01/18/18-Football Alignment Update and Opportunity to Play Into a Higher Class and Withdraw from District

January 22, 2018 Athletic Department Blog Updates

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January 22, 2018

TO: Superintendents, Principals, Athletic Directors and Designated Representatives of Football Playing Schools

FR: Commissioner Julian Tackett

RE: Update on the Drafting of 2019 through 2022 Football Alignment, Opportunity to Withdraw From District Play or to Play in a Higher Class

At its meeting in January, the KHSAA Board of Control discussed and agreed on parameters surrounding an alignment of teams in football for the 2019 through 2022 playing seasons. This communication is solely about classification and geographic alignment development.

The following decisions have been finalized within the drafting of the alignment for this classification period:

SCHEDULING MORATORIUM

Please consider that there is, for 2019 and beyond, a scheduling moratorium in place. Until further notice, contracts signed for 2019 will not be considered valid. Until the alignment is finalized, do not schedule contests. It is the intent of the Board of Control to complete this project not later than its May 2018 meeting, allowing plenty of time for scheduling the 2019 season and beyond.

RECLASSIFICATION RESPONSE FORM

During this process, schools are asked for response throughout. The first step is the Playing up/Withdrawal form located at https://schools.khsaa.org/fb139-2019-2022-football-reclassification-playing-upwithdrawalspecial-request-form/. This form will be referenced several times during this notice. Responding schools must be securely logged in to the KHSAA school subdomain (https://schools.khsaa.org) to view or submit this form.  The form is used for schools desiring to withdraw from district play, requesting to play into a higher class, or make other reclassification project comments. THE DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF THIS FORM IS THE CLOSE OF BUSINESS, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9

ENROLLMENT FIGURES USED AND ALIGNMENT DRAFTING PRINCIPLES

The enrollment figures used to divide the teams into classes are the average number of boys enrolled as reported on the KDE second month report (growth factor membership) for the 2017-2018, 2016-2017, 2015-2016 and 2014-2015 school years. Those numbers are listed on the KHSAA web site at http://khsaa.org/football/realignment/2019-2022/football%20alignment%202019%20enrollments%20original.pdf. Adjustments were made for schools that have opened or consolidated in the past four years to discard a transition period and use the most recent data to project size.

This report reflects minor revisions from the draft earlier presented following a complete audit of the four-year enrollments to ensure accurate projections and the appropriate inclusion of additional on-campus students at Frederick Douglass High School in Lexington.

The draft alignment for the classification shows the ranked four-year average boys enrollment. The highest 32 ranked enrollments are placed in 6A, followed by the next 39 schools in 5A, the next 39 schools in 4A, the next 40 schools in 3A, the next 40 schools in 2A and the final 32 schools in 1A. Schools may request that the Board allow the school to play into a higher classification than the classification for which its ranked enrollment would normally place that school.

COMMITMENT TO PLAYING IN THE DISTRICT AND WITHDRAWAL FROM DISTRICT

Unless a school requests not to be placed in a district as part of this process, each school will be placed in a district by the Board of Control as part of the classification process. The process to withdraw will be done via the response form that is part of this notice.

During the current classification period, withdrawal of teams from district play has placed an undue hardship on the teams remaining in districts and remaining within the alignment. As such, additional penalties for withdrawal have been implemented for 2019 to 2022 to encourage schools to evaluate their programs and make a firm commitment to remaining in district competition throughout the classification period.

Once placed in a district at the end of this project by the Board of Control, a default forfeit fee of $1500 per game will exist if no additional contract is signed between the schools per Board of Control policy under Bylaw 22.

After being placed in a district, if a school withdraws from district competition at any point during the classification period, the school will be liable for the default forfeit fee, payable to each member school in the district, for each remaining required district game during the entire classification period.

In addition, a school withdrawing from district play will be ineligible to compete in the postseason competition for the remainder of the classification period, and will not be eligible for postseason play again until the 2023 playing season following the next classification process.

A school withdrawing from district play may continue to play regular season competition during the classification period but is not eligible for postseason competition.

To withdraw from district competition period for the 2019-2022 period, representatives must complete the Playing up/Withdrawal form located at https://schools.khsaa.org/fb139-2019-2022-football-reclassification-playing-upwithdrawalspecial-request-form/. 

SCHOOLS DO NOT NEED TO RESPOND TO THE SURVEY IF YOU DO NOT DESIRE TO PLAY INTO A HIGHER CLASS, DO NOT NEED TO WITHDRAW FROM DISTRICT PLAY AND HAVE NO OTHER SPECIFIC REQUEST REGARDING ALIGNMENT.

PLAYING UP TO A HIGHER CLASS

Schools will be given the voluntary option to request to play up into a higher classification. Absent such a request, the draft alignment will be formed without considering a playing up option for that school. The destination class must be specified on the request.

If team(s) elect to play up and the request is approved by the Board of Control, then the smallest school in the next class up (or each class if playing up is requested multiple classes) will be given the voluntary option of moving to the class being vacated in an effort to attempt to keep the number of teams in each class approximately equal.

To request to play in a higher class for the 2019-2022 period, representatives must complete the Playing up/Withdrawal form located at https://schools.khsaa.org/fb139-2019-2022-football-reclassification-playing-upwithdrawalspecial-request-form/. 

SCHOOLS DO NOT NEED TO RESPOND TO THE SURVEY IF YOU DO NOT DESIRE TO PLAY IN A HIGHER CLASS, DO NOT NEED TO WITHDRAW FROM DISTRICT PLAY AND HAVE NO OTHER SPECIFIC REQUEST REGARDING ALIGNMENT.

COMPOSITION OF DISTRICTS AND FINAL ALIGNMENT PROCEDURE

Once the playing up decisions, and the resultant options for teams in the next highest class are completed, the teams will be drawn into districts. Until that time, no projections will be made regarding districts. These districts may or may not be the same as the current district alignment, based solely on membership responses.

The Board of Control will discuss a draft alignment of teams at its next meeting. Following that meeting, the draft will be submitted to the membership with the final adoption scheduled for the May 2018 Board of Control meeting.

SCHEDULING GRID

The scheduling grid will continue to be utilized for 2019 to 2022 and any revisions will be adopted at the May, 2018 meeting prior to the lifting of the scheduling moratorium.

INTERIM REVIEW DURING CLASSIFICATION PERIOD 2019-2022

The Board will again look at the averages of enrolled boys with the average of the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years included to make any adjustments viewed necessary at that time for the final two years of the classicication period. Such adjustments will be based on extreme situations due to new school openings, consolidations, natural disasters and other emergencies, or other items that may be identified by the membership for interim review.

Member schools should contact Julian Tackett at the KHSAA if there are any questions.

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