New Classload Reshapes The Future First Enrollment Numbers Allow Some Reclassification Planning

There are still more questions than answers as deadlines approach for restructuring leagues under the new high school association reclassification plan.

The fallout from the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s decision last spring to add a fifth classification hits Eastern Washington particularly hard.

Very few final decisions have been made - not for lack of effort - but it won’t be long until athletic directors trying to set schedules for next year have to make some decisions.

The Greater Spokane League, which will be classified 4A next year, and area Class B leagues won’t change significantly. But the Frontier League and Northeast A League face major restructuring.

The seven-team FL, eight-team NEA and maybe a school or two moving up from B will be spread among 3A, 2A and 1A classifications, which means at least one of the potential new leagues is going to be extremely short-handed.

Many people have been working hard to find solutions. GSL and Frontier League representatives have met twice. The two leagues have talked with Big Nine and Mid Valley schools. The NEA and FL, along with the “big B” schools, have been together, and talks have been held with Idaho schools.

In addition to forming single classification leagues, schools are exploring combined classification leagues.

It was hard for some schools to do anything before Oct. 1, the first of the enrollment-count days. For classification purposes, a school’s enrollment on Oct. 1, Nov. 1 and Dec. 1 is averaged to determine where it should be placed.

With the Oct. 1 numbers in, schools now have an idea where they’ll land.

Although East Valley officials indicated they would prefer to join the GSL despite a high 3A enrollment, which they planned to do before the numbers changed, the decision isn’t final. There is a parent informational meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the high school. EV’s enrollment projections indicate the population will be more than 1,200 by next fall.

Other factors have an affect on the future league alignments.

West Valley is listed at 634 students, although enough attend alternative school to put WV below the 3A level if they aren’t counted. However, new guidelines for determining classification placement allow for no deductions.

Expect WV, which actually has 558 students in its building, to argue about that long and hard.

WV officials said that since 1991, 4,500 kids have passed through the alternative system but only 17 went back to their home district to try to compete athletically. WV got seven of those and just three finished a season, all below the varsity level - a very small number to have such a profound affect on varsity athletics.

Riverside is at 601 as of Oct. 1, the lowest number to be 3A. Expect the school to drop to 2A. The Oct. 1 count usually is the highest.

That means Republic, at 150, is likely to stay B (enrollments up to 150). Reardan, at 153, should also stay in the Bi-County B league. In fact, with the Oct. 1 count in, the guess is no local B schools will move up.

Among other questions are how allotments to state playoffs will be determined and how many of those allotments will be shipped to the east part of the state, where there could be few schools in certain classes.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: The Numbers Game