in that class, struggle. Private schools can recruit and offer scholarships to make sure they always have a capable goalie, quarterback or left-handed pitcher, while public school coaches have who they have. I don't like the class warfare card, but it's a fact that private schools usually do have more money at their disposal than the small, rural schools against whom they are competing. That affords private schools the ability to put together all-star coaching staffs, full of former public school head coaches. A defensive coordinator at a small, public Class A school is often Ned the math teacher who just happened to play linebacker in high school. Nothing against Ned but... Rightfully, public Class A and AA schools have been demanding some type of relief in an effort to level the playing field and counteract the obvious advantages private schools have over them. Several plans have been floated over the years, but a committee put together specifically to study the issue sent two to the South Carolina High School League Executive Committee recently. The first involved having a separate public school championship if a non-public school won a state title. In football, for example, Christ Church defeated Bamberg-Ehrhardt (a public school) for the title earlier this school year. Under this proposal, Bamberg-Ehrhardt would have been matched up the next week against the last public school team to lose to Christ Church (that would have been McBee). It's a good plan in theory but leans toward sucky in practice. Where would the teams play, since most other title games have a central location of some kind? In sports like soccer, where three of the final four teams are often private/charter schools, how far back do you go to find public schools to play in the game. There is also the concern (particularly in contact sports like football) of adding yet another game to the slate. In the scenario laid out above, Bamberg-Ehrhardt would play in the regular title game, then play in another the next week if they lost while McBee would have been sitting at home resting during that time. Would McBee be allowed to keep practicing in anticipation that Christ Church would win, setting up their game with Bamberg-Ehrhardt? Logistically, it wouldn't work and the executive committee shot it down. The second plan would basically be a multiplier. Private/charter schools would have their enrollment tied to that of the public school whose attendance district they sit in. As an example, Greer Middle College is a Class A charter school that sits in the same district as AAA Greer High. The reasoning is that they have access to the same students, so the private/charter school should compete in the same classification as the public school with whom they are partnered. There is a limit, though, of a one classification bump. So, instead of competing in AAA with Greer, Greer Middle would be bumped up to AA. There is also a carve-out for private/charter schools with 200 or fewer students...they would not have to move up at all. So basically, private/charter schools would all have to compete one classification above their actual classification, unless they have 200 or fewer students or sit in a district with a public Class A school. The executive committee approved the plan unanimously, but it won't actually go into effect unless the legislative body (read all members schools) approves it, which is SO not happening. Class A will support it, of course, because it rids them of Christ Church, St. Joe's, Fox Creek (a charter school) and basically every other private/charter school that is a threat to win state in anything. It gives AA no relief whatsoever, though. Yes, it sends Bishop England and soon-to-be-league-member Gray Collegiate up and out of the AAA ranks, but it also imports Christ Church, St. Joe's and Fox Creek. The problem would actually be worse. AAA has no motivation to support the plan at all, because right now there are no private/charter school in that classification and they ain't inviting any to the party. AAAA, who knows...they probably don't care one way or the other. They certainly have no vested interest, so voting on a plan that drastically changes the way business is done probably isn't appealing. So the multiplier will fail, the league can say they sure did try to help Class A and AA out, then everyone can go about their business...which in Class A and AA's case means getting the every-loving brown beaten out of them by private schools. That isn't where this ends, though. The state's two smallest classifications don't just have to grab ankles, bite towels, etc. If the multiplier fails (and it will) Class A and AA can take a radical next step. They can just pull out...or, let's use the word secede. That's a better word. They can go full-on Howard Beale, looking toward Columbia and pronouncing that they're mad as hell and they aren't gonna take it anymore. This may sound far-flung, but it is a very real possibility. Smaller schools have felt for a long time that they've gotten the butt end of the deal and that the league and the two largest classifications don't care, not only in terms of the private school issue but in terms of quality of officiating and other issues, influence and voting power etc...which is frankly a valid view to hold. There are a couple of smaller schools who want the multiplier to fail because they're itching to blow the league up. I don't know how many schools would do it, but it would only take a few strategically placed ones to get the ball rolling. For instance, there are fewer and fewer Class A schools in the upstate. If Lewisville, Whitmire and McBee pulled out, they would leave teams like Great Falls and C.A. Johnson totally on an island. What Class A schools could those two be grouped into a region with? The travel distances would be exorbitant, certainly more than either could feasibly afford, and that's not even considering safety issues of having kids on buses for hours-long trips. The league could re-stack the deck entirely, pushing some current AA and AAA schools down, but how could schools like Great Falls and C.A. Johnson, which have 300 or less students as it is, compete with bigger schools. They couldn't, so the easy answer would become to bolt from the league too. There would be huge ripple effects. A new league could write its own constitution...one that wouldn't allow private or charter schools in at all. The old league would suddenly have about half its current members, which would hit them hard financially. AAA and AAAA schools would suddenly find themselves HAVING to compete with private and charter schools, because hey, they're members and AAA and AAAA didn't try to help tame them when it only put a pinch on smaller schools so HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES BIGGUN!? At one point I didn't actually believe Class A and AA schools would secede from the league, figuring it was just a negotiating ploy designed to force the league's hand. I now fully expect it to happen. The fissures are pretty deep and the mood for tearing things up is at a high. I don't know if secession will work but it's coming. Cannon fire just hit Fort Sumter boys...let's hope there aren't fires.
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November 2021
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