Petition to Separate OSSAA

[PawneeSports]

Petition seeks separate OSSAA
public, private school divisions

On Wednesday, representatives from a few public schools brought a petition to the oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association board of directors asking that a “Texas Plan” to separate public and private schools be brought for a vote of the OSSAA membership.

A decision has not been made on whether that vote will occur.

"That’s been directed to be on the agenda for our next (board) meeting on June 9,” OSSAA board of directors president Rocky Burchfield said. “In that plan, there would be two playoffs — one for public schools and one for private schools.”

There are 18 private schools among the oSSAA’s 483 high school members.

Last November, private schools tried to address the concerns that many public schools had about private schools having a competitive advantage in the OSSAA due to large district boundaries.

The OSSAA board of directors approved a proposal by the nine private schools that joined the OSSAA before 2006 that would decrease those schools’ district boundaries by about 80 percent.

Those nine private schools are Bishop Kelley, Cascia Hall, metro Christian, Victory Christian, Heritage Hall, McGuinness, Mount St. Mary, Oklahoma Bible and Oklahoma Christian School. Private schools that joined since 2006, such as Lincoln Christian, Summit Christian and Claremore Christian, already had narrow district boundaries.

—Barry Lewis,
world sports writer

[JimPat]

Funny how Texas private schools are trying to join the public association (only a couple have been able to) . . .

while Oklahoma public schools are trying to get the privates out of their association.

If Texas public schools take note of what Oklahoma has done, they won't be letting in any more privates anytime soon.

[PawneeSports]

OSSAA committee still working on plan for private schools

Comments
Members of a committee formed to come up with an alternative plan to address non-public schools in the OSSAA met Wednesday at OSSAA headquarters.

No formal plan was formed, although members said progress had been made towards forming an "Oklahoma” plan.

"I felt like it was very productive,” Blanchard superintendent Jim Beckham said. "We don’t have a plan, but we’re planning on meeting again, and we feel like we’ll have a plan to present at the next board meeting.”

The OSSAA board of directors will meet next June 9.

At the last board meeting, a group of public school administrators presented a survey of OSSAA member schools that indicated a great majority would be in favor of changing the way non-public schools — including magnet and charter schools — are addressed in the OSSAA.

They presented a "Texas" plan that would bump all of those schools into 6A and a "Tennessee” plan that would bump schools offering financial aid to 6A while others in the category would be bumped up a class.

"If either of those plans would’ve been put to a vote of the membership, they would’ve passed,” Beckham said. "The playing field’s not level. It’s systematic. The system has to fix it.”

The plans received more than the required number of votes to be put to a vote of the overall membership, though the board must first approve putting an issue to a membership vote.

Beckham said the plan the group comes up with will not be a straight multiplier like some states have that multiplies enrollment numbers for classification purposes for non-public schools.

"It’ll be some type of hybrid plan where some of the private schools are treated differently,” Beckham said. "The private schools that are in some areas of the state don’t have the population bases that the two metroplexes have. Our plan will address those differences.”

The committee — which is composed of seven members — is planning on meeting again next Wednesday. Two private schools — Heritage Hall and Cascia Hall — are represented on the committee.

The Oklahoma Football Coaches Association approved a proposal at its Wednesday meeting to delay the football redistricting until January, to free up more time for a resolution to the issue.

The OSSAA’s board is likely to vote on that proposal at the June board meeting.