By this time next week, all schools in the state of Alabama should know the results of the Alabama High School’s (AHSAA) reclassification count.
As of my talking with T.R. Miller athletic director and football coach Jamie Riggs and W.S. Neal athletic director and head football coach Doug Hoehn, both have said they expect their schools to stay in class 3A. But no one will know for sure until the count comes out next week.
The AHSAA reclassifies and realigns every two years, and the new configuration is typically released in November. This year’s announcement has been delayed until late January.
There could be a major twist in things this year, but I have heard mixed answers from people regarding the situation. Some say they think it will happen while others say it will not happen due to it affecting other things.
What is it you might ask?
There have been recent proposals of adding a seventh class to the already 1A-6A standards the state has in place and making a Super Class.
The proposal has been mentioned because of concerns over the possible competitive advantages held by “mega-schools” in the state.
When the AHSAA reclassified late in 2011, Hoover High School was the largest school in the state with an enrollment of 1,902 students. The smallest school in Class 6A was Chelsea, with an enrollment of 732. That is a 1,170 difference.
The largest school in Class 5A at that time was Russell County, with an enrollment of 729. That is 300 more than the smallest school in 5A, St. Paul’s (429).
It has been said that if the AHSAA does add a Class 7A or Super Class next week, the top portion of the current Class 5A alignment would likely be bumped up to the newly aligned regular Class 6A.
The AHSAA is expected to approve the 2014-2016 reclassification and realignment at a board meeting on January 22.
Here is a link to classification numbers put out by the AHSAA at the last reclassification count:
2012-14 Reclassification (enrollment)-5
Here is a link to the class 3A football regions and the maps of the current 3A school’s locations:
http://talismanred.com/ratings/highschool/alignment2012/align3a.shtml
In the most recent reclassification, T.R. Miller was ranked 40th out of 67, with a student count decreasing from 274 to 256.
Prior to that, T.R. Miller was the 26th largest school out of 66.
As for W.S. Neal, the Eagles were the 16th biggest 3A school out of 67 schools, with its last student count at 329 and a student count now at 292 in the most recent classification.
Prior to that, W.S. Neal was last reclassified as the 49th largest school in 4A out of 64 schools
Enrollment numbers are based on the average attendance for 10th-12th graders and ninth grade hold backs. The AHSAA reclassifies every two years.
I have often said that the big difference of enrollment numbers in 6A are not fair and I think this would be a good idea.
The question is, if it happens, how many schools would be in the extra class and how would that affect others?
I tried to do a little figuring on my own one day, and if they take the top-32 schools currently in 6A and fill everyone else down, according to old numbers, W.S. Neal could get bumped up to a bottom 4A school.
Now this is not written in stone. Some schools could have closed since the recent count, some consolidated, new ones built, other enrollments could have went up, while others gone down.
Either way, it is always neat to see how things change over a period of time and who will be the new teams our local teams will play the next two years.
I guess we will all find out next Wednesday, Jan. 22, around 10 a.m.
Until next time here or out in the world of sports, God bless!
Other reclassification links:
http://talismanred.com/ratings/highschool/alignment2012/
http://www.ahsaa.com/Sports/Alignments201214/tabid/2901/Default.aspx
(Classifications are based on the average daily membership (ADM) figures furnished by the state Department of Education for the upper three grades (10-12) plus ninth grade holdbacks. Schools with the largest enrollments are placed in Class 6A, the next largest in Class 5A, etc. Alignments are made for each sport in each class, based on the number of schools participating in a sport.)