Sister JC, Trish Grant, Coach R, and Sister Anne - State Playoff First Round 2018.
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Catholic Schools In The NCHSAA & Other Articles.
High Point Enterprise - March 8, 2006. Catholic schools make their mark in NCHSAA Bishop Mc Guinness, Charlotte Catholic, Cardinal Gibbons work overtime to keep a level playing field Rick Strunk held up his hand and stopped the statement cold, albeit with a friendly smile. "Non-boarding parochial schools," said the associate executive director of the N.C. High School Athletic Association. "Not private. "That's quite a mouthful, not to mention an awful lot to type when ranting and raving on the internet message boards about how unfair it is that Bishop Mc Guinness, Charlotte Catholic and Cardinal Gibbons possess membership in the NCHSAA. Three Catholic high schools can be found in North Carolina. All three play against public schools. Most importantly, all three are state championship contenders in at least one sport, Bishop breaking through in its inaugural season in the NCHSAA with Saturday's girls championship battle against Southeast Halifax. When a public school loses to a private school"oops, that's 'non-boarding parochial school' passions run high. The private schools, of course, recruit. Strunk said the application process for entry into the NCHSAA is the same for the Catholic schools as for any new public school opening in the state. The only different rules involved, in fact, are targeted directly at the nonboarding parochial schools: - Students playing sports cannot have their tuition paid for with scholarships of any kind. - Any athlete transferring from a public to a private school must sit out a year before competing. For starters, the transfer rule is far stricter than that imposed on the public schools, where policies range from non-existent to lenient in the best of districts when it comes to athletes switching schools. "Recruiting is hard to prove public school to public school," Strunk said. "I think the three non-boarding parochial schools have become really, really cognizant of that." So much so that each "private school" reports every transfer student to the NCHSAA, whether the athlete came from Durham, Delaware or Denmark. "The transfer rule is a good rule," said Bishop athletic director Jeff Stoller. "All three Catholic high schools in the state totally understand the reasoning behind the transfer rule and think it's a good rule." As for scholarships, Stoller said athletes at Bishop never have received financial aid to pay the cost of tuition, adding that the practice is outlawed by the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association, as well. Strunk recalled that Gibbons, the Raleigh school situated across from the RBC Center, had athletes on need-based financial aid prior to joining the NCHSAA and told those players in advance that they would either have to stop playing or pay full tuition. Charlotte Catholic owns the longest stay in the NCHSAA of any non-boarding parochial school, thanks in part to a decision some 50 years ago. The state Board of Education was told to change its policy of admitting only public schools into the NCHSAA, or legislation would be drafted to make it happen, Strunk said. No one complained for the longest time simply because those schools (there were as many as six "private" institutions over the years) performed woefully on the playing fields. Coaches such as Skip Prosser don't joke about playing "Our Lady of Perpetual Motion" for no reason. When Catholic started to get good in the early 1980s, six principals actually got the issue of ousting the school from the NCHSAA on a ballot. The statewide membership, Strunk said, rejected the proposition. The increase in private schools - really, who wants to keep typing "non-boarding parochial schools" anyway? - around the state likely means more and more will seek membership in the NCHSAA in the coming years. Officials at Bishop met with the association early on in the process to be sure all the I's were dotted and T's crossed. Strunk said he actually gave a workshop at Gibbons with all the school's coaches to go over the different policies. There's a cross in the gym. They pray before the game. The vehicles in the parking lot may be a bit shinier. And maybe there aren't as many Smiths and Joneses on the rosters. But the playing field isn't all that different, when you get right down to it. "The good thing about our athletic program -not just our basketball team - is that we're big on making sure our six feeder schools are priority No. 1," Villains girls coach Brian Robinson said. "Nine of our 10 girls on the varsity team have come from a Catholic feeder school. "You're always going to hear things, especially when you're successful," he added. "If you're doing something right, you don't apologize, and we're not going to apologize for doing things the right way." shanf@hpe.com |888-3526 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sad truth is that excellence makes people nervous. -- Shana Alexander "Why does stuff that happens to stupid people keep happening to me?" -- Anonymous “A man with no enemies is a man with no character.” ― Paul Newman "The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don't know anything about." - Anonymous "To err is human; to forgive, infrequent." -- Franklin P. Adams "There is no greater importance in all the world like knowing you are right and that the wave of the world is wrong, yet the wave crashes upon you." -- Norman Mailer, Armies Of The Night "Make the enemy live up to their own rules." - Saul Alinsky "If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us." -- Hermann Hesse "People have the right to their opinion and you have the right to ignore it." - Amazing Facts "Remember, it is only fair if I win." - Anonymous "Great souls have always encountered violent resistance from mediocre minds." Wednesday, October 4 Two Other Articles Of Note... Helen Wheelock, of Women's Basketball Magazine and a writer for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) wrote two pieces on topics very relevant to players, coaches, administration / support staff, parents and fans of girl's basketball. Click on the topic to read the article: The Reality of High School Coaches High School vs. AAU - A Culture Clash Monday, October 23 Another Article, This One On Parents ... Taking it too far... Saturday, May 26 Why High School Coaches Burn Out. An interesting link as to why high school coaches, on the average, don't last very long. |
March 12, 2011 - "Stallions Take On A 'King-Sized' Foe... by Rick Scoppe
Some see Southwest Onslow's opponent in today's state championship game as living up to their nickname. To them, the Villains really are Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School. Why? Bishop McGuinness is a private school (a.k.a. elite) in Kernersville that costs more than $8000 annually. The Villains don't face the same challenges as public schools, which is no doubt correct, and they sort of play outside - or at least on the edge - of the line of the rules when it comes to sports.
That, at least, is the perception by some.
And Southwest? Well, it's just a poor little old public school in eastern North Carolina that has none of the advantages academically or athletically that Bishop McGuinness possesses. Problem is, the Stallions have done all right over the years athletically as well as academically, and that view is fair to neither school.
I mean, Southwest did just win the 1A girl's soccer title right? And their football program is the envy of many.
According to several coaches and other I spoke with, Bishop McGuinness does have some advantages athletically, including parents with money to send their players to a bevy of camps for, in this case, girl's basketball. "The girls do play year-round," Bishop McGuinness coach Brian Robinson said. "That's just the nature of our program. "If you want to be as good as you possibly can be at anything, you obviously have to work at it constantly."
But Robinson said he doesn't recruit players to his school. In fact, he said, 37 of the 44 girls he's coaches in nine years at the school's varsity coach came from six Catholic feeder schools in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point and Burlington which consist of about 1.5 million. Obviously, the population Southwest draws from is significantly less.
Beyond that, Robinson said that two of the seven players who did come from elsewhere left after a year or two. He pointed out that any player transferring from a public school has to sit a year before being eligible to play sports. So that obviously limits the number of players looking to transfer to Bishop McGuinness.
Two coaches who go against Robinson - and have actually bested him in winning the Northwest 1A / 2A Conference the past two years - also disputed claims that Bishop McGuinness recruits players.
"Incorrect", North Surry coach Shane Slate said. "They have had a lot of success, and generally people are jealous of those have had success and look for reasons to explain that. "But regardless that kids that are there and coach (Brian) Robinson, they have worked hard for the success that they've had and they've done it within the rules. "Now are the rules equitable for everybody? "That's probably up to debate. "They haven't broken any rules. "And I think that's what some people try to pin on them, and that's not the case."
What is the case, Slate said, is the Villains are "serious" about basketball.
"The kids have playing basketball all their lives," said Slate, whose club beat Bishop McGuinness 46-34 early this past season. "The kids have been playing all their lives. "They play AAU. "Yes, they go to summer camps. "They have worked to get the success that they've had. "It's not like something like where they've put an all-star team together so to speak."
Mount Airy coach Howard Mayo, who club also beat the Villains 45-40 earlier this year, had much the same view.
"I think that's probably the best way to put it, they're different because they're a private school, and because they're a private school (geographical) boundaries don't apply to them. "If somebody wants to pay "$8,000 a year to go to school there, they can do that," he said. "And I think the success of the program breeds success and people want to go where you have a chance to be successful."
Mayo says that Robinson plays within the rules. The question Mayo added, was whether the rules, need to be revisited.
"I think right now the state of North Carolina honestly needs to look at the private and charter schools compared to other high schools because you have different animals," he said. "But until it affects football, a lot of people aren't going to pay attention to it."
Robinson didn't see a need for a change in the rules. "It's not like all the (private) schools are dominating," he said. "We just happen to be doing well in one sport. "How may private or charter schools are in the (eight) state championships (boys and girls in all classifications) this year? "One?" Moreover, Robinson said with each win his program draws more and more scrutiny, which is fine with him.
"There's nothing to hide. "There's nothing going on. "It's just we're doing well," he said. "I tell you that you already see it, the fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade girls chomping at the bit in these (local Catholic feeder) schools to get better so they can maybe have the same opportunity to do the same thing."
Still, winning as much as Bishop McGuinness has done lately has made them their sport's version of the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys or Tar Heels or Blue Devils. You either love 'em or hate 'em. Over the years, Robinson has learned to let the questions around his program not bother him, although he knows they're out there.
"The first year or two, it was somewhat distracting. "I wouldn't say the word would be frustrating because I know how this program runs," he said. "Now that we are in my ninth year at Bishop and sixth year going to this game it really rolls off because a lot of times folks are just not educated properly on what is really going on. "Obviously, when some team does well that's the first thing you say 'Oh, well they must be doing something wrong.' "It's funny how many people have really started digging into our program over the years and find out, 'You know what, they're not doing anything wrong. 'They're just playing a very high level."
"I've gotten more apologies over the last three years than criticism. "There's still going to be some here and there, but if our success helps educate people on what we're doing, that's fine with me, too".
That, at least, is the perception by some.
And Southwest? Well, it's just a poor little old public school in eastern North Carolina that has none of the advantages academically or athletically that Bishop McGuinness possesses. Problem is, the Stallions have done all right over the years athletically as well as academically, and that view is fair to neither school.
I mean, Southwest did just win the 1A girl's soccer title right? And their football program is the envy of many.
According to several coaches and other I spoke with, Bishop McGuinness does have some advantages athletically, including parents with money to send their players to a bevy of camps for, in this case, girl's basketball. "The girls do play year-round," Bishop McGuinness coach Brian Robinson said. "That's just the nature of our program. "If you want to be as good as you possibly can be at anything, you obviously have to work at it constantly."
But Robinson said he doesn't recruit players to his school. In fact, he said, 37 of the 44 girls he's coaches in nine years at the school's varsity coach came from six Catholic feeder schools in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point and Burlington which consist of about 1.5 million. Obviously, the population Southwest draws from is significantly less.
Beyond that, Robinson said that two of the seven players who did come from elsewhere left after a year or two. He pointed out that any player transferring from a public school has to sit a year before being eligible to play sports. So that obviously limits the number of players looking to transfer to Bishop McGuinness.
Two coaches who go against Robinson - and have actually bested him in winning the Northwest 1A / 2A Conference the past two years - also disputed claims that Bishop McGuinness recruits players.
"Incorrect", North Surry coach Shane Slate said. "They have had a lot of success, and generally people are jealous of those have had success and look for reasons to explain that. "But regardless that kids that are there and coach (Brian) Robinson, they have worked hard for the success that they've had and they've done it within the rules. "Now are the rules equitable for everybody? "That's probably up to debate. "They haven't broken any rules. "And I think that's what some people try to pin on them, and that's not the case."
What is the case, Slate said, is the Villains are "serious" about basketball.
"The kids have playing basketball all their lives," said Slate, whose club beat Bishop McGuinness 46-34 early this past season. "The kids have been playing all their lives. "They play AAU. "Yes, they go to summer camps. "They have worked to get the success that they've had. "It's not like something like where they've put an all-star team together so to speak."
Mount Airy coach Howard Mayo, who club also beat the Villains 45-40 earlier this year, had much the same view.
"I think that's probably the best way to put it, they're different because they're a private school, and because they're a private school (geographical) boundaries don't apply to them. "If somebody wants to pay "$8,000 a year to go to school there, they can do that," he said. "And I think the success of the program breeds success and people want to go where you have a chance to be successful."
Mayo says that Robinson plays within the rules. The question Mayo added, was whether the rules, need to be revisited.
"I think right now the state of North Carolina honestly needs to look at the private and charter schools compared to other high schools because you have different animals," he said. "But until it affects football, a lot of people aren't going to pay attention to it."
Robinson didn't see a need for a change in the rules. "It's not like all the (private) schools are dominating," he said. "We just happen to be doing well in one sport. "How may private or charter schools are in the (eight) state championships (boys and girls in all classifications) this year? "One?" Moreover, Robinson said with each win his program draws more and more scrutiny, which is fine with him.
"There's nothing to hide. "There's nothing going on. "It's just we're doing well," he said. "I tell you that you already see it, the fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade girls chomping at the bit in these (local Catholic feeder) schools to get better so they can maybe have the same opportunity to do the same thing."
Still, winning as much as Bishop McGuinness has done lately has made them their sport's version of the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys or Tar Heels or Blue Devils. You either love 'em or hate 'em. Over the years, Robinson has learned to let the questions around his program not bother him, although he knows they're out there.
"The first year or two, it was somewhat distracting. "I wouldn't say the word would be frustrating because I know how this program runs," he said. "Now that we are in my ninth year at Bishop and sixth year going to this game it really rolls off because a lot of times folks are just not educated properly on what is really going on. "Obviously, when some team does well that's the first thing you say 'Oh, well they must be doing something wrong.' "It's funny how many people have really started digging into our program over the years and find out, 'You know what, they're not doing anything wrong. 'They're just playing a very high level."
"I've gotten more apologies over the last three years than criticism. "There's still going to be some here and there, but if our success helps educate people on what we're doing, that's fine with me, too".
March 9, 2012 - "These Villains Are Hard To Beat" by Jason Wolf, Greensboro News & Record.
This all started in early 2006, this staggering run of state titles, in front of a packed house at the Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem. Undefeated Bishop McGuinness, a private school that had just rejoined the N.C. High School Athletic Association that school year.
Four-time defending Thomasville, a juggernaut by every definition.
The Class 1-A Western Regional title game. Winner advances to play for the girls basketball state crown in Chapel Hill. The score wasn't close. Bishop McGuinness 60 Thomasville 44.
The Villains then rolled to their first of six consecutive state championships, tying the NCHSAA record forged by Class 1-A Hayessville from 1988 to '93, and they have a chance to make it seven straight against Chocowinity Southside at noon Saturday in Chapel Hill.
Along the way, Bishop has been powered by talented players: Maryland signee Katheryn Lyons during that first title run; AP state player of the year and two-time title game MVP Erinn Thompson who went on to play at Virginia; three-time title game MVP Megan Buckland, now at North Carolina. But this year's team doesn't possess that dominating superstar athlete.
"They're all leaders in their own way, and that's kind of what's unique about them," Buckland said.
Sammi Goldsmith is the team's leading scorer at 10.6 points per game. She intends to play at Division III Lynchburg College next season.
And yet here they are, on the cusp of making North Carolina basketball history. How do the Villains do it?
Bishop is one of three, soon to be four, non-boarding parochial schools competing in the NCHSAA, which is dominated by public schools. The designation differentiates Bishop from other private schools in that it does not provide any form of financial assistance to athletes, and students who transfer from a public high school are barred from competing in athletics for a full year.
These rules are in place to counterbalance the advantage of not having a set geographic school district. The Villains have the benefit of competing in the Class 1-A, the smallest in the state, based on enrollment. But they draw athletes from across the Piedmont Triad, a population of about 1.6 million.
"We compete against leagues with open enrollment," Bishop athletics director Jeff Stoller said. "Winston-Salem / Forsyth County Schools, Rowan County have open enrollment policies. You compare that with our situation, and who really has the advantage?"
Bishop relies on five feeder schools: two in Greensboro, two in Winston-Salem and one in High Point. All five have competitive basketball teams, perhaps the biggest key to success.
"They have coaches on those teams that are as good as some of the varsity coaches I have gone up against," Bishop coach Brian Robinson said. "I've had 47 kids in our program, and 39 of them have come from a Catholic feeder school.... It's very easy to coach these kids because you don't have to worry about discipline problems, they're great academically, and they're going to work hard."
All but three players on this year's team attended one of those schools. The ones who didn't include Goldsmith and Cameron Nieters, the team's leading scorers. But every player on the roster has been with the program since their freshman year.
The coach is also a big part of the success.
Robinson is in his 10th season with the Villains and is the chairman of the high school All-American Selection Committee for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. He's on the USA Basketballl Women's Development Committee. And he's the founder and director of the Winston-Salem Stealers girls AAU program.
"When you're consistently good for that long a period, it really stops being about what kind of players you get in and starts being about what kind of program you're running as a coach," said Lyons, now the girls basketball coach at Westchester. "You put the teams he's had with another coach, and we win a state championship or two as opposed to six or maybe seven".
There's luck to it, of course, a bounce here or there. And then there's the matter of competing in Class 1-A and the caliber of opponents Bishop faces in the postseason. Many 1-A schools are in rural areas, which limits the talent pool from which they draw and the access to things like elite AAU programs and personal trainers.
Dynasties such as Bishop McGuinness' don't exist in any other basketball classification. But they do in other sports, and in other classes.
"Why did Enloe win nine 4-A swimming championships?" NCHSAA associate commissioner Rick Strunk added. "Those questions are hard to answer. I think the answer is all of the above. And the thing that occurs when you begin to have success, is the kids wearing those jerseys begin to expect to win and the teams playing against those jerseys may begin to experience some doubt.
"There's a mystique."
Four-time defending Thomasville, a juggernaut by every definition.
The Class 1-A Western Regional title game. Winner advances to play for the girls basketball state crown in Chapel Hill. The score wasn't close. Bishop McGuinness 60 Thomasville 44.
The Villains then rolled to their first of six consecutive state championships, tying the NCHSAA record forged by Class 1-A Hayessville from 1988 to '93, and they have a chance to make it seven straight against Chocowinity Southside at noon Saturday in Chapel Hill.
Along the way, Bishop has been powered by talented players: Maryland signee Katheryn Lyons during that first title run; AP state player of the year and two-time title game MVP Erinn Thompson who went on to play at Virginia; three-time title game MVP Megan Buckland, now at North Carolina. But this year's team doesn't possess that dominating superstar athlete.
"They're all leaders in their own way, and that's kind of what's unique about them," Buckland said.
Sammi Goldsmith is the team's leading scorer at 10.6 points per game. She intends to play at Division III Lynchburg College next season.
And yet here they are, on the cusp of making North Carolina basketball history. How do the Villains do it?
Bishop is one of three, soon to be four, non-boarding parochial schools competing in the NCHSAA, which is dominated by public schools. The designation differentiates Bishop from other private schools in that it does not provide any form of financial assistance to athletes, and students who transfer from a public high school are barred from competing in athletics for a full year.
These rules are in place to counterbalance the advantage of not having a set geographic school district. The Villains have the benefit of competing in the Class 1-A, the smallest in the state, based on enrollment. But they draw athletes from across the Piedmont Triad, a population of about 1.6 million.
"We compete against leagues with open enrollment," Bishop athletics director Jeff Stoller said. "Winston-Salem / Forsyth County Schools, Rowan County have open enrollment policies. You compare that with our situation, and who really has the advantage?"
Bishop relies on five feeder schools: two in Greensboro, two in Winston-Salem and one in High Point. All five have competitive basketball teams, perhaps the biggest key to success.
"They have coaches on those teams that are as good as some of the varsity coaches I have gone up against," Bishop coach Brian Robinson said. "I've had 47 kids in our program, and 39 of them have come from a Catholic feeder school.... It's very easy to coach these kids because you don't have to worry about discipline problems, they're great academically, and they're going to work hard."
All but three players on this year's team attended one of those schools. The ones who didn't include Goldsmith and Cameron Nieters, the team's leading scorers. But every player on the roster has been with the program since their freshman year.
The coach is also a big part of the success.
Robinson is in his 10th season with the Villains and is the chairman of the high school All-American Selection Committee for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. He's on the USA Basketballl Women's Development Committee. And he's the founder and director of the Winston-Salem Stealers girls AAU program.
"When you're consistently good for that long a period, it really stops being about what kind of players you get in and starts being about what kind of program you're running as a coach," said Lyons, now the girls basketball coach at Westchester. "You put the teams he's had with another coach, and we win a state championship or two as opposed to six or maybe seven".
There's luck to it, of course, a bounce here or there. And then there's the matter of competing in Class 1-A and the caliber of opponents Bishop faces in the postseason. Many 1-A schools are in rural areas, which limits the talent pool from which they draw and the access to things like elite AAU programs and personal trainers.
Dynasties such as Bishop McGuinness' don't exist in any other basketball classification. But they do in other sports, and in other classes.
"Why did Enloe win nine 4-A swimming championships?" NCHSAA associate commissioner Rick Strunk added. "Those questions are hard to answer. I think the answer is all of the above. And the thing that occurs when you begin to have success, is the kids wearing those jerseys begin to expect to win and the teams playing against those jerseys may begin to experience some doubt.
"There's a mystique."
April 17, 2012 - Winston-Salem Journal
In a week, Bishop McGuinness might need to find a different high school athletics association to call home.
A group of principals in Rowan County has submitted a proposed amendment to the N.C. High School Athletic Association bylaws that, if passed, would eliminate non-boarding parochial schools from membership and create separate state tournaments for charter schools.
That would mean McGuinness, Charlotte Catholic, Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons and Charlotte Christ the King — which is scheduled to be a new member this fall — would no longer be allowed membership to the NCHSAA, starting in the 2013-14 school year.
Passing the amendments would take three-fourth’s of the NCHSAA’s 390-school membership voting in favor. Ballots were emailed to each school by the NCHSAA and voting will end at noon on April 24.
The three current parochial members have been highly successful in NCHSAA postseason play. McGuinness just won its seventh straight Class 1-A girls basketball championship, setting an NCHSAA all-classifications record. And, according to the Raleigh News and Observer, Gibbons has won 34 state championships since 2005.
Principal Jerry Healy of Charlotte Catholic — which is in its 50th year of membership in the NCHSAA — said that a move to take Catholic schools out of membership also happened in the 1980’s.
"We have been through this once before and I thought it would be put to rest," Healy said. "But it looks like we have to go through it again."
Healy said that he and principals at McGuinness and Gibbons were told of the vote during a conference call last Friday, and that he was caught off guard and disappointed.
"I want to fight not just for now, but for the future — with the assurance I hope down the road that if things turn out the way I hope they will, that we won’t have to go through this again," Healy said.
"If we have to look at other legal ramifications, we will. I don’t want it to go to that. The membership is a very solid group that’s very reasonable and understands the position of Catholic schools.
All Rowan County principals were in a countywide meeting yesterday and unavailable for comment.
George Repass, the principal at McGuinness, declined to comment. But Jeff Stoller, the athletics director at McGuinness, said in an email: "Everything is being handled at the Diocesan level, both at the Diocese of Charlotte and the Diocese of Raleigh. An association changing the language of their bylaws to dismiss and exclude one particular group is not something I feel that will ultimately be allowed to stand."
In an email submitted by the NCHSAA, the referendum issued from Salisbury High School stressed voting for the proposal would "level the playing field."
Among the reasons for change were: "Non-boarding parochial schools have NO geographic boundaries," and also stated that the schools could select the best athletes from its pool of applicants, unlike public schools, which must "enroll and serve any and all students assigned to a school by the local board of education."
Also attached to the NCHSAA email was a joint statement from Dr. Michael Fedewa, the Superintendent of the Diocese of Raleigh, and principal Jason Curtis of Cardinal Gibbons; a statement from Janice T. Ritter, the interim Superintendent of Catholic Schools Diocese of Charlotte, was also attached.
Both statements are opposed to the amendments and stated that non-boarding parochial schools have been a part of the NCHSAA for at least 50 years. Ritter’s statement advised member schools to delay voting until the Dioceses in Charlotte and Raleigh have a chance to review the amendments and issue a rebuttal.
The second part of the new proposal would disallow charter schools that are NCHSAA members from participating in "bracketed" playoffs for team sports and would instead compete in a separate playoff only for charter schools. Athletes at charter schools participating in individual sports would continue to compete with public school athletes for state championships.
A group of principals in Rowan County has submitted a proposed amendment to the N.C. High School Athletic Association bylaws that, if passed, would eliminate non-boarding parochial schools from membership and create separate state tournaments for charter schools.
That would mean McGuinness, Charlotte Catholic, Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons and Charlotte Christ the King — which is scheduled to be a new member this fall — would no longer be allowed membership to the NCHSAA, starting in the 2013-14 school year.
Passing the amendments would take three-fourth’s of the NCHSAA’s 390-school membership voting in favor. Ballots were emailed to each school by the NCHSAA and voting will end at noon on April 24.
The three current parochial members have been highly successful in NCHSAA postseason play. McGuinness just won its seventh straight Class 1-A girls basketball championship, setting an NCHSAA all-classifications record. And, according to the Raleigh News and Observer, Gibbons has won 34 state championships since 2005.
Principal Jerry Healy of Charlotte Catholic — which is in its 50th year of membership in the NCHSAA — said that a move to take Catholic schools out of membership also happened in the 1980’s.
"We have been through this once before and I thought it would be put to rest," Healy said. "But it looks like we have to go through it again."
Healy said that he and principals at McGuinness and Gibbons were told of the vote during a conference call last Friday, and that he was caught off guard and disappointed.
"I want to fight not just for now, but for the future — with the assurance I hope down the road that if things turn out the way I hope they will, that we won’t have to go through this again," Healy said.
"If we have to look at other legal ramifications, we will. I don’t want it to go to that. The membership is a very solid group that’s very reasonable and understands the position of Catholic schools.
All Rowan County principals were in a countywide meeting yesterday and unavailable for comment.
George Repass, the principal at McGuinness, declined to comment. But Jeff Stoller, the athletics director at McGuinness, said in an email: "Everything is being handled at the Diocesan level, both at the Diocese of Charlotte and the Diocese of Raleigh. An association changing the language of their bylaws to dismiss and exclude one particular group is not something I feel that will ultimately be allowed to stand."
In an email submitted by the NCHSAA, the referendum issued from Salisbury High School stressed voting for the proposal would "level the playing field."
Among the reasons for change were: "Non-boarding parochial schools have NO geographic boundaries," and also stated that the schools could select the best athletes from its pool of applicants, unlike public schools, which must "enroll and serve any and all students assigned to a school by the local board of education."
Also attached to the NCHSAA email was a joint statement from Dr. Michael Fedewa, the Superintendent of the Diocese of Raleigh, and principal Jason Curtis of Cardinal Gibbons; a statement from Janice T. Ritter, the interim Superintendent of Catholic Schools Diocese of Charlotte, was also attached.
Both statements are opposed to the amendments and stated that non-boarding parochial schools have been a part of the NCHSAA for at least 50 years. Ritter’s statement advised member schools to delay voting until the Dioceses in Charlotte and Raleigh have a chance to review the amendments and issue a rebuttal.
The second part of the new proposal would disallow charter schools that are NCHSAA members from participating in "bracketed" playoffs for team sports and would instead compete in a separate playoff only for charter schools. Athletes at charter schools participating in individual sports would continue to compete with public school athletes for state championships.
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April 18, 2012 - Winston-Salem Journal
Windsor Eagle has been the principal at Salisbury High School since 1980, after moving south from Virginia.
And he said Wednesday that from the day he learned the N.C. High School Athletic Association allowed non-parochial boarding schools as members, he disagreed with the policy. Eagle, who will retire in June, said he wanted to take his last opportunity to give NCHSAA members the chance to correct what he sees as a mistake. That’s why he, and five of his fellow principals in Rowan County, sponsored an amendment to the NCHSAA bylaws that would keep Bishop McGuinness, Charlotte Catholic and Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons from staying in the NCHSAA. For the amendment to pass, 293 of the NCHSAA’s 390 schools (75 percent) will have to vote in favor of it before the deadline of noon Tuesday. If it does pass, the three schools will be out of the NCHSAA after the 2012-13 school year. "This idea has been floating around through various people around the state at various times, and it was time for someone to put it forward," Eagle said by telephone. "It’s not a level playing field when others can draw from out of state, in-state, any place in the state. Parochial schools are supposed to have a parish, and I don’t know if they have them. The parish may be as far away as the furthest (student) lives." Principal Kurt Telford of West Forsyth said that the issues addressed in the amendments, including one to create a separate team playoff system for charter schools, need discussion. "We have some schools that have been in for 50 years, and I don’t know if we just kick them out and say the rules are too much in your favor," said Telford, referring to Charlotte Catholic. "The ballot doesn’t allow us to give recommendations." Telford said there could be other ways to alleviate problems. One of them, as outlined in the Rowan principals’ amendment, is that the parochial schools don’t have geographic attendance districts. "Maybe those schools play up (in classification)?" Telford said. "I just feel like we are changing the rules part-way through. If they are middle of the road in all sports, we are probably not discussing this." Rick Strunk, the associate executive director of the NCHSAA, said that a running total on the vote will not be kept and that he thinks the NCHSAA’s board of directors, which will meet May 1, would have to know the results before they are made public. Dave Diamont, the football coach at East Surry, said he was not speaking on behalf of his school by offering his opinion. "It gets to the point that you work so hard with what you have to produce as good a team as possible, your kids bust it for you," Diamont said. "Then you compete against someone with unbelievable talent. We have seen it personally at East Surry. "If you don’t have a boundary, how can you compete against those of us that are small and have a boundary? It’s ludicrous to pretend you will be competing for a state title when you go against people that are able to draw from a number of locations." |
"Basketball is something I do 365 days of the year in some capacity. "I make sure to take some time away from the game for obvious reasons, but with so many different teams, programs, and people I deal with on a daily basis it is hard to not be doing something on or off the court for someone at some time, even on a holiday. "That's when people say to me 'I or we work hard' my question to them is 'Define Work Hard? "I believe if you do something everyday of the year, no matter the field: a doctor, a policeman, a coach, a construction worker... and really put your all into because you love it, not to just do it because it is the season for it, or it's something to do, or it's convenient at the time, then you can't help to be pretty good at it. "Typically, when you run into someone who wants the same things as you, and thinks they have put the time in, but find out that they really haven't, then that usually leads to the jealousy and hatred not just in sports but in the world and that's typically followed by excuses or a justification of why they aren't as successful because of some advantage. "I really think that if I didn't care about basketball. in this case girls basketball, the people I deal with, then I doubt people would want to associate themselves with me, thus the 'advantage' you get in life works both ways as it can be a disadvantage because of no set foundation or 'customers'." - Brian Robinson, March 2011
Lessons from the picture above: 1. Not all opportunities are to be taken. Some are traps. 2. A person can become so determined to destroy another person that they become blind and end up destroying themselves. 3. You fight best in your natural element and environment. Here the bird has advantange in his natural element. 4. Know your limits, we all have them. 5. Sometimes the best response to provocation is not to fight. 6. Sometimes to accomplish something you need team work, you will not always win alone. 7. Stick to what you do best and don't pursue what will kill you.
May 3, 2012.
A vote to banish Bishop McGuinness and other non-boarding parochial schools from the N.C. High School Athletic Association has failed, meaning Bishop, Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons and Charlotte Catholic will retain membership in the organization.
Only 285 of the 390 NCHSAA-member schools cast a ballot, with 234 voting in favor of revoking the parochial schools’ membership and 51 schools opposed. That’s a whopping 82 percent. But a three-fourths majority of the entire NCHSAA membership, or 293 affirmative votes, was required for the referendum to pass.
There were 105 schools that did not vote.
“The outcome of the vote itself was not of great concern to us,” Bishop McGuinness athletics director Jeff Stoller wrote in an email to the News & Record. “As I stated previously, I feel confident if the amendment had passed, it would not have withstood a challenge in the long run. Obviously, it is easier for all sides that it did not pass. We were encouraged by statements made by the NCHSAA that they would work to address our concerns about this type of situation (a membership vote to expel members without cause) not being allowed to occur again. "And it’s easier for all sides that it didn’t pass. I am encouraged by the fact that the NCHSAA made public statements to the affect that they are going to address situations such as taking a vote to dismiss member schools. "The idea that six principals can petition to have a member thrown out without cause, that shouldn’t happen."
The referendum was at the request of six Rowan County schools. They argued that parochial schools have an unfair advantage because they are not limited by geographic boundaries, meaning their student athletes can come from anywhere.
“I think the biggest problem, and we’re staying away from the word recruit … is they have no boundaries that keeps them from going out and getting a kid,” Salisbury athletics director Joe Pinyan said at the time.
A source told the News & Record last week that “a lot of schools” intentionally did not vote on the issue, which was as good as voting “no.” Principals of each NCHSAA member school had a week to vote, with a deadline of April 24.
The results of the vote were announced at the NCHSAA’s annual meeting Wednesday in Chapel Hill. In addition to the three current parochial schools retaining membership, Charlotte Christ the King, a new parochial school, will also join the NCHSAA ranks at the start of next school year.
A second proposal to create a separate playoff system for charter schools was voted down, as well, 197 for and 81 against. That also required a three-fourths majority of the entire membership, or 293 affirmative votes, in order to pass.
Commissioner Davis Whitfield announced Wednesday that the NCHSAA would form a committee to take a further look at how the association handles non-boarding parochial and charter schools.
“As far as the NCHSAA Board directing the association to bring all schools together to ensure a level playing field,” Stoller wrote, “we are certainly open to doing that as long as the discussion includes not only non-boarding parochial schools and charter schools but also magnet schools and all non-boundary traditional public schools.”
Only 285 of the 390 NCHSAA-member schools cast a ballot, with 234 voting in favor of revoking the parochial schools’ membership and 51 schools opposed. That’s a whopping 82 percent. But a three-fourths majority of the entire NCHSAA membership, or 293 affirmative votes, was required for the referendum to pass.
There were 105 schools that did not vote.
“The outcome of the vote itself was not of great concern to us,” Bishop McGuinness athletics director Jeff Stoller wrote in an email to the News & Record. “As I stated previously, I feel confident if the amendment had passed, it would not have withstood a challenge in the long run. Obviously, it is easier for all sides that it did not pass. We were encouraged by statements made by the NCHSAA that they would work to address our concerns about this type of situation (a membership vote to expel members without cause) not being allowed to occur again. "And it’s easier for all sides that it didn’t pass. I am encouraged by the fact that the NCHSAA made public statements to the affect that they are going to address situations such as taking a vote to dismiss member schools. "The idea that six principals can petition to have a member thrown out without cause, that shouldn’t happen."
The referendum was at the request of six Rowan County schools. They argued that parochial schools have an unfair advantage because they are not limited by geographic boundaries, meaning their student athletes can come from anywhere.
“I think the biggest problem, and we’re staying away from the word recruit … is they have no boundaries that keeps them from going out and getting a kid,” Salisbury athletics director Joe Pinyan said at the time.
A source told the News & Record last week that “a lot of schools” intentionally did not vote on the issue, which was as good as voting “no.” Principals of each NCHSAA member school had a week to vote, with a deadline of April 24.
The results of the vote were announced at the NCHSAA’s annual meeting Wednesday in Chapel Hill. In addition to the three current parochial schools retaining membership, Charlotte Christ the King, a new parochial school, will also join the NCHSAA ranks at the start of next school year.
A second proposal to create a separate playoff system for charter schools was voted down, as well, 197 for and 81 against. That also required a three-fourths majority of the entire membership, or 293 affirmative votes, in order to pass.
Commissioner Davis Whitfield announced Wednesday that the NCHSAA would form a committee to take a further look at how the association handles non-boarding parochial and charter schools.
“As far as the NCHSAA Board directing the association to bring all schools together to ensure a level playing field,” Stoller wrote, “we are certainly open to doing that as long as the discussion includes not only non-boarding parochial schools and charter schools but also magnet schools and all non-boundary traditional public schools.”
Raleigh News & Observer - December 7, 2012
The N.C. High School Athletic Association Board of Directors took no action regarding nontraditional schools during its annual winter meeting Thursday, but did agree on some changes.
The board is expected to vote on the changes during its spring meeting in May.
The NCHSAA defines a nontraditional school as one not governed by a locally elected board of education and whose oversight is not provided by a board of education-appointed system superintendent.
The nontraditional schools that are members of the NCHSAA are either nonboarding parochial school such as Cardinal Gibbons, or charter schools.
The NCHSAA board was presented recommendations from a special ad hoc committee that was appointed to study nontraditional schools, but chose to agree in principle to the changes and not vote until May.
The board hopes to get feedback from the association's 396 schools and review the proposed changes with N.C. General Assemby leaders.
"No matter what we do, some people are not going to like it," said Stewart Hobbs, the NCHSAA president and the superintendent of Yadkin County Schools. "It is like cancelling school because of snow. "Some people are going to be mad if you do it. Others are going to be mad if you don't. "This recommendation answers all of the questions we've heard about nontraditional school. "It addresses transfers, residency, and nontraditional schools' performance in the playoffs."
The nontraditional school committee was appointed after the NCHSAA membership voted in the spring whether to exclude the nonboarding parochial schools. the motion did not receive the three-fourths majority needed to pass.
"What did these schools do wrong?" Hobbys said. "Nothing."
Among the proposed changes would be that athletes at nontraditional schools would have to live in the same county as the school, or live within 25 miles of the school or be a member of a parochial church and submit a letter of verification from the pastor.
Nontraditional schools, parochial or charter, would be bumped up a classification for the playoffs in a sport if that school had advanced to the regional semifinals in six of the preceding eight years, or made the regional finals in four of the previous six years or made the state finals in three consecutive years in its current classification.
Cardinal Gibbons, for example, has dominated 3A volleyball and would be moved to the 4A playoffs in volleyball under the proposed change.
The school would be moved up for that sport only, not in all sports.
The board agreed with various transfer limitations, including school students who transfer to nonboarding parochial schools being ineligible for 365 days.
The board agreed upon transfer rules, which would usually allow students to transfer between charter school and public schools and be eligible, might not be considered in May, however.
The board agreed in principle to make all transfer students ineligible for 365 days unless a domicile change is made or a local education agency (LEA) approves the transfer. The board is expected to vote on that change in May also.
"The transfer policy would affect all 396 schools and we wouldn't need the nontraditional transfer rules," said Davis Whitfield, the NCHSAA commissioner. "We had the nontraditional school committee propse transfer rules for nontraditional schools and the education committee propose transfer rules in general."
More than half of the 24 board members commented during discussion about nontraditional schools. The board also spent considerable time Wednesday talking about the issue.
Mac Morris of the N.C. Coaches Association said there is very little difference in the nontraditional schools and many other members schools.
"What is the difference between them and schools in the systems that have open enrollment?" he said. (See LINK)
Several board members said they appreciated the ad hoc committee's work, but they wanted to get more input from the schools before implementing the changes.
The board also wants to talk to members of the N.C. General Assembly before voting on the changes.
"These are big changes," Whitfield said. "I'm very comfortable with getting more feedback."
The board is expected to vote on the changes during its spring meeting in May.
The NCHSAA defines a nontraditional school as one not governed by a locally elected board of education and whose oversight is not provided by a board of education-appointed system superintendent.
The nontraditional schools that are members of the NCHSAA are either nonboarding parochial school such as Cardinal Gibbons, or charter schools.
The NCHSAA board was presented recommendations from a special ad hoc committee that was appointed to study nontraditional schools, but chose to agree in principle to the changes and not vote until May.
The board hopes to get feedback from the association's 396 schools and review the proposed changes with N.C. General Assemby leaders.
"No matter what we do, some people are not going to like it," said Stewart Hobbs, the NCHSAA president and the superintendent of Yadkin County Schools. "It is like cancelling school because of snow. "Some people are going to be mad if you do it. Others are going to be mad if you don't. "This recommendation answers all of the questions we've heard about nontraditional school. "It addresses transfers, residency, and nontraditional schools' performance in the playoffs."
The nontraditional school committee was appointed after the NCHSAA membership voted in the spring whether to exclude the nonboarding parochial schools. the motion did not receive the three-fourths majority needed to pass.
"What did these schools do wrong?" Hobbys said. "Nothing."
Among the proposed changes would be that athletes at nontraditional schools would have to live in the same county as the school, or live within 25 miles of the school or be a member of a parochial church and submit a letter of verification from the pastor.
Nontraditional schools, parochial or charter, would be bumped up a classification for the playoffs in a sport if that school had advanced to the regional semifinals in six of the preceding eight years, or made the regional finals in four of the previous six years or made the state finals in three consecutive years in its current classification.
Cardinal Gibbons, for example, has dominated 3A volleyball and would be moved to the 4A playoffs in volleyball under the proposed change.
The school would be moved up for that sport only, not in all sports.
The board agreed with various transfer limitations, including school students who transfer to nonboarding parochial schools being ineligible for 365 days.
The board agreed upon transfer rules, which would usually allow students to transfer between charter school and public schools and be eligible, might not be considered in May, however.
The board agreed in principle to make all transfer students ineligible for 365 days unless a domicile change is made or a local education agency (LEA) approves the transfer. The board is expected to vote on that change in May also.
"The transfer policy would affect all 396 schools and we wouldn't need the nontraditional transfer rules," said Davis Whitfield, the NCHSAA commissioner. "We had the nontraditional school committee propse transfer rules for nontraditional schools and the education committee propose transfer rules in general."
More than half of the 24 board members commented during discussion about nontraditional schools. The board also spent considerable time Wednesday talking about the issue.
Mac Morris of the N.C. Coaches Association said there is very little difference in the nontraditional schools and many other members schools.
"What is the difference between them and schools in the systems that have open enrollment?" he said. (See LINK)
Several board members said they appreciated the ad hoc committee's work, but they wanted to get more input from the schools before implementing the changes.
The board also wants to talk to members of the N.C. General Assembly before voting on the changes.
"These are big changes," Whitfield said. "I'm very comfortable with getting more feedback."
Raleigh News & Observer - May 1, 2013
NCHSAA limits eligibility of high school athletes who transfer Published: May 1, 2013
By Tim Stevens — tstevens@newsobserver.com
CHAPEL HILL — The N.C. High School Athletic Association board of directors made a major change in its regulations about transfers and addressed non-traditional schools during an action-filled spring meeting Wednesday.
The board passed a rule that would make ineligible for 365 days any student who transfers without a legitimate address change. Local systems can override the NCHSAA rules for transfers within their own system.
Currently, a student can transfer from one system to another and participate in athletics if both systems are agreeable.
The board voted 14-5 against the motion that would have required non-traditional schools to move up a classification in the playoffs in sports in which they had been successful.
Under the proposal, Cardinal Gibbons, which has dominated the state 3A volleyball championships, would have been moved to the 4A playoff bracket for volleyball. for example. Winston-Salem Bishop McGuinness, a 1A girls’ basketball power, would have played in the 2A basketball bracket.
Davis Whitfield, the NCHSAA commissioner, said some board members had concerns about treating non-traditional schools differently than other members.
Mac Morris, a representative from the N.C. Coaches Association, said moving the teams up would amount to punishment for being successful.
Other board members said the non-traditional schools have an advantage because they do not have attendance zones.
The board did establish geographical boundaries governing eligibility for the non-traditional schools, which usually are non-boarding parochial schools such as Cardinal Gibbons or charter schools such as Raleigh Charter.
Students at non-traditional schools meet geographical requirements if they live in the county where the school is located, live within a 25-mile radius of the school (or a distance established by the system), or are a member of a parochial church.
Students transferring for athletics is a major concern, said Stewart Hobbs, the NCHSAA president.
He said he met with representatives in the Winston-Salem area and asked how many of their schools had lost students transferring to Bishop McGuinness. None had.
Everyone, however, had students transfer without changing addresses.
“We are not saying that students can’t transfer,” Whitfield said.. “But we are saying that you can’t play athletics for 365 days if you do.”
Whitfield said the NCHSAA is facing many of the same tough decisions that high school athletics are throughout the nation as education changes.
The board voted 13-5 against a motion that would have removed a requirement that athletes be in attendance 85 percent of the time in the previous semester in order to be eligible. The motion would have turned academic eligibility over to local systems.
In other action:
• The wrestling season will be shortened by a week because of availability of the Greensboro Coliseum, the traditional site of the state finals.
• Tickets prices for the playoffs will rise and the NCHSAA will not receive any proceeds from the first round of the playoffs in any sports except football and basketball.
• A recommendation by football coaches to have spring practice after the start of the baseball playoffs begin did not get out of committee.
• Beginning next year, lacrosse will use three officials during the playoffs.
• NCHSAA schools have had 6,011 coaches receive national certification. The NCHSAA goal is for all of its coaches to be nationally certified by August 2015.
• All new schools must field three boys’ and three girls’ teams, including at least two each season, before being placed in a conference.
• The playoffs in basketball will continue to be seeded according to conference finish and overall record, but the seeding will be done on the basis of 22 games. Boys’ and girls’ soccer also will be seeded.
A maximum stroke average was established for girls golf. Girls must have a 55 stroke average on nine holes or less to participate in the 1A/2A or the 3A state championships. 4A golfers must have a 50 stroke average or less.
By Tim Stevens — tstevens@newsobserver.com
CHAPEL HILL — The N.C. High School Athletic Association board of directors made a major change in its regulations about transfers and addressed non-traditional schools during an action-filled spring meeting Wednesday.
The board passed a rule that would make ineligible for 365 days any student who transfers without a legitimate address change. Local systems can override the NCHSAA rules for transfers within their own system.
Currently, a student can transfer from one system to another and participate in athletics if both systems are agreeable.
The board voted 14-5 against the motion that would have required non-traditional schools to move up a classification in the playoffs in sports in which they had been successful.
Under the proposal, Cardinal Gibbons, which has dominated the state 3A volleyball championships, would have been moved to the 4A playoff bracket for volleyball. for example. Winston-Salem Bishop McGuinness, a 1A girls’ basketball power, would have played in the 2A basketball bracket.
Davis Whitfield, the NCHSAA commissioner, said some board members had concerns about treating non-traditional schools differently than other members.
Mac Morris, a representative from the N.C. Coaches Association, said moving the teams up would amount to punishment for being successful.
Other board members said the non-traditional schools have an advantage because they do not have attendance zones.
The board did establish geographical boundaries governing eligibility for the non-traditional schools, which usually are non-boarding parochial schools such as Cardinal Gibbons or charter schools such as Raleigh Charter.
Students at non-traditional schools meet geographical requirements if they live in the county where the school is located, live within a 25-mile radius of the school (or a distance established by the system), or are a member of a parochial church.
Students transferring for athletics is a major concern, said Stewart Hobbs, the NCHSAA president.
He said he met with representatives in the Winston-Salem area and asked how many of their schools had lost students transferring to Bishop McGuinness. None had.
Everyone, however, had students transfer without changing addresses.
“We are not saying that students can’t transfer,” Whitfield said.. “But we are saying that you can’t play athletics for 365 days if you do.”
Whitfield said the NCHSAA is facing many of the same tough decisions that high school athletics are throughout the nation as education changes.
The board voted 13-5 against a motion that would have removed a requirement that athletes be in attendance 85 percent of the time in the previous semester in order to be eligible. The motion would have turned academic eligibility over to local systems.
In other action:
• The wrestling season will be shortened by a week because of availability of the Greensboro Coliseum, the traditional site of the state finals.
• Tickets prices for the playoffs will rise and the NCHSAA will not receive any proceeds from the first round of the playoffs in any sports except football and basketball.
• A recommendation by football coaches to have spring practice after the start of the baseball playoffs begin did not get out of committee.
• Beginning next year, lacrosse will use three officials during the playoffs.
• NCHSAA schools have had 6,011 coaches receive national certification. The NCHSAA goal is for all of its coaches to be nationally certified by August 2015.
• All new schools must field three boys’ and three girls’ teams, including at least two each season, before being placed in a conference.
• The playoffs in basketball will continue to be seeded according to conference finish and overall record, but the seeding will be done on the basis of 22 games. Boys’ and girls’ soccer also will be seeded.
A maximum stroke average was established for girls golf. Girls must have a 55 stroke average on nine holes or less to participate in the 1A/2A or the 3A state championships. 4A golfers must have a 50 stroke average or less.
Winston-Salem Journal - May 3, 2013.
Bishop McGuinness expected to have to move up to Class 2-A.
The Bishop McGuinness Girls basketball team, winners of eight straight N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A state titles, was set to travel a tougher road next season.
So imagine the surprise at McGuinness when the NCHSAA announced on Wednesday that its board of directors had vote against passing a new rule that could have made life tougher for all charter schools and the three member Catholic schools - Bishop McGuinness, Cardinal Gibbons, and Charlotte Catholic - in the postseason.
"We kind of thought that was a done deal," said Jeff Stoller, the athletics director at McGuinness, who admitted surprise.
The proposal have moved highly-successful "non-traditional schools" up in classification after state-championship runs.
Stoller and Brian Robinson, McGuinnness' girls basketball coach, were part of a Non-Traditional Schools Committee assembled by the NCHSAA last fall that examined rule changes aimed at leveling the playing field between those schools and traditional public schools, which have geographic boundaries. Stoller and Robinson had signed off on a proposal that would have sent the Villains' girls basketball team to the Class 2-A Playoffs next season.
"We helped develop the entire proposal, and that's the only part that didn't pass, and obviously, we aren't devastated that it didn't pass," Stoller said. "We voted in favor of it on the committee, and we would have supported it."
Robinson said he was "shocked" that it didn't pass.
"When I first started coaching back in 1994, I didn't get into it for championships and honors and awards," Robinson said. "It was about trying to influence kids positively. I remember how my coaches were. Nothing was going to change no matter if were 1-A, 2-A, or 4-A. I was going to still coach my team and try to get them to be the best team they could possibly be - no matter what level they put us."
The NCHSAA did put in a "boundary rule" for the non-traditional schools to be used for students transferring in after they have started the ninth grade: The rule, which will go into effect August 1, states:
"Students shall live in the county where non-traditional school is located, or student shall live within 25-mile radius of the non-traditional school as measured by NCHSAA designated computer program; or student is member of parochial church and submits authorized pastor verification form."
Stoller said that with rules already in place at McGuinness, that rule shouldn't come into play often.
"It will affect charter schools more than us," Stoller said. "The transfer rule was put in, and we already had a transfer rule. The boundary rule implemented is only for students who enter after the first day of ninth grade. And students coming to Bishop from a public school after the first day of class are ineligible (for 365 days) anyway.
Mason Linker (336) 727-7324
The Bishop McGuinness Girls basketball team, winners of eight straight N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A state titles, was set to travel a tougher road next season.
So imagine the surprise at McGuinness when the NCHSAA announced on Wednesday that its board of directors had vote against passing a new rule that could have made life tougher for all charter schools and the three member Catholic schools - Bishop McGuinness, Cardinal Gibbons, and Charlotte Catholic - in the postseason.
"We kind of thought that was a done deal," said Jeff Stoller, the athletics director at McGuinness, who admitted surprise.
The proposal have moved highly-successful "non-traditional schools" up in classification after state-championship runs.
Stoller and Brian Robinson, McGuinnness' girls basketball coach, were part of a Non-Traditional Schools Committee assembled by the NCHSAA last fall that examined rule changes aimed at leveling the playing field between those schools and traditional public schools, which have geographic boundaries. Stoller and Robinson had signed off on a proposal that would have sent the Villains' girls basketball team to the Class 2-A Playoffs next season.
"We helped develop the entire proposal, and that's the only part that didn't pass, and obviously, we aren't devastated that it didn't pass," Stoller said. "We voted in favor of it on the committee, and we would have supported it."
Robinson said he was "shocked" that it didn't pass.
"When I first started coaching back in 1994, I didn't get into it for championships and honors and awards," Robinson said. "It was about trying to influence kids positively. I remember how my coaches were. Nothing was going to change no matter if were 1-A, 2-A, or 4-A. I was going to still coach my team and try to get them to be the best team they could possibly be - no matter what level they put us."
The NCHSAA did put in a "boundary rule" for the non-traditional schools to be used for students transferring in after they have started the ninth grade: The rule, which will go into effect August 1, states:
"Students shall live in the county where non-traditional school is located, or student shall live within 25-mile radius of the non-traditional school as measured by NCHSAA designated computer program; or student is member of parochial church and submits authorized pastor verification form."
Stoller said that with rules already in place at McGuinness, that rule shouldn't come into play often.
"It will affect charter schools more than us," Stoller said. "The transfer rule was put in, and we already had a transfer rule. The boundary rule implemented is only for students who enter after the first day of ninth grade. And students coming to Bishop from a public school after the first day of class are ineligible (for 365 days) anyway.
Mason Linker (336) 727-7324
Raleigh News & Observer - June 16, 2015
Cap-8, SWAC teams prohibited from playing Cardinal Gibbons, other non-public schools
By J. Mike Blake
mblake@newsobserver.com
Two Wake County high school athletic conferences have changed their bylaws to prohibit their member schools from playing non-public schools, including non-boarding parochial schools such as Cardinal Gibbons High, that are members of the N.C. High School Athletic Association.
Athletic directors from the Cap-8 4A and Southwest Wake Athletic 4A Conference amended their respective league bylaws after Cardinal Gibbons asked in December for the NCHSAA to move it from the 3A alignment to 4A.
Gibbons, which has won more N.C. High School Athletic Association state championships than any other member school as a 2A and 3A school since joining the association in 2005, asked the NCHSAA to move it from the 3A to 4A ranks, citing an increased enrollment.
The request was granted in December and the Crusaders will play in the PAC-6 4A beginning in the fall. The conference has welcomed Gibbons.
SWAC president Mike Dunphy, the Cary High athletic director, said the league was unanimously in favor of the vote.
“We have a lot of kids that should probably be going to public schools that are choosing to go to private schools instead,” Dunphy said. “We just felt it wasn’t fair to our student body and our athletes to compete against those schools when we don’t have to.”
Dunphy said the SWAC and Cap-8 schools are not in favor of having non-public schools in the association.
“We’re not in favor of private schools or non-boarding parochial schools being part of what in essence is a public-school league,” Dunphy said. “If that’s your choice, that’s your choice. They don’t need to be a part of a public-school league, they don’t need to be a part of what we’re doing in our conference.”
The N.C. High School Athletic Association and Wake County Public Schools System allow conferences to set their own bylaws. However, the NCHSAA will likely evaluate such bans in the future.
The rule, which the SWAC passed in December and the Cap-8 passed in March, exempts events where schools cannot choose opponents, such as invitationals and the playoffs. Events already under contract can be played.
Gibbons stunned
School athletic directors make their own non-conference schedules, but Dunphy said the bylaw change was needed to ensure the policy would remain in effect if schools were to change athletic directors. The Cap-8 has had a bylaw banning its schools from playing independent private schools, but the prohibition now includes the non-boarding parochial schools that are NCHSAA members.
“Part of me could understand if they said to Ravenscroft ‘We’re not going to play you,’” said Gibbons football coach Steven Wright. “But we’re a member of the N.C. High School Athletic Association just like they are,”
“We’re in good standing. This decision has been made, not because of North Raleigh Christian Academy. It was made because of Cardinal Gibbons. It’s not hard to put 2-and-2 together.”
In the 10 years since re-joining the NCHSAA in 2005, after almost two decades away, Gibbons has won more NCHSAA championships (55) than any other school in the state.
Rowan County called for an association vote in 2012 that would have removed from membership the NCHSAA’s non-boarding parochial schools – Gibbons, Charlotte Catholic (50 NCHSAA titles since 2000-01), Bishop McGuinness (25 since 2000-01) and the new Christ the King High in Huntersville.
The vote needed three-fourths (293 schools) of the association membership to pass. A majority of the schools (234) voted to oust the four schools, but more than a fourth of the schools (105), did not vote.
Gibbons athletic director Todd Schuler said the school wants to continue its relationship with Wake County schools because many families from the Diocese have children in public school.
“We want them to be vibrant and successful schools educationally and athletically because it’s better for our families and our parishes,” he said.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/high-school/article24418378.html#storylink=cpy
NCHSAA will take a look
Que Tucker the interim commissioner of the NCHSAA, said the board of directors likely will discuss the conference bylaws. She said she has not heard of other conferences passing similar rules.
“This would really be a first,” Tucker said. “We’ve always prided ourselves in being a family and so typically our schools are going to play other member schools without question and hesitation. This would be new territory if this is what they choose to do.”
The NCHSAA lets schools and conferences govern their regular season rules for the most part. Wake County Public Schools System athletic director Deran Coe said he allows conferences to do what they feel is best so long as no NCHSAA rules are broken. He said he has not heard if the Greater Neuse 4A, which has five Wake schools, will follow suit.
Dunphy said there are built-in advantages at the non-boarding parochial schools. He makes no accusations about wrongdoing at Cardinal Gibbons. But he says he is a firm believer in public school, and that students who choose another kind of school should not expect to play against public school teams.
“The one thing we all have in common as a public school is we don’t get to pick and choose the students that we have,” Dunphy said. “We believe if you want to go to private school like Gibbons because of what it offers to you … We feel that that, in and of itself, should be the reason why you’re going to that school.”
Broughton athletic director Aaron Minger said after the SWAC made its change, the Cap-8 revisited their own rule. The NCHSAA has a policy that says athletes must be within 25 miles of the school, unless that student attends a parish approved by the Diocese or gets approval from a school board.
“A 25-mile radius is pretty significant,” Minger said. “There’s just a lot more area to draw from where the typical public school, the base is very, very shy of that square mileage is.”
Rivalries end, schedules changeGibbons principal Jason Curtis said the school competes with Wake County public schools in a number of extracurricular activities.
“We’re doing robotics competitions (with WCPSS schools), we’re doing speech competitions with them, we’re in science Olympiad with all of these schools. Our arts programs are collaborating all the time,” Curtis said. “So we have these great partnerships with all of these schools. And for me, I feel like athletics is a part of all that.”
Rising senior volleyball player Briley Brind’Amour is sad to see the end of yearly rivalry games – none bigger than two nonconference meetings with Apex each season.
“Those are the ones you kind of look forward to,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s a bummer to not be able to compete with them and, win or lose, be able to compete with them.”
Blake: 919-460-2606;
Twitter: @JMBpreps
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/high-school/article24418378.html#storylink=cpy
By J. Mike Blake
mblake@newsobserver.com
Two Wake County high school athletic conferences have changed their bylaws to prohibit their member schools from playing non-public schools, including non-boarding parochial schools such as Cardinal Gibbons High, that are members of the N.C. High School Athletic Association.
Athletic directors from the Cap-8 4A and Southwest Wake Athletic 4A Conference amended their respective league bylaws after Cardinal Gibbons asked in December for the NCHSAA to move it from the 3A alignment to 4A.
Gibbons, which has won more N.C. High School Athletic Association state championships than any other member school as a 2A and 3A school since joining the association in 2005, asked the NCHSAA to move it from the 3A to 4A ranks, citing an increased enrollment.
The request was granted in December and the Crusaders will play in the PAC-6 4A beginning in the fall. The conference has welcomed Gibbons.
SWAC president Mike Dunphy, the Cary High athletic director, said the league was unanimously in favor of the vote.
“We have a lot of kids that should probably be going to public schools that are choosing to go to private schools instead,” Dunphy said. “We just felt it wasn’t fair to our student body and our athletes to compete against those schools when we don’t have to.”
Dunphy said the SWAC and Cap-8 schools are not in favor of having non-public schools in the association.
“We’re not in favor of private schools or non-boarding parochial schools being part of what in essence is a public-school league,” Dunphy said. “If that’s your choice, that’s your choice. They don’t need to be a part of a public-school league, they don’t need to be a part of what we’re doing in our conference.”
The N.C. High School Athletic Association and Wake County Public Schools System allow conferences to set their own bylaws. However, the NCHSAA will likely evaluate such bans in the future.
The rule, which the SWAC passed in December and the Cap-8 passed in March, exempts events where schools cannot choose opponents, such as invitationals and the playoffs. Events already under contract can be played.
Gibbons stunned
School athletic directors make their own non-conference schedules, but Dunphy said the bylaw change was needed to ensure the policy would remain in effect if schools were to change athletic directors. The Cap-8 has had a bylaw banning its schools from playing independent private schools, but the prohibition now includes the non-boarding parochial schools that are NCHSAA members.
“Part of me could understand if they said to Ravenscroft ‘We’re not going to play you,’” said Gibbons football coach Steven Wright. “But we’re a member of the N.C. High School Athletic Association just like they are,”
“We’re in good standing. This decision has been made, not because of North Raleigh Christian Academy. It was made because of Cardinal Gibbons. It’s not hard to put 2-and-2 together.”
In the 10 years since re-joining the NCHSAA in 2005, after almost two decades away, Gibbons has won more NCHSAA championships (55) than any other school in the state.
Rowan County called for an association vote in 2012 that would have removed from membership the NCHSAA’s non-boarding parochial schools – Gibbons, Charlotte Catholic (50 NCHSAA titles since 2000-01), Bishop McGuinness (25 since 2000-01) and the new Christ the King High in Huntersville.
The vote needed three-fourths (293 schools) of the association membership to pass. A majority of the schools (234) voted to oust the four schools, but more than a fourth of the schools (105), did not vote.
Gibbons athletic director Todd Schuler said the school wants to continue its relationship with Wake County schools because many families from the Diocese have children in public school.
“We want them to be vibrant and successful schools educationally and athletically because it’s better for our families and our parishes,” he said.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/high-school/article24418378.html#storylink=cpy
NCHSAA will take a look
Que Tucker the interim commissioner of the NCHSAA, said the board of directors likely will discuss the conference bylaws. She said she has not heard of other conferences passing similar rules.
“This would really be a first,” Tucker said. “We’ve always prided ourselves in being a family and so typically our schools are going to play other member schools without question and hesitation. This would be new territory if this is what they choose to do.”
The NCHSAA lets schools and conferences govern their regular season rules for the most part. Wake County Public Schools System athletic director Deran Coe said he allows conferences to do what they feel is best so long as no NCHSAA rules are broken. He said he has not heard if the Greater Neuse 4A, which has five Wake schools, will follow suit.
Dunphy said there are built-in advantages at the non-boarding parochial schools. He makes no accusations about wrongdoing at Cardinal Gibbons. But he says he is a firm believer in public school, and that students who choose another kind of school should not expect to play against public school teams.
“The one thing we all have in common as a public school is we don’t get to pick and choose the students that we have,” Dunphy said. “We believe if you want to go to private school like Gibbons because of what it offers to you … We feel that that, in and of itself, should be the reason why you’re going to that school.”
Broughton athletic director Aaron Minger said after the SWAC made its change, the Cap-8 revisited their own rule. The NCHSAA has a policy that says athletes must be within 25 miles of the school, unless that student attends a parish approved by the Diocese or gets approval from a school board.
“A 25-mile radius is pretty significant,” Minger said. “There’s just a lot more area to draw from where the typical public school, the base is very, very shy of that square mileage is.”
Rivalries end, schedules changeGibbons principal Jason Curtis said the school competes with Wake County public schools in a number of extracurricular activities.
“We’re doing robotics competitions (with WCPSS schools), we’re doing speech competitions with them, we’re in science Olympiad with all of these schools. Our arts programs are collaborating all the time,” Curtis said. “So we have these great partnerships with all of these schools. And for me, I feel like athletics is a part of all that.”
Rising senior volleyball player Briley Brind’Amour is sad to see the end of yearly rivalry games – none bigger than two nonconference meetings with Apex each season.
“Those are the ones you kind of look forward to,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s a bummer to not be able to compete with them and, win or lose, be able to compete with them.”
Blake: 919-460-2606;
Twitter: @JMBpreps
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/high-school/article24418378.html#storylink=cpy
Raleigh News & Observer - June 16, 2015
Cardinal Gibbons hoping to change Wake County schools’ minds
By J. Mike Blake
mblake@newsobserver.com
Cardinal Gibbons High principal Jason Curtis and athletic director Todd Schuler say they welcome questions about how their school handles athletics.
“We’re definitely trying to be more proactive in giving people the facts,” Curtis said.
Gibbons, a non-boarding parochial school that is a member of the N.C. High School Athletic Association, plans to reach out to school officials in the Southwest Wake and Cap-8 4A Conferences after those leagues changed their bylaws to prohibit their member schools from playing Gibbons.
Schuler, a former athletic director at SWAC member Panther Creek – said he often is asked from where and how Gibbons draws its students. The admissions process has many layers.
▪ Priority is first given to kids in the Diocese of Raleigh’s middle schools. Gibbons is the only high school in the Triangle the 12 schools feed into. About 55 percent of the Diocese’s K-8 students matriculate to Gibbons.
“A large percentage of our students in our school system, the Diocese of Raleigh, leave the diocese when they come to ninth grade and are going to Wake County public schools or other public schools in their respective communities,” Schuler said.
“Wake County is educating quite a few Catholic students who went to a Catholic K-8 school.”
▪ Other students applying for admission who hope to play athletics must be a member of a parish or within the NCHSAA’s 25-mile radius for all schools. Students from Burlington could attend, but not play, for Gibbons unless they already were part of the diocese.
▪ If a student is enrolled at an NCHSAA member school and transfers, the student is ineligible for 365 days.
▪ Those asking for financial aid submit tax returns and W2s to FACTS, a management company in Nebraska. The third-party group sends back its recommendations. Curtis said no one receiving financial aid gets the full cost of tuition. NCHSAA rules say need-based financial aid does not render an athlete ineligible.
▪ Scholarships are different. These are given by donors, and anyone accepting one – even if it’s need based – is ineligible for athletics.
▪ Curtis said no one from the school has a say in admission or financial aid; that’s all done at the diocese and national levels.
▪ Annual tuition is either $10,140 or $14,200, with the higher rate for non-Catholic students and the lower for Catholic parishioners. The determination is made by the pastor at the parish.
Blake: 919-460-2606;
Twitter: @JMBpreps
By the numbers55 Gibbons’ NCHSAA championships since moving to the NCHSAA in 2005.
8 Gibbons’ NCHSAA Wells Fargo state cups, awarded to the school with highest postseason success in a classification, won in nine years. This year’s award has not been announced.
25 NCHSAA championships by Charlotte Catholic since 2005.
7 Gibbons’ 2014-15 state championships.
21 Gibbons athletes across its seven championship teams this year who came from a North Carolina public school (four high schools, 17 middle schools).
1,426Gibbons’ enrollment last year.
1,005 Gibbons students who went to Catholic K-8 school.
149Gibbons students who came from another private school.
219 Gibbons students who came from a public school.
7 Transfers in the past year who were athletes and are sitting out 365 days.
53 Gibbons students who were home-schooled or moved in from out of state.
1,251 Gibbons students from Wake County.
91 Gibbons students from Durham County.
59 Gibbons students from Orange County.
25 Gibbons students from all other counties (Johnston, Franklin, Chatham, Lee, Harnett, Alamance).
1,103* Roster spots, across all sports, taken by an athlete from Wake County.
139* Roster sports, across all sports, taken by an athlete from outside Wake County.
1,168 Gibbons students who attend diocese-affiliated parishes.
230 Gibbons students who do not attend a Catholic parish.
*Data counted each sport separately; some athletes may have been counted more than once.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/high-school/article24418876.html#storylink=cpy
By J. Mike Blake
mblake@newsobserver.com
Cardinal Gibbons High principal Jason Curtis and athletic director Todd Schuler say they welcome questions about how their school handles athletics.
“We’re definitely trying to be more proactive in giving people the facts,” Curtis said.
Gibbons, a non-boarding parochial school that is a member of the N.C. High School Athletic Association, plans to reach out to school officials in the Southwest Wake and Cap-8 4A Conferences after those leagues changed their bylaws to prohibit their member schools from playing Gibbons.
Schuler, a former athletic director at SWAC member Panther Creek – said he often is asked from where and how Gibbons draws its students. The admissions process has many layers.
▪ Priority is first given to kids in the Diocese of Raleigh’s middle schools. Gibbons is the only high school in the Triangle the 12 schools feed into. About 55 percent of the Diocese’s K-8 students matriculate to Gibbons.
“A large percentage of our students in our school system, the Diocese of Raleigh, leave the diocese when they come to ninth grade and are going to Wake County public schools or other public schools in their respective communities,” Schuler said.
“Wake County is educating quite a few Catholic students who went to a Catholic K-8 school.”
▪ Other students applying for admission who hope to play athletics must be a member of a parish or within the NCHSAA’s 25-mile radius for all schools. Students from Burlington could attend, but not play, for Gibbons unless they already were part of the diocese.
▪ If a student is enrolled at an NCHSAA member school and transfers, the student is ineligible for 365 days.
▪ Those asking for financial aid submit tax returns and W2s to FACTS, a management company in Nebraska. The third-party group sends back its recommendations. Curtis said no one receiving financial aid gets the full cost of tuition. NCHSAA rules say need-based financial aid does not render an athlete ineligible.
▪ Scholarships are different. These are given by donors, and anyone accepting one – even if it’s need based – is ineligible for athletics.
▪ Curtis said no one from the school has a say in admission or financial aid; that’s all done at the diocese and national levels.
▪ Annual tuition is either $10,140 or $14,200, with the higher rate for non-Catholic students and the lower for Catholic parishioners. The determination is made by the pastor at the parish.
Blake: 919-460-2606;
Twitter: @JMBpreps
By the numbers55 Gibbons’ NCHSAA championships since moving to the NCHSAA in 2005.
8 Gibbons’ NCHSAA Wells Fargo state cups, awarded to the school with highest postseason success in a classification, won in nine years. This year’s award has not been announced.
25 NCHSAA championships by Charlotte Catholic since 2005.
7 Gibbons’ 2014-15 state championships.
21 Gibbons athletes across its seven championship teams this year who came from a North Carolina public school (four high schools, 17 middle schools).
1,426Gibbons’ enrollment last year.
1,005 Gibbons students who went to Catholic K-8 school.
149Gibbons students who came from another private school.
219 Gibbons students who came from a public school.
7 Transfers in the past year who were athletes and are sitting out 365 days.
53 Gibbons students who were home-schooled or moved in from out of state.
1,251 Gibbons students from Wake County.
91 Gibbons students from Durham County.
59 Gibbons students from Orange County.
25 Gibbons students from all other counties (Johnston, Franklin, Chatham, Lee, Harnett, Alamance).
1,103* Roster spots, across all sports, taken by an athlete from Wake County.
139* Roster sports, across all sports, taken by an athlete from outside Wake County.
1,168 Gibbons students who attend diocese-affiliated parishes.
230 Gibbons students who do not attend a Catholic parish.
*Data counted each sport separately; some athletes may have been counted more than once.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/high-school/article24418876.html#storylink=cpy
Private school issue vexes NCHSAA - Fayetteville Observer - June 20, 2015.
By Earl Vaughan Jr. The Fayetteville Observer
FAYETTEVILLE — The NCHSAA needs to deal with a growing feud between its public and private school members.
The Cary News’ J. Mike Blake reports that two Raleigh-area conferences, the Cap-8 and Southwest Wake, have passed bylaws that prohibit the league’s members from scheduling private schools in non-conference games. Should the teams happen to meet in the playoffs, that’s not a problem. But scheduled games are taboo.
What’s interesting is Cardinal Gibbons, a private school in Wake County that’s a member of the N.C. High School Athletic Association, will be joining the PAC-6 4-A this fall after dominating play at the 3-A level for the past 10 years.
Since 2005, according to Blake’s research, Gibbons has won 55 team state titles, more than any high school in North Carolina. There have been whispers, none of them with any foundation, that Gibbons recruits, and there are some public schools that feel the odds are tipped too far in favor of a private school going head-to-head with public schools limited by school district lines.
There are limits placed on Gibbons and other private schools in the NCHSAA. By rule, they can’t take students who live beyond a 25-mile radius of the school, unless they attend a parish affiliated with the school.
Some people argue that in a metro area such as Raleigh, a 25-mile radius is a joke. For comparison, Cape Fear High School has a school district that takes up about 45 percent of Cumberland County’s entire land area according to principal Lee Spruill.
The population in the Gibbons’ ZIP code, which is next door to PNC Arena and Carter-Finley Stadium, is around 33,000. The population for Cape Fear’s ZIP code is about 19,000.
Quite a bit more to choose among if you’re a private school with no real boundaries except a 25-mile radius.
The NCHSAA was caught a bit off-guard by the action of the two Raleigh conferences. They’ve always allowed conferences to make their own bylaws without state interference, but how they can allow a league to bar its members from playing a school that is a member of their state association is beyond me.
But this highlights a bigger, broader issue that the NCHSAA may be forced to examine. Over the last several years as Gibbons has won title after title, I’ve seen more and more of my media brethren complain about the unfair advantage private schools in the NCHSAA have over the public schools.
It’s not just Gibbons, either. Take a look at this year’s team state champions in the
NCHSAA. There are three schools with special enrollment situations which, like Gibbons, won multiple state titles. They include Raleigh Charter, Winston-Salem Prep and Bishop McGuinness. Other private/charter schools with championships were Charlotte Catholic, Lake Norman Charter and Community School of Davidson.
Winston-Salem Prep is a public school and part of the Winston-Salem-Forsyth system. But having a small enrollment while drawing from a metro area gives it some of the same advantages as the charter/privates in the mix.
Among them, they racked up 20 state titles this season including 13 in the lower classifications where they were competing largely with 1-A schools that didn’t come close to having the population to draw from that the charter/privates in the metro areas had.
This notion that, true or not, the playing field for public vs. private is uneven isn’t going away.
Now that the NCHSAA is approaching another realignment, it’s time to tackle this head on and find a solution better than the current one on the books.
Someone I know and respect tells me that the NCHSAA has given some thought to a major change that, in my opinion, would answer this problem. With the explosion of charter schools across the state, there are now enough private and charter schools in so-called borderless situations to create a classification of their own.
We might still have to group a few of them into combination conferences with other schools for the sake of travel and geography. But when it comes to state titles, let them play each other. They’ve got the same basic enrollment situations and most of them are in or near metro areas, so drawing students isn’t going to be a problem.
There will be some tweaks that need to be dealt with, but this is an answer worth exploring fully and quickly — before things get any uglier.
FAYETTEVILLE — The NCHSAA needs to deal with a growing feud between its public and private school members.
The Cary News’ J. Mike Blake reports that two Raleigh-area conferences, the Cap-8 and Southwest Wake, have passed bylaws that prohibit the league’s members from scheduling private schools in non-conference games. Should the teams happen to meet in the playoffs, that’s not a problem. But scheduled games are taboo.
What’s interesting is Cardinal Gibbons, a private school in Wake County that’s a member of the N.C. High School Athletic Association, will be joining the PAC-6 4-A this fall after dominating play at the 3-A level for the past 10 years.
Since 2005, according to Blake’s research, Gibbons has won 55 team state titles, more than any high school in North Carolina. There have been whispers, none of them with any foundation, that Gibbons recruits, and there are some public schools that feel the odds are tipped too far in favor of a private school going head-to-head with public schools limited by school district lines.
There are limits placed on Gibbons and other private schools in the NCHSAA. By rule, they can’t take students who live beyond a 25-mile radius of the school, unless they attend a parish affiliated with the school.
Some people argue that in a metro area such as Raleigh, a 25-mile radius is a joke. For comparison, Cape Fear High School has a school district that takes up about 45 percent of Cumberland County’s entire land area according to principal Lee Spruill.
The population in the Gibbons’ ZIP code, which is next door to PNC Arena and Carter-Finley Stadium, is around 33,000. The population for Cape Fear’s ZIP code is about 19,000.
Quite a bit more to choose among if you’re a private school with no real boundaries except a 25-mile radius.
The NCHSAA was caught a bit off-guard by the action of the two Raleigh conferences. They’ve always allowed conferences to make their own bylaws without state interference, but how they can allow a league to bar its members from playing a school that is a member of their state association is beyond me.
But this highlights a bigger, broader issue that the NCHSAA may be forced to examine. Over the last several years as Gibbons has won title after title, I’ve seen more and more of my media brethren complain about the unfair advantage private schools in the NCHSAA have over the public schools.
It’s not just Gibbons, either. Take a look at this year’s team state champions in the
NCHSAA. There are three schools with special enrollment situations which, like Gibbons, won multiple state titles. They include Raleigh Charter, Winston-Salem Prep and Bishop McGuinness. Other private/charter schools with championships were Charlotte Catholic, Lake Norman Charter and Community School of Davidson.
Winston-Salem Prep is a public school and part of the Winston-Salem-Forsyth system. But having a small enrollment while drawing from a metro area gives it some of the same advantages as the charter/privates in the mix.
Among them, they racked up 20 state titles this season including 13 in the lower classifications where they were competing largely with 1-A schools that didn’t come close to having the population to draw from that the charter/privates in the metro areas had.
This notion that, true or not, the playing field for public vs. private is uneven isn’t going away.
Now that the NCHSAA is approaching another realignment, it’s time to tackle this head on and find a solution better than the current one on the books.
Someone I know and respect tells me that the NCHSAA has given some thought to a major change that, in my opinion, would answer this problem. With the explosion of charter schools across the state, there are now enough private and charter schools in so-called borderless situations to create a classification of their own.
We might still have to group a few of them into combination conferences with other schools for the sake of travel and geography. But when it comes to state titles, let them play each other. They’ve got the same basic enrollment situations and most of them are in or near metro areas, so drawing students isn’t going to be a problem.
There will be some tweaks that need to be dealt with, but this is an answer worth exploring fully and quickly — before things get any uglier.
"Uneven playing field isn't limited to private schools" - www.highschoolot.com- June 22, 2015.
By James Alverson
In life, as in sports, there are many times that things come up that aren’t simply black and white. The N.C. High School Athletic Association is at one of those crossroads in the life of its organization.
It’s a crossroads that they came to three years ago when six member schools from Rowan County floated a proposal to remove the four parochial schools from the NCHSAA. They failed to get the required number of votes to get the association bylaws amended.
That was the warning shot. That was the notice of severely disgruntled membership.
Those schools came just a few votes shy from removing Cardinal Gibbons, Charlotte Catholic, Bishop McGuinness and Christ the King from the NCHSAA, and then commissioner Davis Whitfield had sharp words for the membership that tried to pull it off under the cloud of darkness and secrecy that swirled around that amendment.
The current story of two Wake County conferences deciding to put in their bylaws that they will not play private schools or the NCHSAA-member parochial schools was shrouded in the same kind of secrecy. The threat from Wake County principals and athletic directors to push forward an amendment to the NCHSAA bylaws to banish the parochial schools from the membership is hiding in the shadows, waiting to be sprung at any possible moment most advantageous to their side.
It’s sickening.
Cardinal Gibbons and the other parochial schools aren’t the most sympathetic figures in our society. They’re thought to be affluent, privileged, successful, on the field and in life, and I realize that in many people’s eyes they’re thought to be the problem with the NCHSAA. After all, Cardinal Gibbons has won 55 state championships since 2005.
Clearly they have to be doing something wrong! They’re winning! They’re different!
Well, Green Hope is winning, too. They’ve won the last five 4-A Wells Fargo Cups. Clearly they have some type of advantage.
Go ahead and say that Green Hope is playing by the same rules everyone else is, and there lies the rub I have with all of the fiery torch-lighting and pitchforks that public schools are marching with towards the parochial schools.
If we’re honest, we realize that no one plays by the same set of rules. Some schools have an advantage because they have great facilities, others have advantages from great parental involvement, some by great booster clubs and community involvement, some have none of the above. I’d never argue that we should get rid of those advantages in the name of leveling the playing field. You wouldn’t either.
The biggest arguments that I hear about why Gibbons and other private schools have an advantage is because they don’t have a border. That’s not completely true. However it is true that Gibbons border is a relatively large one compared to most counties in the state. 25 miles is a big radius.
This is a rule that was agreed to by Cardinal Gibbons and other parochial schools to help level the playing field in the public perception and in actuality. If they agreed to work with you the first time this came up why would you not seek to mediate your concerns by working through the rules to level the playing field for everyone? Maybe they’d agree to shrink the border in the name of competitive balance, who knows? You haven’t asked them.
That’s because when you find the people complaining the loudest about no-border parochial schools, you find their schools have no real borders of their own. That’s where the NCHSAA has its largest and most difficult problem to solve.
You could kick the parochial schools out of the association today and nothing would change about schools that have next to no border and gain a competitive advantage. Charter and magnet schools come with the same issue.
Magnet schools are at the top of that list for me. There are five in Wake County. They’re some of the largest bodies of students in the state. They draw from all over Wake County. The kids that decide to move to them don’t have to sit out, unlike if a WCPSS kid transferred during high school to Gibbons.
If you start at one high school and want to transfer the next year within Wake and many other counties in the state of NC, the school and the county can rubber-stamp your athletic transfer waiver, making you eligible to participate immediately.
Sound hypocritical to you yet? It does to me.
It sounds like people are upset because Gibbons can take public school kids and have them play for and help win their state championships. Well, the same people have no problems letting a public school kid transfer into their school and play right away – whether they moved or not. They have no issue if a kid transfers from Cardinal Gibbons and wants to play at their school right away.
So how do we fix it?
I have a suggestion. How about the NCHSAA figures out a solution that lets everyone play on the same playing field, parochial, private, magnet, charter, open-district, overlapping district, you name it. Let’s get everyone under the same rules.
I spoke with Steve Savarese, the executive director of the Alabama High School Athletic Association, one of the 48-of-50 state associations that combine public, private, magnet and, soon to be in his state, charter schools, in the same organization. I asked him how they make it work. The answer was simple, “Everybody plays by the same rules. Everybody has a district, public, private or magnet. If you transfer, you sit out. No hardship hearings, no waivers. You will sit out 365 days from the date of transfer.”
Those rules apply unless there is a bona fide move, provable by paper work of sold house, closed lease, etc.
It’s not that Alabama doesn’t have to discuss issues of competitive balance between private schools and public schools, because they do, but when issues arise, rather than immediately jump to “throw x, y or z out” they come to the table and work out a solution that is best for everyone.
It’s my hope that North Carolina will do that as well. I hope the Wake County principals and athletic directors, as well as their respective conferences, will take a step back from their saber-rattling, and come to the table with an open mind about how to make things fair across the board.
Right now, districts like Wake County, that have charter and magnet programs, are allowed to have an unfair advantage on other counties in the state who don’t allow athletic transfer waivers and don’t have magnet and charter schools. In the NCHSAA, the ability to have immediate eligibility after a transfer is left up to the individual school systems, and many, like Wake County, have a waiver system which is not against any rule, but it creates an un-level playing field.
In the NCHSAA’s Articles of Incorporation, Article Four says:
“Competitive athletics cannot be justified as a part of the school program unless it contributes to a wholesome rounding out of the personality of the participants and the spectators. We shall therefore insist on hard but clean play resulting in honest victory without conceit or honest defeat without bitterness. Realizing that eligibility rules are made to help relationships between schools, we agree to live up to the spirit as well as the letter of the regulations set by the association.”
In my estimation, given the ability of students and athletes to move with no penalty amongst public schools in a county, while other members in other parts of the state are not allowed to do this, schools in NC have a long way to go to uphold the “spirit as well as the letter” of the governance set out from the NCHSAA when it comes to eligibility. Double-standards of eligibility abound across the state, and that’s the biggest problem facing the NCHSAA today, not parochial schools, many of whom have been upstanding members of the association with long histories of involvement in the NCHSAA.
So let’s get to the table (I’m also posting a common sense proposal that would serve as a starting place for getting the discussion going). Let’s teach our students how to compromise and work things out to include all, rather than teach them how to separate and exclude people who are different than we are. I hear that’s what education is about these days, here’s an opportunity to actually do it. Will they?
Follow James Alverson on Twitter @JamesAlverson
Read more at http://www.highschoolot.com/uneven-playing-field-isn-t-limited-to-private-schools/14727117/#YzSmtcioPkbVBj0H.99
In life, as in sports, there are many times that things come up that aren’t simply black and white. The N.C. High School Athletic Association is at one of those crossroads in the life of its organization.
It’s a crossroads that they came to three years ago when six member schools from Rowan County floated a proposal to remove the four parochial schools from the NCHSAA. They failed to get the required number of votes to get the association bylaws amended.
That was the warning shot. That was the notice of severely disgruntled membership.
Those schools came just a few votes shy from removing Cardinal Gibbons, Charlotte Catholic, Bishop McGuinness and Christ the King from the NCHSAA, and then commissioner Davis Whitfield had sharp words for the membership that tried to pull it off under the cloud of darkness and secrecy that swirled around that amendment.
The current story of two Wake County conferences deciding to put in their bylaws that they will not play private schools or the NCHSAA-member parochial schools was shrouded in the same kind of secrecy. The threat from Wake County principals and athletic directors to push forward an amendment to the NCHSAA bylaws to banish the parochial schools from the membership is hiding in the shadows, waiting to be sprung at any possible moment most advantageous to their side.
It’s sickening.
Cardinal Gibbons and the other parochial schools aren’t the most sympathetic figures in our society. They’re thought to be affluent, privileged, successful, on the field and in life, and I realize that in many people’s eyes they’re thought to be the problem with the NCHSAA. After all, Cardinal Gibbons has won 55 state championships since 2005.
Clearly they have to be doing something wrong! They’re winning! They’re different!
Well, Green Hope is winning, too. They’ve won the last five 4-A Wells Fargo Cups. Clearly they have some type of advantage.
Go ahead and say that Green Hope is playing by the same rules everyone else is, and there lies the rub I have with all of the fiery torch-lighting and pitchforks that public schools are marching with towards the parochial schools.
If we’re honest, we realize that no one plays by the same set of rules. Some schools have an advantage because they have great facilities, others have advantages from great parental involvement, some by great booster clubs and community involvement, some have none of the above. I’d never argue that we should get rid of those advantages in the name of leveling the playing field. You wouldn’t either.
The biggest arguments that I hear about why Gibbons and other private schools have an advantage is because they don’t have a border. That’s not completely true. However it is true that Gibbons border is a relatively large one compared to most counties in the state. 25 miles is a big radius.
This is a rule that was agreed to by Cardinal Gibbons and other parochial schools to help level the playing field in the public perception and in actuality. If they agreed to work with you the first time this came up why would you not seek to mediate your concerns by working through the rules to level the playing field for everyone? Maybe they’d agree to shrink the border in the name of competitive balance, who knows? You haven’t asked them.
That’s because when you find the people complaining the loudest about no-border parochial schools, you find their schools have no real borders of their own. That’s where the NCHSAA has its largest and most difficult problem to solve.
You could kick the parochial schools out of the association today and nothing would change about schools that have next to no border and gain a competitive advantage. Charter and magnet schools come with the same issue.
Magnet schools are at the top of that list for me. There are five in Wake County. They’re some of the largest bodies of students in the state. They draw from all over Wake County. The kids that decide to move to them don’t have to sit out, unlike if a WCPSS kid transferred during high school to Gibbons.
If you start at one high school and want to transfer the next year within Wake and many other counties in the state of NC, the school and the county can rubber-stamp your athletic transfer waiver, making you eligible to participate immediately.
Sound hypocritical to you yet? It does to me.
It sounds like people are upset because Gibbons can take public school kids and have them play for and help win their state championships. Well, the same people have no problems letting a public school kid transfer into their school and play right away – whether they moved or not. They have no issue if a kid transfers from Cardinal Gibbons and wants to play at their school right away.
So how do we fix it?
I have a suggestion. How about the NCHSAA figures out a solution that lets everyone play on the same playing field, parochial, private, magnet, charter, open-district, overlapping district, you name it. Let’s get everyone under the same rules.
I spoke with Steve Savarese, the executive director of the Alabama High School Athletic Association, one of the 48-of-50 state associations that combine public, private, magnet and, soon to be in his state, charter schools, in the same organization. I asked him how they make it work. The answer was simple, “Everybody plays by the same rules. Everybody has a district, public, private or magnet. If you transfer, you sit out. No hardship hearings, no waivers. You will sit out 365 days from the date of transfer.”
Those rules apply unless there is a bona fide move, provable by paper work of sold house, closed lease, etc.
It’s not that Alabama doesn’t have to discuss issues of competitive balance between private schools and public schools, because they do, but when issues arise, rather than immediately jump to “throw x, y or z out” they come to the table and work out a solution that is best for everyone.
It’s my hope that North Carolina will do that as well. I hope the Wake County principals and athletic directors, as well as their respective conferences, will take a step back from their saber-rattling, and come to the table with an open mind about how to make things fair across the board.
Right now, districts like Wake County, that have charter and magnet programs, are allowed to have an unfair advantage on other counties in the state who don’t allow athletic transfer waivers and don’t have magnet and charter schools. In the NCHSAA, the ability to have immediate eligibility after a transfer is left up to the individual school systems, and many, like Wake County, have a waiver system which is not against any rule, but it creates an un-level playing field.
In the NCHSAA’s Articles of Incorporation, Article Four says:
“Competitive athletics cannot be justified as a part of the school program unless it contributes to a wholesome rounding out of the personality of the participants and the spectators. We shall therefore insist on hard but clean play resulting in honest victory without conceit or honest defeat without bitterness. Realizing that eligibility rules are made to help relationships between schools, we agree to live up to the spirit as well as the letter of the regulations set by the association.”
In my estimation, given the ability of students and athletes to move with no penalty amongst public schools in a county, while other members in other parts of the state are not allowed to do this, schools in NC have a long way to go to uphold the “spirit as well as the letter” of the governance set out from the NCHSAA when it comes to eligibility. Double-standards of eligibility abound across the state, and that’s the biggest problem facing the NCHSAA today, not parochial schools, many of whom have been upstanding members of the association with long histories of involvement in the NCHSAA.
So let’s get to the table (I’m also posting a common sense proposal that would serve as a starting place for getting the discussion going). Let’s teach our students how to compromise and work things out to include all, rather than teach them how to separate and exclude people who are different than we are. I hear that’s what education is about these days, here’s an opportunity to actually do it. Will they?
Follow James Alverson on Twitter @JamesAlverson
Read more at http://www.highschoolot.com/uneven-playing-field-isn-t-limited-to-private-schools/14727117/#YzSmtcioPkbVBj0H.99
"Fact Check: Cardinal Gibbons, parochial schools & the NCHSAA" - www.highschoolot.com - June 22, 2015.
More on this
Raleigh, N.C. — With the Cap 8 and SWAC Conferences passing bylaws that will prevent schools in their conference from playing private schools, including non-boarding parochial schools who are members of the N.C. High School Athletic Association like Cardinal Gibbons, a lot of rumors have surfaced, and many claims have been made.
Some of the following claims are arguments made by the Cap 8 and SWAC, others are claims that have been observed by HighSchoolOT.com on social media and the forums.
HighSchoolOT.com has requested a number of statistics and data from all parties involved, including through some public records requests. The data allows us to fact check many of the claims that have been made to see if they are factual.
Claim: Cardinal Gibbons is able to give scholarships to athletes so they can attend the school.
False. Cardinal Gibbons does give scholarships, but if a student receives a scholarship, he/she is automatically ineligible for the duration of their high school career.
Scholarships are different from need-based financial aid, which all students are eligible to receive based on their family's financial situation. In order to receive need-based aid, families must fill out paperwork and submit it to an independent clearinghouse outside of Cardinal Gibbons. The clearinghouse will report back to Cardinal Gibbons what amount of aid (if any) the student is eligible to receive. No one using need-based financial aid has their entire education at Cardinal Gibbons paid in full.
Additional information regarding financial aid has been requested from Cardinal Gibbons. However, in 2012, financial aid went to 20 percent of the student-athletes. That is compared to 22 percent of non-athletes receiving financial aid.
Claim: Cardinal Gibbons picks their own student body, and many of their students and athletes come from public schools and should be going to public schools now.
Part true, part false. Yes, Cardinal Gibbons is a private school which collects applications and accepts students based on a number of criteria. But that selection process does have its own restrictions. Cardinal Gibbons must give priority to members of a Catholic parish. It is theoretically possible that members of the Catholic Church could fill Cardinal Gibbons past capacity. There is also a significant cost to attend Cardinal Gibbons. Catholic students pay $10,140 tuition per year, while non-Catholic students pay $14,200/year. Students also have to provide their own transportation to and from school on a daily basis. There is no public transportation for Cardinal Gibbons.
Do students come from public middle schools to Cardinal Gibbons? Yes. But not in large numbers. 70.5 percent of Cardinal Gibbons' student population in the 2014-2015 school year came from a Catholic middle school. Another 10.4 percent came from another private school not affiliated with the Catholic Church. A total of 15.4 percent of the Cardinal Gibbons population last school year attended a public middle school. 2.9 percent came from out-of-state, and 0.8 percent attended home school.
Claim: Cardinal Gibbons can take students from anywhere.
Part true. Any student who can provide their own transportation to Cardinal Gibbons and who is accepted to the school can attend school at Cardinal Gibbons, but that doesn't mean he/she is eligible to participate in athletics. Cardinal Gibbons, the only Catholic high school in the Triangle area (the next closest would be in Greenville or Winston-Salem), has a 25-mile radius from which kids are eligible to participate in athletics. So, while students from anywhere can come to Cardinal Gibbons for an education, they cannot come to Cardinal Gibbons for athletics.
Cardinal Gibbons' student population is made up of mostly hyper-local students. Of its 1,426 students last school year, 642 came from Raleigh, 351 from Cary, and 127 from Apex – that's 1,120 students from those three cities (78.5 percent). A total of 1,251 students come from Wake County (87.7 percent). Another 91 students came from Durham County (6.3 percent), and 59 came from Orange County (4.1 percent). That leaves 25 other students from other counties (1.8 percent). These numbers represent the entire student body, not just athletes.
From an athletics standpoint, 1,103 of 1,242 available roster spots last school year were held by students who reside in Wake County (89 percent). There were a total of 139 roster spots held by students living outside Wake County.
Claim: Cardinal Gibbons' best teams consist of many players who should be in public high schools.
Mostly false. There are athletes on Cardinal Gibbons teams who went to public middle school. However, the number is small, and it falls in line with the rest of the student population at the school. In all, 166 of 1,242 roster positions in the 2014-2015 school year were held by students who attended public middle schools. That's 13 percent, which is slightly less than the percentage of public middle school students in the Cardinal Gibbons student body. Students who went to Catholic middle schools make up 868 of the roster spots (70 percent) on Crusaders teams, while 208 spots went to students who attended other non-public middle schools (17 percent). These numbers fall very much in line with the entire student population.
Many Catholic middle school students also end up at public high schools. In fact, the number of Catholic middle school students in the Diocese of Raleigh that attend public high schools is about five times higher than the number of public middle school students who go to Cardinal Gibbons.
Claim: The number of students who attended public middle schools on Cardinal Gibbons rosters is disproportionate to the number of public school students in the school.
False. The percentage of public middle school students on Cardinal Gibbons' rosters is actually slightly lower than the percentage of public middle school students in the student body. 219 of Cardinal Gibbons' 1,426 students in the 2014-2015 school year attended a public middle school. That's 15.4 percent of the entire student body. When you look at athletic rosters for all teams at the school, 166 of 1,242 roster spots were taken by students who attended public middle schools, which is 13 percent.
Claim: Cardinal Gibbons can recruit athletes in middle school and from high school to high school.
NCHSAA Handbook: 1.2 - Recruiting/Undue Influence
1.2.1 - No student shall be subjected to undue influence by any individual or group of individuals to induce or cause him to transfer from one school to another for athletic purposes.
1.2.2 - If allegations of recruiting are made against a school, the burden of proof in substantiated form must be borne by the accusing party.
Read more...
False. Rules for all NCHSAA-member schools prohibit recruiting of any athlete at any time. Additionally, Cardinal Gibbons (and other parochial schools) have an extra rule that requires students who transfer from another NCHSAA-member school to Cardinal Gibbons to sit out for 365 days. Last school year, 16 students transferred from NCHSAA-member schools to Cardinal Gibbons. Of those 16, nine were not interested in playing athletics, and the other seven are observing the 365-day penalty. No appeals were filed. In the history of the program, Cardinal Gibbons has filed one appeal to the NCHSAA in regards to a transfer. That transfer involved an out-of-state Catholic student who was unable to move to North Carolina in time for the beginning of the school year due to a ruling by a court in a family matter.
Claim: Non-boarding parochial schools don't play with public schools in other states.
Mostly false. There are two states in which parochial schools do not play with the public school associations – Maryland and Virginia. There are 41 parochial schools in those two states, giving them enough to compete amongst themselves. However, in 48 of the 50 states parochial schools play in the public school association.
There is a long history of Cardinal Gibbons playing Wake County Schools too.
WCPSS vs. Gibbons, 2014-2015:
Claim: Cardinal Gibbons pays their coaches more than Wake County.
False. Cardinal Gibbons uses a pay scale that is identical to the Wake County Public School System extra duty salary scale. However, there are other districts in the area and across the state who do pay coaches more money, some are 11- or 12-month employees, and have varied numbers of coaches on staff. In Wake County, some coaches are able to make extra supplemental income for carrying out duties like cutting the grass and field maintenance.
Claim: Having parochial schools in the NCHSAA will lead to other private schools joining the association.
NCHSAA Articles of Incorporation, Article IV:
Membership. Any North Carolina public or non-boarding parochial high school is eligible for membership provided it is accredited by the State Department of Public Instruction, and provided that the high school adopts and maintains the following code for participation in high school athletics:
"Competitive athletics cannot be justified as a part of the school program unless it contributes to a wholesome rounding out of the personality of the participants and the spectators. We shall therefore insist on hard but clean play resulting in honest victory without conceit or honest defeat without bitterness.
Read more...
False. The NCHSAA rules are pretty clear. Article Four of the Articles of Incorporation states: "Any North Carolina public or non-boarding parochial high school is eligible for membership provided it is accredited by the State Department of Public Instruction, and provided that the high school adopts and maintains the following code for participation in high school athletics... (see sidebar)."
In order for a non-parochial private school (i.e. Ravenscroft, Word of God, Cary Academy, Durham Academy, Trinity Christian School, etc) to join the NCHSAA, an amendment to the Articles of Incorporation would have to be made. The only way for that to happen is for the NCHSAA membership to vote on an amendment proposal and a three-fourths majority approve the amendment.
Claim: The number of private schools in the NCHSAA is rapidly increasing.
False. As stated above, the only private schools allowed in the NCHSAA are non-board parochial schools. There are four non-boarding parochial school in the NCHSAA – Bishop McGuinness, Cardinal Gibbons, Charlotte Catholic & Christ the King. No other private schools are members of the NCHSAA.
Follow Nick Stevens on Twitter @NickStevensHSOT
Read more at http://www.highschoolot.com/fact-check-the-cardinal-gibbons-student-population/14706429/#ioOUh5YmUGoez2Xz.99
- Data & Statistics: Cardinal Gibbons, Wake County controversy
- Timeline: Cardinal Gibbons, the NCHSAA & the parochial controversy
- NCHSAA Articles of Incorporation, Article IV
- NCHSAA Handbook: 1.2 - Recruiting/Undue Influence
Raleigh, N.C. — With the Cap 8 and SWAC Conferences passing bylaws that will prevent schools in their conference from playing private schools, including non-boarding parochial schools who are members of the N.C. High School Athletic Association like Cardinal Gibbons, a lot of rumors have surfaced, and many claims have been made.
Some of the following claims are arguments made by the Cap 8 and SWAC, others are claims that have been observed by HighSchoolOT.com on social media and the forums.
HighSchoolOT.com has requested a number of statistics and data from all parties involved, including through some public records requests. The data allows us to fact check many of the claims that have been made to see if they are factual.
Claim: Cardinal Gibbons is able to give scholarships to athletes so they can attend the school.
False. Cardinal Gibbons does give scholarships, but if a student receives a scholarship, he/she is automatically ineligible for the duration of their high school career.
Scholarships are different from need-based financial aid, which all students are eligible to receive based on their family's financial situation. In order to receive need-based aid, families must fill out paperwork and submit it to an independent clearinghouse outside of Cardinal Gibbons. The clearinghouse will report back to Cardinal Gibbons what amount of aid (if any) the student is eligible to receive. No one using need-based financial aid has their entire education at Cardinal Gibbons paid in full.
Additional information regarding financial aid has been requested from Cardinal Gibbons. However, in 2012, financial aid went to 20 percent of the student-athletes. That is compared to 22 percent of non-athletes receiving financial aid.
Claim: Cardinal Gibbons picks their own student body, and many of their students and athletes come from public schools and should be going to public schools now.
Part true, part false. Yes, Cardinal Gibbons is a private school which collects applications and accepts students based on a number of criteria. But that selection process does have its own restrictions. Cardinal Gibbons must give priority to members of a Catholic parish. It is theoretically possible that members of the Catholic Church could fill Cardinal Gibbons past capacity. There is also a significant cost to attend Cardinal Gibbons. Catholic students pay $10,140 tuition per year, while non-Catholic students pay $14,200/year. Students also have to provide their own transportation to and from school on a daily basis. There is no public transportation for Cardinal Gibbons.
Do students come from public middle schools to Cardinal Gibbons? Yes. But not in large numbers. 70.5 percent of Cardinal Gibbons' student population in the 2014-2015 school year came from a Catholic middle school. Another 10.4 percent came from another private school not affiliated with the Catholic Church. A total of 15.4 percent of the Cardinal Gibbons population last school year attended a public middle school. 2.9 percent came from out-of-state, and 0.8 percent attended home school.
Claim: Cardinal Gibbons can take students from anywhere.
Part true. Any student who can provide their own transportation to Cardinal Gibbons and who is accepted to the school can attend school at Cardinal Gibbons, but that doesn't mean he/she is eligible to participate in athletics. Cardinal Gibbons, the only Catholic high school in the Triangle area (the next closest would be in Greenville or Winston-Salem), has a 25-mile radius from which kids are eligible to participate in athletics. So, while students from anywhere can come to Cardinal Gibbons for an education, they cannot come to Cardinal Gibbons for athletics.
Cardinal Gibbons' student population is made up of mostly hyper-local students. Of its 1,426 students last school year, 642 came from Raleigh, 351 from Cary, and 127 from Apex – that's 1,120 students from those three cities (78.5 percent). A total of 1,251 students come from Wake County (87.7 percent). Another 91 students came from Durham County (6.3 percent), and 59 came from Orange County (4.1 percent). That leaves 25 other students from other counties (1.8 percent). These numbers represent the entire student body, not just athletes.
From an athletics standpoint, 1,103 of 1,242 available roster spots last school year were held by students who reside in Wake County (89 percent). There were a total of 139 roster spots held by students living outside Wake County.
Claim: Cardinal Gibbons' best teams consist of many players who should be in public high schools.
Mostly false. There are athletes on Cardinal Gibbons teams who went to public middle school. However, the number is small, and it falls in line with the rest of the student population at the school. In all, 166 of 1,242 roster positions in the 2014-2015 school year were held by students who attended public middle schools. That's 13 percent, which is slightly less than the percentage of public middle school students in the Cardinal Gibbons student body. Students who went to Catholic middle schools make up 868 of the roster spots (70 percent) on Crusaders teams, while 208 spots went to students who attended other non-public middle schools (17 percent). These numbers fall very much in line with the entire student population.
Many Catholic middle school students also end up at public high schools. In fact, the number of Catholic middle school students in the Diocese of Raleigh that attend public high schools is about five times higher than the number of public middle school students who go to Cardinal Gibbons.
Claim: The number of students who attended public middle schools on Cardinal Gibbons rosters is disproportionate to the number of public school students in the school.
False. The percentage of public middle school students on Cardinal Gibbons' rosters is actually slightly lower than the percentage of public middle school students in the student body. 219 of Cardinal Gibbons' 1,426 students in the 2014-2015 school year attended a public middle school. That's 15.4 percent of the entire student body. When you look at athletic rosters for all teams at the school, 166 of 1,242 roster spots were taken by students who attended public middle schools, which is 13 percent.
Claim: Cardinal Gibbons can recruit athletes in middle school and from high school to high school.
NCHSAA Handbook: 1.2 - Recruiting/Undue Influence
1.2.1 - No student shall be subjected to undue influence by any individual or group of individuals to induce or cause him to transfer from one school to another for athletic purposes.
1.2.2 - If allegations of recruiting are made against a school, the burden of proof in substantiated form must be borne by the accusing party.
Read more...
False. Rules for all NCHSAA-member schools prohibit recruiting of any athlete at any time. Additionally, Cardinal Gibbons (and other parochial schools) have an extra rule that requires students who transfer from another NCHSAA-member school to Cardinal Gibbons to sit out for 365 days. Last school year, 16 students transferred from NCHSAA-member schools to Cardinal Gibbons. Of those 16, nine were not interested in playing athletics, and the other seven are observing the 365-day penalty. No appeals were filed. In the history of the program, Cardinal Gibbons has filed one appeal to the NCHSAA in regards to a transfer. That transfer involved an out-of-state Catholic student who was unable to move to North Carolina in time for the beginning of the school year due to a ruling by a court in a family matter.
Claim: Non-boarding parochial schools don't play with public schools in other states.
Mostly false. There are two states in which parochial schools do not play with the public school associations – Maryland and Virginia. There are 41 parochial schools in those two states, giving them enough to compete amongst themselves. However, in 48 of the 50 states parochial schools play in the public school association.
There is a long history of Cardinal Gibbons playing Wake County Schools too.
WCPSS vs. Gibbons, 2014-2015:
- Green Hope - 21 games
- Cary - 14 games
- Apex - 11 games
- Athens Drive - 7 games
- Broughton - 6 games
- Leesville Road - 5 games
Claim: Cardinal Gibbons pays their coaches more than Wake County.
False. Cardinal Gibbons uses a pay scale that is identical to the Wake County Public School System extra duty salary scale. However, there are other districts in the area and across the state who do pay coaches more money, some are 11- or 12-month employees, and have varied numbers of coaches on staff. In Wake County, some coaches are able to make extra supplemental income for carrying out duties like cutting the grass and field maintenance.
Claim: Having parochial schools in the NCHSAA will lead to other private schools joining the association.
NCHSAA Articles of Incorporation, Article IV:
Membership. Any North Carolina public or non-boarding parochial high school is eligible for membership provided it is accredited by the State Department of Public Instruction, and provided that the high school adopts and maintains the following code for participation in high school athletics:
"Competitive athletics cannot be justified as a part of the school program unless it contributes to a wholesome rounding out of the personality of the participants and the spectators. We shall therefore insist on hard but clean play resulting in honest victory without conceit or honest defeat without bitterness.
Read more...
False. The NCHSAA rules are pretty clear. Article Four of the Articles of Incorporation states: "Any North Carolina public or non-boarding parochial high school is eligible for membership provided it is accredited by the State Department of Public Instruction, and provided that the high school adopts and maintains the following code for participation in high school athletics... (see sidebar)."
In order for a non-parochial private school (i.e. Ravenscroft, Word of God, Cary Academy, Durham Academy, Trinity Christian School, etc) to join the NCHSAA, an amendment to the Articles of Incorporation would have to be made. The only way for that to happen is for the NCHSAA membership to vote on an amendment proposal and a three-fourths majority approve the amendment.
Claim: The number of private schools in the NCHSAA is rapidly increasing.
False. As stated above, the only private schools allowed in the NCHSAA are non-board parochial schools. There are four non-boarding parochial school in the NCHSAA – Bishop McGuinness, Cardinal Gibbons, Charlotte Catholic & Christ the King. No other private schools are members of the NCHSAA.
Follow Nick Stevens on Twitter @NickStevensHSOT
Read more at http://www.highschoolot.com/fact-check-the-cardinal-gibbons-student-population/14706429/#ioOUh5YmUGoez2Xz.99
WCPSS approves nearly all athletic eligibility appeals for transfer students - www.highschoolot.com - June 23, 2015.
- WCPSS transfer data
- SWAC, Cap 8 boycott Gibbons
- Fact Check: Cardinal Gibbons
- Data: Gibbons, Wake controversy
- Timeline: Gibbons & parochial controversy
Raleigh, N.C. — A move by Wake County schools in the Cap 8 and Southwest Wake Athletic Conferences that has resulted in the leagues banning play against private schools, including N.C. High School Athletic Association-member schools like Cardinal Gibbons, raised many questions.
Among the questions raised – what is the high school transfer situation at Cardinal Gibbons compared to that in Wake County Schools?
Athletic directors and principals pushing for the bylaw changes – and some who would like to see schools like Cardinal Gibbons removed from the NCHSAA – cite their concern of an uneven playing field. But does Cardinal Gibbons have an advantage when it comes to student transfers?
The NCHSAA has implemented rules for parochial schools regarding transfers. Any student-athlete who has transferred to a parochial school, such as Cardinal Gibbons, from an NCHSAA-member school must sit out of athletic participation for 365 days.
"To me that certainly helps," said former Wake County Schools athletic director Bobby Guthrie. "It's not like you can be a transfer in college, go somewhere, you've got five years to play four. Once the clock starts running at the high school level, it's running. You've got four years. You really can't afford to sit out that 365."
Wake County Schools also have a 365-day penalty, but unlike Cardinal Gibbons, Wake County can override the 365-day penalty with a simple approval from the district athletic director.
Once a student is granted a transfer by student assignment, the student can submit a waiver for immediate athletic eligibility to the county athletic director. The county athletic director will review the case, notify both the student's original school and the student's new school. If there are no red flags, the student becomes eligible.
"Basically we're not going to turn away very many students from participating," Guthrie said.
And Guthrie isn't kidding.
2014-2015 Wake County Athletic Eligibility Appeals
- 86 appeals filed
- 84 appeals approved
- 2 appeals denied
- 97.8% approval rate
- 9 appeals filed
- 8 appeals approved
- 1 appeal in progress
- Note: These numbers are as of June 15, 2015. Other appeals may be filed.
During the 2014-2015 school year 86 appeals for immediate athletic participation were submitted to Wake County Schools. Of the 86 appeals, 84 were approved. Just two appeals were denied. "I would say 95 percent of the time there is not an issue on someone transferring in Wake County Schools," Guthrie said. "But very seldom did we deny anyone from transferring and participating unless we just knew this is for athletic reasons."
So far for the 2015-2016 school year, Wake County has received nine appeals for immediate athletic eligibility. Eight of the appeals have been approved, the other is still pending a decision.
It is worth noting that these figures provided by the Wake County Public School System do not include freshmen who transferred from their base school to another school. Freshmen in Wake County are immediately eligible to play at whatever high school they attend on the first day of class.
On the other hand, Cardinal Gibbons did not file a single appeal for athletic eligibility during the 2014-2015 school year. In fact, in the history of the program, Cardinal Gibbons has only filed one appeal with the NCHSAA. That appeal, which was eventually granted by the association, involved an out-of-state move that was delayed due to a court ruling in a divorce case.
"If there is (a waiver to get immediate eligibility) we're not using it," said Cardinal Gibbons principal Jason Curtis. "I think that for the people who know that transfers into this school have to sit out a year, they find that reassuring."
The total number of transfers from one school to another in Wake County are even more staggering.
Last year in Wake County, 1,778 high school students applied for a transfer to a Wake County school and 1,157 of them were approved. Of the 621 transfer requests that were denied, 61 applied for an appeal and 24 appeals were granted.
That means a total of 1,181 high school students changed schools in Wake County during the 2014-2015 school year.
It is not known how many of the students participated in athletics since freshmen do not have to submit eligibility waivers after a transfer.
WCPSS high schools with most transfers, 2014-2015:
- Wakefield - 113
- Green Hope - 104
- Middle Creek - 88
- Cary - 83
- Leesville Road - 68
Some of the numbers for individual schools are very impressive. Wakefield High School had 113-of-143 transfer requests approved, receiving more transfer students than any other Wake County high school.
Green Hope High School was second with 104-of-114 transfer requests approved. Middle Creek High School had 88 transfers approved and Cary High School had 83.
Leesville Road High School had all 68 transfer requests approved for the 2014-2015 school year.
Those numbers don't include appeals that were granted for transfer requests that were originally denied.
But Cardinal Gibbons had significantly fewer transfers. In fact, from NCHSAA-member schools, Cardinal Gibbons had just 16 transfers during the 2014-2015 school year. Of those 16 transfers, nine students were not athletes and seven students are observing the 365-day penalty. No appeals were filed with the NCHSAA.
image: http://wwwcache.highschoolot.com/asset/content/2015/06/23/14732082/14732082-1435033907-640x360.jpg
Cardinal Gibbons also received 17 transfers from non-NCHSAA schools – either other private schools or schools from out-of-state. Nine of those students were not athletes, while eight did participate in sports.
Guthrie, who severed the better part of two decades as the Wake County athletic director, said he never had a single complaint brought to him from a Wake County school about Cardinal Gibbons recruiting athletes.
"I probably heard a whole lot more about Wake County schools," Guthrie said. "I told people many times, when you've got anywhere from 17,000 to 20,000 athletes participating in Wake County high schools right now, if you want me to tell you that everything's above board and everybody is living where they're supposed to be, I wouldn't dare say that."
The eligibility waivers Wake County issues to transfer students are not illegal, in fact the NCHSAA rules allow each school district to determine how they will handle transfers on a district-by-district basis.
There is no evidence that Wake County or any school inside the district is breaking any NCHSAA rule, but the figures provided by the school system suggest that Wake County Schools have an advantage over parochial schools like Cardinal Gibbons when it comes to student transfers and athletic eligibility.
If a student transfers from a Wake County school to another Wake County school, or if a student transfers from Cardinal Gibbons to a Wake County school, there is a good chance they will be eligible to play sports immediately. However, if a student transfers from a Wake County school to Cardinal Gibbons, that student will have to sit out for 365 days.
"As a part of our membership, we've agreed to do this and so that's what we do," Curtis said. "That means going the other direction, and this happens every single year, we have students who go to Wake County and participate."
The numbers provided by Wake County Public Schools are not unique to one year either. Guthrie says he received 50-75 appeals for athletic eligibility each year and that about 95 percent of them were approved.
Follow Nick Stevens on Twitter @NickStevensHSOT
Read more at http://www.highschoolot.com/wcpss-transfers-almost-always-receive-immediate-athletic-eligibility/14727507/#QSEkg8CWK1AccZU0.99
Nick Stevens, HSOT (@NickStevensHSOT) 6/23/15, 12:43 PM - A while ago, @principalcghsnc told me something along the lines of: "It's hard to prove you're not doing something that you're not doing."
Zach Mayo, HSOT (@ZachMayoHSOT) 6/23/15, 12:39 PM - People. Understand the "they're good so they must be doing something unfairly" assumption is the problem here.
6/23/15, 12:31 PM.@NickStevensHSOT - presents classic sports/news dilemma: subjects "upset" about reporting but won't go on the record to "set it straight".
Zach Mayo, HSOT (@ZachMayoHSOT) 6/23/15, 12:39 PM - People. Understand the "they're good so they must be doing something unfairly" assumption is the problem here.
6/23/15, 12:31 PM.@NickStevensHSOT - presents classic sports/news dilemma: subjects "upset" about reporting but won't go on the record to "set it straight".
High School Sports NCHSAA Commissioner: 'Communication is key' in parochial school debate, by www.highschoolot.com - June 24, 2015.
By Nick Stevens
In the spring of 2012, the N.C. High School Athletic Association was hit with a surprise.
Six schools from Rowan County proposed an amendment to the NCHSAA bylaws that would have barred non-board parochial schools like Cardinal Gibbons from being members of the association.
ADVERTISING The amendment failed, with a large chunk of schools failing to cast a vote. However, the majority of schools who did cast a ballot voted in favor of removing parochial schools from the association.
That sparked a statewide conversation, and the NCHSAA formed the non-traditional committee to look at all the different types of schools in the association, including parochial schools. The committee, which included three representatives from Wake County Schools, met throughout the fall and proposed rule changes to NCHSAA Board of Directors to help level the playing field for all schools.
NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker said the issue had not been raised at the same level since, and the association thought the non-traditional committee had been effective in educating the member schools about parochial schools.
“We thought several years ago when we had the non-traditional schools committee come in and had folks from the different settings that our schools fall into – traditional public, charter, and the non-boarding parochial schools – around the table, we really thought that some issues were addressed,” said Tucker. “Some things were put out there that made it a lot clearer, especially for those around the table. We were hopeful we would never get to a point where we’d have to deal with this again.”
That’s why Tucker says she was surprised to hear about the current standoff in Wake County as the Southwest Wake Athletic Conference and Cap 8 Conference have voted to pass bylaws preventing its members from playing private schools, including NCHSAA-member non-board parochial schools like Cardinal Gibbons.
“It’s kind of puzzling to me. I can’t imagine that there’s a principal or athletic director out there anywhere who would say, ‘Oh, OK, if you don’t want me to play this school as a non-conference game then we won’t.’ Especially if it’s a school that could be a good rival, it could help a school or team get ready for the post season,” she said.
No athletic directors or principals from the Cap 8 or the SWAC have reached out the NCHSAA in regards to this issue.
“We have not been officially informed by any conference that is considering this action. Everything we’re hearing is third party,” Tucker said. “If in fact what we’re hearing is true, then we’re very disappointed … We would like to hope that before any final decisions are made that Cardinal Gibbons would be invited around the table to address some of the concerns that evidently the folks in Wake County have.”
Tucker said the communication between the different parties will be a key in reaching a solution to this problem. That’s something that has not happened yet. According to Cardinal Gibbons, there has been no direct discussion between it and the schools in the Cap 8 and SWAC.
“Communication is key in everything, not just at the NCHSAA … But in this particular scenario, there seems to be a lot of miscommunication,” Tucker said. “There seems to be the unwillingness to sit down at the table and discuss those issues and concerns that have risen to the top just in the last few months, because typically, Cardinal Gibbons and the Wake County schools have played non-conference games.”
“So whatever issues have popped up, we haven’t heard what those alleged issues are, and as you’ve indicated, Cardinal Gibbons can’t even address them because there is that unwillingness to do so, to me that’s frustrating for sure for Cardinal Gibbons. They’ve always been very open, they try to be very transparent, but if the other side of the table won’t even come to the table, then it’s hard to think that you’re ever going to be able to find common ground and common understanding.”
According to Tucker, the NCHSAA is not aware of another time in the history of the association when a conference has passed a bylaw preventing its entire league from playing another member school.
“I’ve been with the association 24 years and in my time at the association, I am unaware of there ever being a time where a conference would get to a point where they would say, ‘We’re not going to play X school,’ or ‘We’re not going to play X non-conference schools,” Tucker said.
It’s possible that the conferences may have overstepped their bounds, according to the association. Tucker called it “interesting” that a conference is dictating what its members can and can’t do outside of the conference.
“That is really kind of interesting to me, that a conference would think that it has that kind of authority to tell another school, ‘You can’t play X school as a non-conference game.’ That’s really interesting because our schools like to be autonomous,” said Tucker.
Tucker said the NCHSAA will be reviewing the language in its constitution and bylaws with its attorney, something that is routine when issues arise.
What would happen if a member of the Cap 8 or SWAC were to go against the new bylaws and play a private schools, or possibly Cardinal Gibbons? Tucker says not much.
“I don’t think (conferences) have that authority to sanction another school for how it schedules. I do not think it has that authority,” Tucker said.
Conferences fall under the alignment responsibility of the association, according to the NCHSAA handbook.
“So if they then decide, ‘Well, we’re going to sanction a school because they’ve decided that they’re going to play another school,’ I think we maybe have some grounds to intervene if they try to sanction them,” said Tucker. “But again, that’s language that we’re going to be looking at and having some discussion with our attorney and with our board members, if need be.”
This could just be the start of an even bigger, statewide issue. Sources who have attended principals and athletic directors meetings in Wake County have told HighSchoolOT.com that there is at least some support for an amendment proposal to remove non-boarding parochial schools from the association.
“I think it would be safe to say that our board members would be disappointed (if such an amendment were presented) because many of the board members were on the board when the amendment came forward several years ago to try and remove those schools from the association,” Tucker said.
But again, such a proposal may not be as simple as collecting signatures, submitting it to the commissioner, and then holding a vote.
Tucker said the association would have to discuss the situation with its attorney because the NCHSAA may have a responsibility to grandfather in current members who are in good standing with the association – like Cardinal Gibbons. If that were to be the case, the amendment may simply block future non-boarding parochial schools from joining the association.
“I’m not an attorney, I don’t know how the law would address it if the amendment were put forward and the memberships were to approve it,” Tucker said.
“If you belong to some fraternity or you’re a member of some organization … if I go in under one set of rules and I don’t violate any of those rules, but now we’ve changed the rules that would keep someone like me from getting in, can you kick me out?” Tucker asked. “I don’t know. I think that’s a legal issue that certainly would be out there on the table if such an amendment were to come forward again.”
And according to Tucker, Cardinal Gibbons has never violated any major rules. She said the school may have had “minor infractions” in the past, such as playing a player in too many games or a player who missed too many days of school, but nothing that she would classify as “a serious violation.”
“Nothing that has risen to the level that would warrant our board of directors to take serious action or to take a serious look at moving that school from amongst the ranks of the membership,” said Tucker.
The NCHSAA realizes that some schools in Wake County do have serious concerns about the fairness of playing non-boarding parochial schools, and Tucker hopes they will sit down to try and reach a resolution.
“If the things I’m hearing, if the allegations of not playing Cardinal Gibbons in non-conference games and including that in your bylaws, if those things are true, I would ask you, before you put anything in cement, that you sit down at the table with Cardinal Gibbons and address those things that you believe to be true,” said Tucker. “Show them the facts you have about your concerns and try to talk through those before you make some final decisions.”
And Tucker said the association is willing to step in and assist if the schools ask.
“The association, our staff, would be willing to sit at the table with them in these discussions. We’re certainly not looking to have a chair at the table, but if someone needed us to or wanted us to be there, we certainly would be willing to sit at the table as these things are addressed,” she said. “If they wanted some people from the non-traditional schools committee, if thy wanted to have some folks from that committee to come and sit around the table as these discussion are ongoing in Wake County, then we would try our very best to make sure that could happen.”
Three Wake County Schools representatives sat on that committee in 2012, including retired county athletic director Bobby Guthrie. In a previous interview with HighSchoolOT.com, Guthrie also said communication is the most important thing for the Cap 8, SWAC and Cardinal Gibbons.
“I really think you need to go to the source, you need to find out, you need to sit down with them,” Guthrie said. “You’ve got (Cardinal Gibbons athletic director Todd Schuler) that was in Wake County Schools, and worked in Wake County Schools, who you can go to and find out some answers. Principals could go to the Cardinal Gibbons principal very easily and get that information.”
If athletic directors and principals decide to make an amendment proposal to eliminate or bar non-boarding parochial schools from the NCHSAA, the proposal would have to be submitted to the commissioner by Nov. 1. The proposal would require the support of six individual principals or superintendents.
Follow Nick Stevens on Twitter @NickStevensHSOT
Read more at http://www.highschoolot.com/nchsaa-commissioner-communication-is-key-in-parochial-school-debate/14735330/#0f9xQxxATuBP40p8.99
In the spring of 2012, the N.C. High School Athletic Association was hit with a surprise.
Six schools from Rowan County proposed an amendment to the NCHSAA bylaws that would have barred non-board parochial schools like Cardinal Gibbons from being members of the association.
ADVERTISING The amendment failed, with a large chunk of schools failing to cast a vote. However, the majority of schools who did cast a ballot voted in favor of removing parochial schools from the association.
That sparked a statewide conversation, and the NCHSAA formed the non-traditional committee to look at all the different types of schools in the association, including parochial schools. The committee, which included three representatives from Wake County Schools, met throughout the fall and proposed rule changes to NCHSAA Board of Directors to help level the playing field for all schools.
NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker said the issue had not been raised at the same level since, and the association thought the non-traditional committee had been effective in educating the member schools about parochial schools.
“We thought several years ago when we had the non-traditional schools committee come in and had folks from the different settings that our schools fall into – traditional public, charter, and the non-boarding parochial schools – around the table, we really thought that some issues were addressed,” said Tucker. “Some things were put out there that made it a lot clearer, especially for those around the table. We were hopeful we would never get to a point where we’d have to deal with this again.”
That’s why Tucker says she was surprised to hear about the current standoff in Wake County as the Southwest Wake Athletic Conference and Cap 8 Conference have voted to pass bylaws preventing its members from playing private schools, including NCHSAA-member non-board parochial schools like Cardinal Gibbons.
“It’s kind of puzzling to me. I can’t imagine that there’s a principal or athletic director out there anywhere who would say, ‘Oh, OK, if you don’t want me to play this school as a non-conference game then we won’t.’ Especially if it’s a school that could be a good rival, it could help a school or team get ready for the post season,” she said.
No athletic directors or principals from the Cap 8 or the SWAC have reached out the NCHSAA in regards to this issue.
“We have not been officially informed by any conference that is considering this action. Everything we’re hearing is third party,” Tucker said. “If in fact what we’re hearing is true, then we’re very disappointed … We would like to hope that before any final decisions are made that Cardinal Gibbons would be invited around the table to address some of the concerns that evidently the folks in Wake County have.”
Tucker said the communication between the different parties will be a key in reaching a solution to this problem. That’s something that has not happened yet. According to Cardinal Gibbons, there has been no direct discussion between it and the schools in the Cap 8 and SWAC.
“Communication is key in everything, not just at the NCHSAA … But in this particular scenario, there seems to be a lot of miscommunication,” Tucker said. “There seems to be the unwillingness to sit down at the table and discuss those issues and concerns that have risen to the top just in the last few months, because typically, Cardinal Gibbons and the Wake County schools have played non-conference games.”
“So whatever issues have popped up, we haven’t heard what those alleged issues are, and as you’ve indicated, Cardinal Gibbons can’t even address them because there is that unwillingness to do so, to me that’s frustrating for sure for Cardinal Gibbons. They’ve always been very open, they try to be very transparent, but if the other side of the table won’t even come to the table, then it’s hard to think that you’re ever going to be able to find common ground and common understanding.”
According to Tucker, the NCHSAA is not aware of another time in the history of the association when a conference has passed a bylaw preventing its entire league from playing another member school.
“I’ve been with the association 24 years and in my time at the association, I am unaware of there ever being a time where a conference would get to a point where they would say, ‘We’re not going to play X school,’ or ‘We’re not going to play X non-conference schools,” Tucker said.
It’s possible that the conferences may have overstepped their bounds, according to the association. Tucker called it “interesting” that a conference is dictating what its members can and can’t do outside of the conference.
“That is really kind of interesting to me, that a conference would think that it has that kind of authority to tell another school, ‘You can’t play X school as a non-conference game.’ That’s really interesting because our schools like to be autonomous,” said Tucker.
Tucker said the NCHSAA will be reviewing the language in its constitution and bylaws with its attorney, something that is routine when issues arise.
What would happen if a member of the Cap 8 or SWAC were to go against the new bylaws and play a private schools, or possibly Cardinal Gibbons? Tucker says not much.
“I don’t think (conferences) have that authority to sanction another school for how it schedules. I do not think it has that authority,” Tucker said.
Conferences fall under the alignment responsibility of the association, according to the NCHSAA handbook.
“So if they then decide, ‘Well, we’re going to sanction a school because they’ve decided that they’re going to play another school,’ I think we maybe have some grounds to intervene if they try to sanction them,” said Tucker. “But again, that’s language that we’re going to be looking at and having some discussion with our attorney and with our board members, if need be.”
This could just be the start of an even bigger, statewide issue. Sources who have attended principals and athletic directors meetings in Wake County have told HighSchoolOT.com that there is at least some support for an amendment proposal to remove non-boarding parochial schools from the association.
“I think it would be safe to say that our board members would be disappointed (if such an amendment were presented) because many of the board members were on the board when the amendment came forward several years ago to try and remove those schools from the association,” Tucker said.
But again, such a proposal may not be as simple as collecting signatures, submitting it to the commissioner, and then holding a vote.
Tucker said the association would have to discuss the situation with its attorney because the NCHSAA may have a responsibility to grandfather in current members who are in good standing with the association – like Cardinal Gibbons. If that were to be the case, the amendment may simply block future non-boarding parochial schools from joining the association.
“I’m not an attorney, I don’t know how the law would address it if the amendment were put forward and the memberships were to approve it,” Tucker said.
“If you belong to some fraternity or you’re a member of some organization … if I go in under one set of rules and I don’t violate any of those rules, but now we’ve changed the rules that would keep someone like me from getting in, can you kick me out?” Tucker asked. “I don’t know. I think that’s a legal issue that certainly would be out there on the table if such an amendment were to come forward again.”
And according to Tucker, Cardinal Gibbons has never violated any major rules. She said the school may have had “minor infractions” in the past, such as playing a player in too many games or a player who missed too many days of school, but nothing that she would classify as “a serious violation.”
“Nothing that has risen to the level that would warrant our board of directors to take serious action or to take a serious look at moving that school from amongst the ranks of the membership,” said Tucker.
The NCHSAA realizes that some schools in Wake County do have serious concerns about the fairness of playing non-boarding parochial schools, and Tucker hopes they will sit down to try and reach a resolution.
“If the things I’m hearing, if the allegations of not playing Cardinal Gibbons in non-conference games and including that in your bylaws, if those things are true, I would ask you, before you put anything in cement, that you sit down at the table with Cardinal Gibbons and address those things that you believe to be true,” said Tucker. “Show them the facts you have about your concerns and try to talk through those before you make some final decisions.”
And Tucker said the association is willing to step in and assist if the schools ask.
“The association, our staff, would be willing to sit at the table with them in these discussions. We’re certainly not looking to have a chair at the table, but if someone needed us to or wanted us to be there, we certainly would be willing to sit at the table as these things are addressed,” she said. “If they wanted some people from the non-traditional schools committee, if thy wanted to have some folks from that committee to come and sit around the table as these discussion are ongoing in Wake County, then we would try our very best to make sure that could happen.”
Three Wake County Schools representatives sat on that committee in 2012, including retired county athletic director Bobby Guthrie. In a previous interview with HighSchoolOT.com, Guthrie also said communication is the most important thing for the Cap 8, SWAC and Cardinal Gibbons.
“I really think you need to go to the source, you need to find out, you need to sit down with them,” Guthrie said. “You’ve got (Cardinal Gibbons athletic director Todd Schuler) that was in Wake County Schools, and worked in Wake County Schools, who you can go to and find out some answers. Principals could go to the Cardinal Gibbons principal very easily and get that information.”
If athletic directors and principals decide to make an amendment proposal to eliminate or bar non-boarding parochial schools from the NCHSAA, the proposal would have to be submitted to the commissioner by Nov. 1. The proposal would require the support of six individual principals or superintendents.
Follow Nick Stevens on Twitter @NickStevensHSOT
Read more at http://www.highschoolot.com/nchsaa-commissioner-communication-is-key-in-parochial-school-debate/14735330/#0f9xQxxATuBP40p8.99
Cardinal Gibbons responds to accusations of advantages in volleyball. www.highschoolot.com June 25, 2015.
By Nick Stevens
Raleigh, N.C. — Accusations of unfair advantages or even recruiting surrounding the Cardinal Gibbons volleyball program are not new.
In response to HighSchoolOT.com reporting this week, these same accusations resurfaced. Claims were made that Cardinal Gibbons has strong ties to the Triangle Volleyball Club, allowing it to sustain its high level of success.
"Every once in a while you hear a random thing, but it's never direct," said Cardinal Gibbons Principal Jason Curtis. "We had two student-athletes who had come up through the Catholic schools and someone said, 'I heard you flew them in from California,' or whatever else. I don't consider those credible because it's obviously silly. We know where these kids come from, it's not like we're hiding anything."
Curtis was a co-founder of the Triangle Volleyball Club. The club was founded in 2002, with the first competitive season occurring in 2003. His involvement leads some to believe it gives Cardinal Gibbons an unfair advantage when it comes to landing top volleyball talent.
But the story is more complex than that.
Curtis, who is from California, played volleyball himself. He has coached at many different levels, including in college. While he was in California, Curtis worked with sports clubs on the organizational side.
"Before I got into high school education I had coached. I had coached while I was in college. I coached in a high school, I coached club, I coached in camps," Curtis said.
Curtis helped start two volleyball clubs in California.
"It was essentially just organizing a group, organizing coaches who wanted to coach, setting up a structure and inviting people in to be a part of it," said Curtis.
Then in 2000, Curtis moved to North Carolina with his wife and two children – a 2-year-old and a new born.
"Honestly my wife was kind of ready for me to not coach. So when I came out here I came to Gibbons to teach," Curtis said. "When I came out here, there was a club at the time, they heard about me and I gave them some help with some of their organization."
Curtis also helped as a volunteer at practice with the Cardinal Gibbons volleyball team. Then in 2002, he was approached by two other people about starting a volleyball club.
"I told them I would do it, but I wasn't going to coach a team. I just couldn't do it," he said. "I was involved with the founding of it with these two other people."
Aside from the initial paperwork that helped start the non-profit organization, Curtis has never been on the board of directors for the Triangle Volleyball Club, he has never been in a paid leadership position, he is not an investor, and he has never received any gain on an investment from the club.
"I've never had a financial stake in it," Curtis said. "I co-founded it because that's what I had been doing and I wanted to provide opportunities for kids to play. I never intended for my own children to play. My wife is not a volleyball person, and I also didn't know I would turn out to have a son and three daughters. When I founded it I had two children."
"It was never my intention to come back and coach and do those things, but for whatever reason, all four of my children decided they wanted to play, including my son. For me, coaching helps provide them an opportunity to play club sports that they frankly might not otherwise have."
Curtis has been coaching one of the younger teams in the club for the past three seasons. But even as a coach he has made attempts to distance himself from decision-making.
"I have no administrative responsibilities, so I'm not hiring people. I couldn't, I'm not in that role. And this is a little bit in the weeds, but also during tryout, I also remove myself from those decisions," he said.
For Curtis, the formation of the Triangle Volleyball Club came down to giving back to the community.
"It's our intention that coaches give back to the sport at every level, so it would be my hope in any sports organization that they’re helping out in high school sports, that they’re helping out with free and local clinics, that they’re helping out with coaches education," he said.
Inside the volleyball numbers One of the claims made this week about the Triangle Volleyball Club is that it serves as a vehicle for Cardinal Gibbons' volleyball team to play together year-round.
That is not the case.
Of the 124 Triangle Volleyball Club members who are in middle school, 25 players attend a Catholic middle school (20.1%). 73 players attend a public middle school (58.9%), and the other 26 players attend a non-Catholic private school (21%).
Read more at http://www.highschoolot.com/cardinal-gibbons-responds-to-accusations-of-advantages-in-volleyball/14736499/#r8qLimWrxM5msI4X.99
Raleigh, N.C. — Accusations of unfair advantages or even recruiting surrounding the Cardinal Gibbons volleyball program are not new.
In response to HighSchoolOT.com reporting this week, these same accusations resurfaced. Claims were made that Cardinal Gibbons has strong ties to the Triangle Volleyball Club, allowing it to sustain its high level of success.
"Every once in a while you hear a random thing, but it's never direct," said Cardinal Gibbons Principal Jason Curtis. "We had two student-athletes who had come up through the Catholic schools and someone said, 'I heard you flew them in from California,' or whatever else. I don't consider those credible because it's obviously silly. We know where these kids come from, it's not like we're hiding anything."
Curtis was a co-founder of the Triangle Volleyball Club. The club was founded in 2002, with the first competitive season occurring in 2003. His involvement leads some to believe it gives Cardinal Gibbons an unfair advantage when it comes to landing top volleyball talent.
But the story is more complex than that.
Curtis, who is from California, played volleyball himself. He has coached at many different levels, including in college. While he was in California, Curtis worked with sports clubs on the organizational side.
"Before I got into high school education I had coached. I had coached while I was in college. I coached in a high school, I coached club, I coached in camps," Curtis said.
Curtis helped start two volleyball clubs in California.
"It was essentially just organizing a group, organizing coaches who wanted to coach, setting up a structure and inviting people in to be a part of it," said Curtis.
Then in 2000, Curtis moved to North Carolina with his wife and two children – a 2-year-old and a new born.
"Honestly my wife was kind of ready for me to not coach. So when I came out here I came to Gibbons to teach," Curtis said. "When I came out here, there was a club at the time, they heard about me and I gave them some help with some of their organization."
Curtis also helped as a volunteer at practice with the Cardinal Gibbons volleyball team. Then in 2002, he was approached by two other people about starting a volleyball club.
"I told them I would do it, but I wasn't going to coach a team. I just couldn't do it," he said. "I was involved with the founding of it with these two other people."
Aside from the initial paperwork that helped start the non-profit organization, Curtis has never been on the board of directors for the Triangle Volleyball Club, he has never been in a paid leadership position, he is not an investor, and he has never received any gain on an investment from the club.
"I've never had a financial stake in it," Curtis said. "I co-founded it because that's what I had been doing and I wanted to provide opportunities for kids to play. I never intended for my own children to play. My wife is not a volleyball person, and I also didn't know I would turn out to have a son and three daughters. When I founded it I had two children."
"It was never my intention to come back and coach and do those things, but for whatever reason, all four of my children decided they wanted to play, including my son. For me, coaching helps provide them an opportunity to play club sports that they frankly might not otherwise have."
Curtis has been coaching one of the younger teams in the club for the past three seasons. But even as a coach he has made attempts to distance himself from decision-making.
"I have no administrative responsibilities, so I'm not hiring people. I couldn't, I'm not in that role. And this is a little bit in the weeds, but also during tryout, I also remove myself from those decisions," he said.
For Curtis, the formation of the Triangle Volleyball Club came down to giving back to the community.
"It's our intention that coaches give back to the sport at every level, so it would be my hope in any sports organization that they’re helping out in high school sports, that they’re helping out with free and local clinics, that they’re helping out with coaches education," he said.
Inside the volleyball numbers One of the claims made this week about the Triangle Volleyball Club is that it serves as a vehicle for Cardinal Gibbons' volleyball team to play together year-round.
That is not the case.
Of the 124 Triangle Volleyball Club members who are in middle school, 25 players attend a Catholic middle school (20.1%). 73 players attend a public middle school (58.9%), and the other 26 players attend a non-Catholic private school (21%).
Read more at http://www.highschoolot.com/cardinal-gibbons-responds-to-accusations-of-advantages-in-volleyball/14736499/#r8qLimWrxM5msI4X.99
PrepsNow Roundtable: Tackling the nontraditional schools question - May 4, 2016.
The N&O panel features:
▪ J. Mike Blake (The Cary News and Southwest Wake News)
▪ Aaron Moody (Eastern Wake News)
▪ Jessika Morgan (Midtown Raleigh News and North Raleigh News)
▪ W.E. Warnock (Chapel Hill News and The Durham News)
D. Clay Best (Smithfield Herald, Clayton News-Star, Garner-Cleveland Record) is out this week.
Let’s start with the over-arching question being decided here: do nontraditional schools have inherent advantages over traditional ones? Does it go both ways? Blake: Yes, but let’s be clear: “advantage” is not an accusation or a dirty word. If you’re 300 pounds you have an advantage in football but not in swimming.
Ultimately, where you live in N.C. matters more than what type of school you go to. As The N&O found last year, schools that have a more wealthy populace are more likely to win state titles. A charter school set in that area will do better than a traditional 1A school, almost always in rural areas – or a rural charter school (were all charter schools rural, like KIPP Pride or Bear Grass Charter, there would be no such proposal for a new bracket).
Charter schools certainly have their own obstacles as well: small booster clubs, few alumni, no transportation, off-campus facilities and all transfers must sit out a year. Some public schools – whether they are magnet, open-enrollment or have a speciality program – benefit athletically a little, but it’s hit-or-miss.
Going back to a wealthier populace, that sums up why parochial schools are so darn good at almost everything. Think about it. If Green Hope is the six-time Wells Fargo Cup 4A champ for statewide success and has a free-and-reduced lunch rate of about 7 percent, what would that percentage look like at a schools that cost $8,000 a year? Probably zero percent of athletes, because all the needs-based scholarship students are ineligible from playing sports.
Money matters more than the school type, but some school types lend themselves to reaching wealthier families.
Moody: I get the access to resources point in a case that nontraditional schools have advantages. Perhaps there are instances where this could go either way, though. Some younger, nontraditional schools don’t even have many of their own facilities like most – I repeat, most – traditional public schools have in their own back yard. And in cases like that, it would appear the nontraditional school would be the one learning rather than winning in games against public schools and not the other way around. But you obviously can’t bracket teams based on how established the programs are.
Morgan: Nontraditional schools may have an advantage because of their ability to draw student-athletes to their campuses. They can offer individualized attention to their athletic careers and give them a platform to shine for film, getting it into the right hands. Sure, that can happen with an incredibly special student-athlete at a public school, but there often more resources on the other side.
Traditional public schools have the upper-hand because kids who grow up in the area may long to play for their local high school, and that kid may turn out to be really, really good.
Warnock: The one intrinsic advantage nontraditional schools have is the ability to decide the numbers and demographics of their student bodies. After that, they have the same constraints as virtually all other schools. Personally, I’ve never heard a public school coach complain about a parochial or charter school’s budget, or playing facilities or ability to create a grading scale that fits their students. (Most nontraditional schools are just as strapped for cash as anyone else.)
All the complaints can be reduced to the nontraditionals’ ability to draw students from a larger area than can public schools in defined districts, which are set by school boards. Coaches get just as mad about a public-school rival poaching a player from their school district as they do about seeing kids from their district play for a nontraditional school.
What next step should the NCHSAA take, if any, to ensure competitive balance between traditional and nontraditional schools? Blake: A multiplier on parochial schools is logical. The parochials have won a title in every sport – sans wrestling, softball, baseball and outdoor track and field – since that 2012 vote. I like that Cardinal Gibbons asks to play in 4A even though it has 3A size and I think it’s silly that Charlotte Catholic – your reigning 4A football and boys’ basketball champs – gets to move down to 3A in 2017.
Fearing legal action, there is a feeling that the NCHSAA can’t address parochials without also doing something to charters, magnets and open-enrollment districts. If that’s the case, form a committee and come up with a different multiplier that seems fair for each group. I agree with Elliott – if you’re dealing with a fundamental difference in schools, then this is no different than separate classes for different school sizes.
I’m interested in seeing if the NCHSAA discusses skill development this week. If restrictions are loosened, that may be the trick to help those rural 1A teams, who lack local year-round club teams – and the funds to pay for membership – that many nontraditional athletes have access to in big metro areas.
Moody: I see no problem Ivy Leaguing, so-to-speak, nontraditional teams – either placing some in a conference of their own or at least creating new divisions within the brackets. But I do think nontraditional and traditional schools should still have opportunities to meet in the regular season. Those games are often beneficial to one or both teams.
Morgan: Some nontraditionals should compete in their own conference and have a championship bracket separate from traditionals. Nonconference games between the two, however, can be encouraged.
Warnock: The public schools, for the most part, don’t mind competing with the nontraditionals; it’s the tournament/championship success of the nontraditionals that raises the ire of traditionals. Creating a new category of championships within a classification is the easiest way to end that imbalance. And it’s no more “separate but equal” than the idea of classifications in the first place.
In your crystal ball, what do you see happening in five years with regards to nontraditional schools?
The News & Observer’s high school sports panel of five community sports editors, headed up by J. Mike Blake, will be taking on different questions each week.
In this week’s writers’ roundtable, the group tackles a long-standing hot topic in the N.C. High School Athletic Association: nontraditional schools and their success. One NCHSAA board member is proposing that charter and parochial 1A schools have a separate bracket than traditional 1A public schools.
PrepsNow roundtable writers. Top row (L-R): D. Clay Best and J. Mike Blake. Second row: Aaron Moody and Jessika Morgan. Bottom row: Elliott Warnock. J. Mike Blake mblake@newsobserver.comThe NCHSAA’s annual board of directors meeting is this week, but transformative measures are typically tabled for later dates to get more input from membership.
The tension between public and non-public schools has been bubbling beneath the surface for some time, reaching a boil in 2012 when Rowan County schools brought forward separate statewide votes to put charter schools into their own bracket and remove parochial schools – there are only three of them, but won 118 championships in between 2001-02 to 2012-13. Both failed.
Two Wake County leagues passed conference bylaws last year to prohibit scheduling games against non-public schools. Both leagues repealed their bylaws after the schools’ principals became involved following public backlash.
In some 1A sports, traditional public schools are dominated by schools that draw students differently, like a charter school or a magnet in a metro area. However, excluding girls lacrosse (because there is just one 1A team and one title for all four classes) the traditional schools have won 86 of a possible 127 titles since the 2009-10 season
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/high-school/article75071437.html#storylink=cpy
Blake: I’m a bit of a pessimist. I don’t see everyone getting along.
I think the NCHSAA will be slow to use a multiplier for parochial schools unless it can be used for all types of non-traditional schools, including magnets and open-enrollment districts. The result will mean nothing gets done to address the concerns of the public schools, which means someone’s going to propose another vote from schools hoping to remove parochials from the NCHSAA.
Moody: At the rate nontraditional schools are either popping up locally or are trying to, I envision there will at least be more discussion on all-nontraditional leagues or tournaments. Doubt too much will change in a mere five years, though.
Morgan: I can see the growth of their athletics and quite possibly competition among each other.
Warnock: Given the complications of changing the NCHSAA bylaws, it’s more likely than not that the association will change very little in its approach to nontraditional schools. It’s difficult to get the necessary number of NCHSAA members even to cast ballots in a statewide referendum, let alone to get them to agree to changes. In the past, measures to change the status of nontraditionals within the NCHSAA have drawn a clear majority of support – from those who voted – but that wasn’t enough to meet the requirements for change. Any real changes likely will evolve from executive/administrative decisions from the NCHSAA office.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/high-school/article75071437.html#storylink=cpy
▪ J. Mike Blake (The Cary News and Southwest Wake News)
▪ Aaron Moody (Eastern Wake News)
▪ Jessika Morgan (Midtown Raleigh News and North Raleigh News)
▪ W.E. Warnock (Chapel Hill News and The Durham News)
D. Clay Best (Smithfield Herald, Clayton News-Star, Garner-Cleveland Record) is out this week.
Let’s start with the over-arching question being decided here: do nontraditional schools have inherent advantages over traditional ones? Does it go both ways? Blake: Yes, but let’s be clear: “advantage” is not an accusation or a dirty word. If you’re 300 pounds you have an advantage in football but not in swimming.
Ultimately, where you live in N.C. matters more than what type of school you go to. As The N&O found last year, schools that have a more wealthy populace are more likely to win state titles. A charter school set in that area will do better than a traditional 1A school, almost always in rural areas – or a rural charter school (were all charter schools rural, like KIPP Pride or Bear Grass Charter, there would be no such proposal for a new bracket).
Charter schools certainly have their own obstacles as well: small booster clubs, few alumni, no transportation, off-campus facilities and all transfers must sit out a year. Some public schools – whether they are magnet, open-enrollment or have a speciality program – benefit athletically a little, but it’s hit-or-miss.
Going back to a wealthier populace, that sums up why parochial schools are so darn good at almost everything. Think about it. If Green Hope is the six-time Wells Fargo Cup 4A champ for statewide success and has a free-and-reduced lunch rate of about 7 percent, what would that percentage look like at a schools that cost $8,000 a year? Probably zero percent of athletes, because all the needs-based scholarship students are ineligible from playing sports.
Money matters more than the school type, but some school types lend themselves to reaching wealthier families.
Moody: I get the access to resources point in a case that nontraditional schools have advantages. Perhaps there are instances where this could go either way, though. Some younger, nontraditional schools don’t even have many of their own facilities like most – I repeat, most – traditional public schools have in their own back yard. And in cases like that, it would appear the nontraditional school would be the one learning rather than winning in games against public schools and not the other way around. But you obviously can’t bracket teams based on how established the programs are.
Morgan: Nontraditional schools may have an advantage because of their ability to draw student-athletes to their campuses. They can offer individualized attention to their athletic careers and give them a platform to shine for film, getting it into the right hands. Sure, that can happen with an incredibly special student-athlete at a public school, but there often more resources on the other side.
Traditional public schools have the upper-hand because kids who grow up in the area may long to play for their local high school, and that kid may turn out to be really, really good.
Warnock: The one intrinsic advantage nontraditional schools have is the ability to decide the numbers and demographics of their student bodies. After that, they have the same constraints as virtually all other schools. Personally, I’ve never heard a public school coach complain about a parochial or charter school’s budget, or playing facilities or ability to create a grading scale that fits their students. (Most nontraditional schools are just as strapped for cash as anyone else.)
All the complaints can be reduced to the nontraditionals’ ability to draw students from a larger area than can public schools in defined districts, which are set by school boards. Coaches get just as mad about a public-school rival poaching a player from their school district as they do about seeing kids from their district play for a nontraditional school.
What next step should the NCHSAA take, if any, to ensure competitive balance between traditional and nontraditional schools? Blake: A multiplier on parochial schools is logical. The parochials have won a title in every sport – sans wrestling, softball, baseball and outdoor track and field – since that 2012 vote. I like that Cardinal Gibbons asks to play in 4A even though it has 3A size and I think it’s silly that Charlotte Catholic – your reigning 4A football and boys’ basketball champs – gets to move down to 3A in 2017.
Fearing legal action, there is a feeling that the NCHSAA can’t address parochials without also doing something to charters, magnets and open-enrollment districts. If that’s the case, form a committee and come up with a different multiplier that seems fair for each group. I agree with Elliott – if you’re dealing with a fundamental difference in schools, then this is no different than separate classes for different school sizes.
I’m interested in seeing if the NCHSAA discusses skill development this week. If restrictions are loosened, that may be the trick to help those rural 1A teams, who lack local year-round club teams – and the funds to pay for membership – that many nontraditional athletes have access to in big metro areas.
Moody: I see no problem Ivy Leaguing, so-to-speak, nontraditional teams – either placing some in a conference of their own or at least creating new divisions within the brackets. But I do think nontraditional and traditional schools should still have opportunities to meet in the regular season. Those games are often beneficial to one or both teams.
Morgan: Some nontraditionals should compete in their own conference and have a championship bracket separate from traditionals. Nonconference games between the two, however, can be encouraged.
Warnock: The public schools, for the most part, don’t mind competing with the nontraditionals; it’s the tournament/championship success of the nontraditionals that raises the ire of traditionals. Creating a new category of championships within a classification is the easiest way to end that imbalance. And it’s no more “separate but equal” than the idea of classifications in the first place.
In your crystal ball, what do you see happening in five years with regards to nontraditional schools?
The News & Observer’s high school sports panel of five community sports editors, headed up by J. Mike Blake, will be taking on different questions each week.
In this week’s writers’ roundtable, the group tackles a long-standing hot topic in the N.C. High School Athletic Association: nontraditional schools and their success. One NCHSAA board member is proposing that charter and parochial 1A schools have a separate bracket than traditional 1A public schools.
PrepsNow roundtable writers. Top row (L-R): D. Clay Best and J. Mike Blake. Second row: Aaron Moody and Jessika Morgan. Bottom row: Elliott Warnock. J. Mike Blake mblake@newsobserver.comThe NCHSAA’s annual board of directors meeting is this week, but transformative measures are typically tabled for later dates to get more input from membership.
The tension between public and non-public schools has been bubbling beneath the surface for some time, reaching a boil in 2012 when Rowan County schools brought forward separate statewide votes to put charter schools into their own bracket and remove parochial schools – there are only three of them, but won 118 championships in between 2001-02 to 2012-13. Both failed.
Two Wake County leagues passed conference bylaws last year to prohibit scheduling games against non-public schools. Both leagues repealed their bylaws after the schools’ principals became involved following public backlash.
In some 1A sports, traditional public schools are dominated by schools that draw students differently, like a charter school or a magnet in a metro area. However, excluding girls lacrosse (because there is just one 1A team and one title for all four classes) the traditional schools have won 86 of a possible 127 titles since the 2009-10 season
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/high-school/article75071437.html#storylink=cpy
Blake: I’m a bit of a pessimist. I don’t see everyone getting along.
I think the NCHSAA will be slow to use a multiplier for parochial schools unless it can be used for all types of non-traditional schools, including magnets and open-enrollment districts. The result will mean nothing gets done to address the concerns of the public schools, which means someone’s going to propose another vote from schools hoping to remove parochials from the NCHSAA.
Moody: At the rate nontraditional schools are either popping up locally or are trying to, I envision there will at least be more discussion on all-nontraditional leagues or tournaments. Doubt too much will change in a mere five years, though.
Morgan: I can see the growth of their athletics and quite possibly competition among each other.
Warnock: Given the complications of changing the NCHSAA bylaws, it’s more likely than not that the association will change very little in its approach to nontraditional schools. It’s difficult to get the necessary number of NCHSAA members even to cast ballots in a statewide referendum, let alone to get them to agree to changes. In the past, measures to change the status of nontraditionals within the NCHSAA have drawn a clear majority of support – from those who voted – but that wasn’t enough to meet the requirements for change. Any real changes likely will evolve from executive/administrative decisions from the NCHSAA office.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/high-school/article75071437.html#storylink=cpy
Winston-Salem Journal - May 10-11 & 20, 2016
Posted: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 5:29 pm
By Jay Spivey Winston-Salem Journal
Howard Mayo, the girls’ basketball coach at Mount Airy, has announced his resignation and has accepted a position as the girls’ basketball coach at Galax (Va.) High School.
Mayo, who is 50 and lives in Fancy Gap, Va., announced his decision Wednesday.
Mayo said he’s been the head coach of the Granite Bears’ girls for the past 12 years and has an overall record of 235-97, including 21-8 this season. Mount Airy earned a berth in the NCHSAA Class 1-A playoffs before losing to Northwest 1-A conference rival and eventual state champion Winston-Salem Prep.
“The playing level for me is not necessarily level,” Mayo said. “I think there’s certain advantages those schools have. I think having a situation where there should be a multiplier.”
Mayo thinks it’s unfair the Granite Bears have to play charter schools, magnet schools and parochial schools such as conference rivals Winston-Salem Prep, Atkins and Bishop McGuinness. In Virginia, there’s a multiplier for magnet schools and charter schools to double the enrollment of a particular school.
Principal Sandy George of Mount Airy supports Mayo’s decision to leave.
“We are going to certainly miss him,” she said. “I wish him well. I always tell staff members if they are seeking other opportunities that are going to be better for them and their families, then they need to pursue those opportunities.”
jspivey@wsjournal.com (336) 727-7370 @JaySpivey_WSJ
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Posted: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 8:44 pm
By Kegan Lowe Winston-Salem Journal
Trailing by seven strokes entering the final round of the NCHSAA Class 1-A state championship, the Mount Airy boys’ golf team rallied to beat Community School of Davidson by 10 strokes Tuesday afternoon to win the first state title in program history.
Led by senior Christopher Dorsett, who completed the two-day tournament with a 7-over 149, the Granite Bears finished with a team score of 610, while Community School of Davidson finished at 613.
Community School of Davidson junior Patten Williams won the individual state title by shooting an even-par 142 over 36 holes.
Mount Airy separated itself in the team competition by finishing as the only school with four players to shoot 78 or better in the final round.
“Community School of Davidson really had a great team and they played really well,” coach Mark Hiatt of Mount Airy said. “But today, my kids just really grinded hard all day and, fortunately, we didn’t make a lot of mistakes.
“I’m just really tickled to death for my team.”
Joining Mount Airy as a newly-crowned state champion is Wilkes Central, which led wire-to-wire in the 2-A state championship at Foxfire Resort & Golf Club, defeating second-place Clinton by a state-best 21 strokes.
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Posted: Friday, May 20, 2016 12:15 am
By Jay Spivey Winston-Salem Journal
GREENSBORO -- The Mount Airy boys’ track and field team did something on Friday that has never been done in the school’s history
The Granite Bears, with the help of MVP Gabriel King, who collected titles in the discus and the shot put, won the NCHSAA Class 1-A boys’ title at Irwin Belk Track at N.C. A&T.
With the help of the Granite Bears’ 1,600-relay team, they came from behind to finish with 57.5 points, defeating Northwest 1-A conference rival North Stokes by 1.5 points only a week after North Stokes defeated Mount Airy in the regionals.
“It means a lot for the school, the kids, the parents,” Mount Airy coach Clarence Cropps said. “Without the parents’ support we could never have done it. The kids gave us 110 percent effort. It’s what it takes to win championships. They were fighters. A lot of events, they were down in, but they fought through them.”
Walkertown (30.5) finished third, and Atkins (30) finished tied for fourth with Rosewood.
According to coach Cropps of the Mount Airy boys, North Stokes led Mount Airy by 1.5 points heading to the 1,600 relay. Mount Airy finished in sixth place and North Stokes finished eighth, which was enough for Mount Airy to slip past North Stokes.
“We knew it was going to be close pretty much for the week,” coach Mike Williams of North Stokes said. “We’ve been competing against Mount Airy all year long, and we kind of knew the distances. We tallied the points, what we thought they might be. It didn’t quite go our way today, but you can’t take anything away from Mount Airy. They’ve done a great job.”
Alleghany (12) was 24th, Starmount (11) 26th, Elkin (8) 31st, Winston-Salem Prep (7) 33rd and East Wilkes (6) was 34th.
In Class 3-A boys, Jacksonville had 45 points to defeat Southern Guilford by three points. Ledford finished in 47th with two points.
Much of the Granite Bears’ success on Friday came from double-winner King, who was named the MVP after winning the discus and the shot put. King threw the discus 156-01, better than North Stokes’ Ross Lucia, who threw 143-02. Malcolm Malone of Mount Airy was third.
“In disc, it was kind of overwhelming at first,” King said. “I threw it at 156. It was a PR (personal record), a big PR. I was a couple inches away from the state record, and I broke the school record on my first throw.”
King, who was named to the Journal’s All-Northwest football team in December, backed his performance in the discus with another win in the shot put, again defeating Lucia. King had a throw of 51-4.25, better than Lucia’s 51-1.75.
“I’ve had a real good time out here with my teammates and everything,” King said. “It’s just fine to be out here. Track is really life.”
Mount Airy also won the 800 relay behind a come-from-behind anchor leg of Cordell France. The Granite Bears finished at 1:30.48, ahead of Rosewood (1.31.37).
“I was trying my best to maintain,” France said. “Just doing what I’ve been doing in practice all week and not really stressing about it. I knew if I got a good handoff from Donovan (Green), I was going to take the lead anyway.”
Senior Tony Davis of Atkins, who won the boys’ 400 at 49.65, defeated Hobbton’s Raekwon Bryant (50.10).
“I came in here with the No. 1 seed,” Davis said. “I knew that guy (Bryant) was going to be out here. He was trying to take my medal. I just ran my race. This is my last race, so I gave it everything I had.”
Also from Atkins, Jeremy Kankula won the boys’ 800 at 1:59.57, defeating South Davidson’s Travis Gallimore (2:00.08).
“It means the world. It means so much,” Kankula said. “Last year, I came out here, but I didn’t have a good year. Most of the events, I didn’t do too well, but the 4 x 400 I did pretty good. And this year coming back, my main focus was improving my 800.”
jspivey@wsjournal.com (336) 727-7370 @JaySpivey_WSJ
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Greensboro News & Record - June 9, 2016
Final Wells Fargo Cup standingPosted: Thursday, June 9, 2016 3: pm
By Joe Sirera joe.sirera@greensboro.com
The N.C. High School Athletic Association has released the final standings in the 37th annual Wells Fargo Cup competitions for the 2015-16 academic year. The award recognizes the high schools that achieve the best overall interscholastic athletics performance within each of the NCHSAA’s four competitive classifications.
Wells Fargo Cup points are determined by a system based on performance in state championship events. All schools that finish in the top eight positions (plus ties) earn points. In the playoff events involving teams from more than one classification, Wells Fargo Cup points are awarded based on the school’s standing against other schools in its own classification. If fewer than eight schools from a classification compete in a sport, only those schools that are represented are eligible to receive the Cup points.
Points are awarded for all sports as follows: 50 for first, 45 for second, 40 for third, 35 for fourth, 30 for fifth, 25 for sixth, 20 for seventh and 15 for eighth. In the event of a tie, the schools receive and equal number of points based on the number of teams that tie and the number of teams that finish higher in the standings. Five points are awarded for each sanctioned sport in which a school competes.
Here are the final top 5 teams in the Northwest 1A Conference for 2015-16
CLASS 1-A
1 – Mount Airy – 442.5
2 – Bishop McGuinness – 345
3 – Walkertown – 297.5
4 – Winston-Salem Prep – 285
5 – North Stokes – 277.5
Four Surry County teams have chance to advance to state championships - by Jay Spivey, March 3, 2017
If you’re planning a trip to Surry County Saturday and notice that there’s few people there, it’s because many fans of North Surry and Mount Airy boys’ and girls’ basketball will head south down Highway 52 to Winston-Salem to Joel Coliseum.
All four teams will be playing in NCHSAA Class 2-A and 1-A Western regional championships with a chance to move to next week’s state championships in Chapel Hill and Raleigh.
“I don’t know if there’ll be any shops open in downtown Mount Airy,” Mount Airy boys’ coach Levi Goins said. “I assume most of Surry County will be there. It’s not only extremely unusual, but it’s really good for our community.”
The two schools are less than five miles apart, but despite the rivalry, the two schools will likely root for each other.
“I think even though we have such a strong rivalry with North Surry, after those first couple of games when we play them, I think both teams really root for each other to do well,” Goins said. “So it’s going to be great to see all those people really cheering each other’s teams on. I think it’s going to be loud in there. I’m looking forward to the environment.”
The fifth-seeded North Surry boys (26-4) will start the first of four games at Joel Coliseum against No. 4 Marshville Forest Hills (26-4) at noon. North Surry defeated Shelby 80-64 in the regional semifinals on Tuesday night, and Forest Hills, coached by Matt Sides, slipped past East Rutherford 87-84. The Greyhounds are led by three senior 1,000-point scorers – Mason Hawks, Carter Phillips and Kendal Tucker.
North Surry, which has won four state championships, last reached the regional final in the 1988-89 season when the Greyhounds won the state championship under coach Ron King.
Now, the Greyhounds are coached by King’s son, Kevin, and Ron King is one of his assistants.
“The community’s been fantastic,” Kevin King said. “I think it’s really, really special to have girls and guys, and Mount Airy girls and guys at the same time. There’s a lot of buzz around school and around the community about having four teams in there at one time, who have all grown up playing each other.”
The seventh-seeded North Surry girls (25-5) will play at 2 p.m. in the Class 2-A regional final against No. 4 East Burke (27-3). The Greyhounds defeated North Wilkes 53-37 Tuesday night, and East Burke, led by coach Crystal Bartlett, defeated Sylva Smoky Mountain 78-64.
North Surry, according to coach Shane Slate, last reached the regional final in 1992.
“We’ve got a lot of folks that have been involved in basketball directly, the AAU, the middle schools,” Slate said. “It’s been important to the community for a while. There’s been good teams off and on at both schools, but nothing like this, that’s for sure.”
The third-seeded Mount Airy girls (28-2) follow the North Surry girls at 4 p.m. and will face No. 6 Avery County (24-7) in the Class 1-A final. Mount Airy, led by first-year head coach Angela Mayfield, beat Murphy 40-39 in the region semifinal Tuesday night. The Vikings, led by coach Matt Wiseman, defeated Misenheimer Gray Stone Day 55-39.“It’s unbelievable that that (four Surry County teams playing) is the case,” said Mayfield, the co-athletic director at Mount Airy. “You stop and think about it, I don’t think people in the state realize how close in proximity our schools are. To me, it’s just unbelievable that all four teams are in the regional finals, and our schools being so close. It is exciting for our community, the county. We hope to have a huge fan base there for both schools this weekend.”
The No. 11 Mount Airy boys (25-6) will finish the day at 6 p.m. with a tough matchup against No. 3 Lincoln Charter (28-4). The Granite Bears defeated Avery County 80-66 Tuesday night. Lincoln Charter, coached by Brad Gabriel rolled past top-seeded Winston-Salem Prep 75-65.
Mount Airy last reached the state final in 2002, defeating Plymouth 63-58 at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill. Mount Airy also played in Joel Coliseum in December, defeating Parkland 69-66 in the Frank Spencer Holiday Classic’s Pepsi Bracket championship.
jspivey@wsjournal.com
(336) 727-7370
@JaySpivey_WSJ
All four teams will be playing in NCHSAA Class 2-A and 1-A Western regional championships with a chance to move to next week’s state championships in Chapel Hill and Raleigh.
“I don’t know if there’ll be any shops open in downtown Mount Airy,” Mount Airy boys’ coach Levi Goins said. “I assume most of Surry County will be there. It’s not only extremely unusual, but it’s really good for our community.”
The two schools are less than five miles apart, but despite the rivalry, the two schools will likely root for each other.
“I think even though we have such a strong rivalry with North Surry, after those first couple of games when we play them, I think both teams really root for each other to do well,” Goins said. “So it’s going to be great to see all those people really cheering each other’s teams on. I think it’s going to be loud in there. I’m looking forward to the environment.”
The fifth-seeded North Surry boys (26-4) will start the first of four games at Joel Coliseum against No. 4 Marshville Forest Hills (26-4) at noon. North Surry defeated Shelby 80-64 in the regional semifinals on Tuesday night, and Forest Hills, coached by Matt Sides, slipped past East Rutherford 87-84. The Greyhounds are led by three senior 1,000-point scorers – Mason Hawks, Carter Phillips and Kendal Tucker.
North Surry, which has won four state championships, last reached the regional final in the 1988-89 season when the Greyhounds won the state championship under coach Ron King.
Now, the Greyhounds are coached by King’s son, Kevin, and Ron King is one of his assistants.
“The community’s been fantastic,” Kevin King said. “I think it’s really, really special to have girls and guys, and Mount Airy girls and guys at the same time. There’s a lot of buzz around school and around the community about having four teams in there at one time, who have all grown up playing each other.”
The seventh-seeded North Surry girls (25-5) will play at 2 p.m. in the Class 2-A regional final against No. 4 East Burke (27-3). The Greyhounds defeated North Wilkes 53-37 Tuesday night, and East Burke, led by coach Crystal Bartlett, defeated Sylva Smoky Mountain 78-64.
North Surry, according to coach Shane Slate, last reached the regional final in 1992.
“We’ve got a lot of folks that have been involved in basketball directly, the AAU, the middle schools,” Slate said. “It’s been important to the community for a while. There’s been good teams off and on at both schools, but nothing like this, that’s for sure.”
The third-seeded Mount Airy girls (28-2) follow the North Surry girls at 4 p.m. and will face No. 6 Avery County (24-7) in the Class 1-A final. Mount Airy, led by first-year head coach Angela Mayfield, beat Murphy 40-39 in the region semifinal Tuesday night. The Vikings, led by coach Matt Wiseman, defeated Misenheimer Gray Stone Day 55-39.“It’s unbelievable that that (four Surry County teams playing) is the case,” said Mayfield, the co-athletic director at Mount Airy. “You stop and think about it, I don’t think people in the state realize how close in proximity our schools are. To me, it’s just unbelievable that all four teams are in the regional finals, and our schools being so close. It is exciting for our community, the county. We hope to have a huge fan base there for both schools this weekend.”
The No. 11 Mount Airy boys (25-6) will finish the day at 6 p.m. with a tough matchup against No. 3 Lincoln Charter (28-4). The Granite Bears defeated Avery County 80-66 Tuesday night. Lincoln Charter, coached by Brad Gabriel rolled past top-seeded Winston-Salem Prep 75-65.
Mount Airy last reached the state final in 2002, defeating Plymouth 63-58 at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill. Mount Airy also played in Joel Coliseum in December, defeating Parkland 69-66 in the Frank Spencer Holiday Classic’s Pepsi Bracket championship.
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What Makes Charlotte Catholic Football So Successful? - by Langston Wertz, Charlotte Observer; September 6, 2017.
What makes Charlotte Catholic football so successful? Critics have their opinionsBY LANGSTON WERTZ JR. LWERTZ@CHARLOTTEOBSERVER.COM
Charlotte Catholic players celebrated the school’s fourth N.C. High School Athletic Association state championship last December. Some critics of the school believe expanded geographic boundaries give the Cougars an advantage of their public counterparts. JEFF SINER JSINER@CHARLOTTEOBSERVER.COMCharlotte Catholic has played in eight state football championships and won four times since joining the N.C. High School Athletic Association in 1967. But questions about the school’s success have long dogged the program.
Charlotte Catholic is a private school playing in a league of public schools. It’s geographic boundaries, though reined in a few years ago, are still much broader than its rivals. Catholic, for example, has had players on its sports teams from Rock Hill, Davidson, Fort Mill and Huntersville.
When Catholic moved up to Class 4A in 2013, state officials said complaints from member schools decreased. But NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker told the Observer she expected complaints to return this fall as Catholic returned to the smaller 3A class.
Catholic (3-0), No. 3 in the Charlotte Observer Sweet 16 football poll, plays host to 4A Ardrey Kell Friday. The Cougars will begin play in their new 3A conference in two weeks.
And, like years previous, the issue of geographic boundary remains. Does that flexibility give Charlotte Catholic an advantage?
Charlotte Catholic head coach Mike Brodowicz says his school plays by state rules
Jeff Sinerjsiner@charlotteobserver.com
“I can see where people might say that,” Charlotte Catholic football coach Mike Brodowicz said. “People see our boundary is a 25-mile radius around the school and (other schools) have a certain geographic area. I agree with that. But it’s $12,000 per year to go here. There’s no scholarships. That’s what our country is made of, choices.
“We abide by the state regulations. We will do whatever they tell us to do. But this conversation will never end as long as we’re in the system and winning.”
There are four Catholic schools in the NCHSAA -- Charlotte Catholic, Christ The King in Huntersville, Cardinal Gibbons in Raleigh and Bishop McGuinness in Kernersville, near Winston-Salem. Since 2005, those four schools have combined to win more than 100 state championships. Unlike most other public schools in the association, students living within a 25-mile radius might be eligible to play sports at Catholic schools.
Of the four, however, Charlotte Catholic is the only one to win state championships in the state’s two biggest sports -- boys’ basketball and football. During the 2015-16 school year, the Cougars won both just a few months apart.
In December of 2015, Charlotte Catholic running back Jaret Anderson, center, and his teammates celebrated winning the N.C. 4A state football championship. A few months later, in March 2016, Catholic won the state 4A basketball title
Jeff Siner jsiner@charlotteobserver.com
It’s this type of success that has twice led groups to call for Catholic’s removal from the NCHSAA.
The Charlotte Catholic Cougars celebrate their victory over Cary in the NCHSAA 4A state finals at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, NC on Saturday, March 12, 2016. Catholic defeated Cary 49-46.
Jeff Siner jsiner@charlotteobserver.com
The first was in 1986. By then, Catholic had gone 75-16-1 against teams from the Union County-based Rocky River 2A conference in football over the previous 13 years. By November 1985, seven teams in the nine-team league asked the NCHSAA to remove Catholic over concerns with geographic boundaries. In May 1986, a three-fourths majority of schools would have to vote Catholic out; 54 percent voted for change, 46 percent were against.
In the spring of 2012, the issue returned, when a group of Rowan schools led an effort to force out the Catholic schools. Charlotte Catholic at the time was in the midst of winning 14 straight girls’ swimming state titles. Bishop McGuinness was in the middle of winning nine straight girls’ basketball state titles. And Cardinal Gibbons had just beaten Catholic to win its second straight boys’ soccer state title.
The parochial schools answered calls for their removal by reminding people that although there were technically no geographic limits for them, they have additional eligibility requirements, including students having to sit out one year of athletic eligibility if they transfer from an NCHSAA school.
“To me, it is a question of boundaries,” then-Salisbury High football coach Joe Pinyan said in 2012. “Our students come from a specific area. Theirs do not. Their players can come from anywhere. It is not a level playing field.”
Again, a vote was held. It didn’t receive the necessary 75 percent of the NCHSAA's full membership of 390 schools, or 293 votes, to oust the Catholic schools. Of the 285 votes cast, a majority (234) was in favor of removing the schools, while 51 voted to allow them to remain. Another 105 schools - more than a quarter of the membership - did not vote.
The Observer spoke with about a dozen 3A coaches and athletics directors about Catholic’s return this fall. Only one, Pinyan, was willing to go on the record. But all expressed concern, with many sharing Pinyon’s opinion that the charter schools and Catholic schools should have a separate playoff system.
“I have no problem with (Charlotte Catholic) in particular,” said Pinyon, now coach at Carson High in China Grove. “I think their players play hard and their coaches do a great job. The thing that upsets me is they’re not playing by the same rules that everybody else plays by.”
Pinyon said he would not try to organize another vote because he didn’t think he could win.
“Some schools are too far east and west, so they don’t participate” in the vote, Pinyon said. “But I think the body spoke when it was an overwhelming vote (234 cast against among 285 total) the last time to not allow them to be in. For that reason you have to be discouraged.
“I don’t think it’s fair they play (with a large boundary). Why are we keeping the Charlotte Latins and Country Days out of the association if we allow Charlotte Catholic to play?...I’m not bitter. I just wish we all played by the same rules.”
After the 2012 vote, Tucker said last winter that the association formed a 20-person committee to delve into the issue of Catholic and charter schools -- smaller public schools that were popping up all over the state with no geographic boundaries and having the kind of instant athletic success Pinyon is concerned about. The committee ultimately added the 25-mile radius for those schools as a geographic boundary.
“People will always say, ‘I don’t know if Catholic schools recruit or not,’ ” Tucker said. “By nature, if I’m a Catholic and my parents want me to have a Catholic education, I’ll go to whichever Catholic school is closest to me. So I think their area to draw from is really the Catholic population.
“If I’m not a Catholic and I want to go school there, several things still kick in. Look at the amount of money I’ve got to pay. It is a private education.”
Tucker said she does not believe Catholic recruits. That’s a sentiment shared by Davidson men’s basketball coach Bob McKillop, whose sons -- Matt and Brendan -- attended Charlotte Catholic and starred on Cougars basketball teams.
“I recruited them, they didn’t recruit me,” Bob McKillop said of Charlotte Catholic. “Both of our boys had to sacrifice tremendously, a one-hour drive every day each way. It taught them time management, discipline, spiritual values and, on top of that, some of the best friends they have in their lives are from the Catholic school days.”
McKillop, himself a product of Catholic education, said he never witnessed recruiting at Catholic.
“I did not have any sense of that,” McKillop said. “I don’t think it was naivete, either. I would know about it as my position as a college coach. I would know where kids were going. It was never a part of my observation that they were recruiting.”
In 2014, Elijah Hood was named national high school player of the year.
JEFF WILLHELM jwillhelm@charlotteobserver.comBrodowicz has coached at Catholic for 10 years. He said during that time the school has had five high-level college recruits -- Mark Harrill (Notre Dame), David Herlocker (Richmond), Elijah Hood (North Carolina), Henry Lawson (N.C. State) and Nick Starcevic (North Carolina). Four, he said, started their Catholic education in elementary school. Hood started in sixth grade. The fathers of Herlocker and Hood both played at Charlotte Catholic.
Hood, 22, is arguably the school’s greatest player. A former North Carolina Tar Heel, Hood is now on the Oakland Raiders’ NFL practice squad. He says he still hears that his alma mater bends rules.
“It’s just hard work and discipline,” Hood said. “Commitment and working hard is a tradition at that school. The results speak for themselves. But if they were recruiting, they’re not doing a good enough job.
“When I think of recruiting, I think of a lot of guys going to big-time colleges and stuff like that. It’s really been me and a couple other guys there who have wound up at the big-time college level. That’s about it.”
Charlotte Catholic players celebrated the school’s fourth N.C. High School Athletic Association state championship last December. Some critics of the school believe expanded geographic boundaries give the Cougars an advantage of their public counterparts. JEFF SINER JSINER@CHARLOTTEOBSERVER.COMCharlotte Catholic has played in eight state football championships and won four times since joining the N.C. High School Athletic Association in 1967. But questions about the school’s success have long dogged the program.
Charlotte Catholic is a private school playing in a league of public schools. It’s geographic boundaries, though reined in a few years ago, are still much broader than its rivals. Catholic, for example, has had players on its sports teams from Rock Hill, Davidson, Fort Mill and Huntersville.
When Catholic moved up to Class 4A in 2013, state officials said complaints from member schools decreased. But NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker told the Observer she expected complaints to return this fall as Catholic returned to the smaller 3A class.
Catholic (3-0), No. 3 in the Charlotte Observer Sweet 16 football poll, plays host to 4A Ardrey Kell Friday. The Cougars will begin play in their new 3A conference in two weeks.
And, like years previous, the issue of geographic boundary remains. Does that flexibility give Charlotte Catholic an advantage?
Charlotte Catholic head coach Mike Brodowicz says his school plays by state rules
Jeff Sinerjsiner@charlotteobserver.com
“I can see where people might say that,” Charlotte Catholic football coach Mike Brodowicz said. “People see our boundary is a 25-mile radius around the school and (other schools) have a certain geographic area. I agree with that. But it’s $12,000 per year to go here. There’s no scholarships. That’s what our country is made of, choices.
“We abide by the state regulations. We will do whatever they tell us to do. But this conversation will never end as long as we’re in the system and winning.”
There are four Catholic schools in the NCHSAA -- Charlotte Catholic, Christ The King in Huntersville, Cardinal Gibbons in Raleigh and Bishop McGuinness in Kernersville, near Winston-Salem. Since 2005, those four schools have combined to win more than 100 state championships. Unlike most other public schools in the association, students living within a 25-mile radius might be eligible to play sports at Catholic schools.
Of the four, however, Charlotte Catholic is the only one to win state championships in the state’s two biggest sports -- boys’ basketball and football. During the 2015-16 school year, the Cougars won both just a few months apart.
In December of 2015, Charlotte Catholic running back Jaret Anderson, center, and his teammates celebrated winning the N.C. 4A state football championship. A few months later, in March 2016, Catholic won the state 4A basketball title
Jeff Siner jsiner@charlotteobserver.com
It’s this type of success that has twice led groups to call for Catholic’s removal from the NCHSAA.
The Charlotte Catholic Cougars celebrate their victory over Cary in the NCHSAA 4A state finals at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, NC on Saturday, March 12, 2016. Catholic defeated Cary 49-46.
Jeff Siner jsiner@charlotteobserver.com
The first was in 1986. By then, Catholic had gone 75-16-1 against teams from the Union County-based Rocky River 2A conference in football over the previous 13 years. By November 1985, seven teams in the nine-team league asked the NCHSAA to remove Catholic over concerns with geographic boundaries. In May 1986, a three-fourths majority of schools would have to vote Catholic out; 54 percent voted for change, 46 percent were against.
In the spring of 2012, the issue returned, when a group of Rowan schools led an effort to force out the Catholic schools. Charlotte Catholic at the time was in the midst of winning 14 straight girls’ swimming state titles. Bishop McGuinness was in the middle of winning nine straight girls’ basketball state titles. And Cardinal Gibbons had just beaten Catholic to win its second straight boys’ soccer state title.
The parochial schools answered calls for their removal by reminding people that although there were technically no geographic limits for them, they have additional eligibility requirements, including students having to sit out one year of athletic eligibility if they transfer from an NCHSAA school.
“To me, it is a question of boundaries,” then-Salisbury High football coach Joe Pinyan said in 2012. “Our students come from a specific area. Theirs do not. Their players can come from anywhere. It is not a level playing field.”
Again, a vote was held. It didn’t receive the necessary 75 percent of the NCHSAA's full membership of 390 schools, or 293 votes, to oust the Catholic schools. Of the 285 votes cast, a majority (234) was in favor of removing the schools, while 51 voted to allow them to remain. Another 105 schools - more than a quarter of the membership - did not vote.
The Observer spoke with about a dozen 3A coaches and athletics directors about Catholic’s return this fall. Only one, Pinyan, was willing to go on the record. But all expressed concern, with many sharing Pinyon’s opinion that the charter schools and Catholic schools should have a separate playoff system.
“I have no problem with (Charlotte Catholic) in particular,” said Pinyon, now coach at Carson High in China Grove. “I think their players play hard and their coaches do a great job. The thing that upsets me is they’re not playing by the same rules that everybody else plays by.”
Pinyon said he would not try to organize another vote because he didn’t think he could win.
“Some schools are too far east and west, so they don’t participate” in the vote, Pinyon said. “But I think the body spoke when it was an overwhelming vote (234 cast against among 285 total) the last time to not allow them to be in. For that reason you have to be discouraged.
“I don’t think it’s fair they play (with a large boundary). Why are we keeping the Charlotte Latins and Country Days out of the association if we allow Charlotte Catholic to play?...I’m not bitter. I just wish we all played by the same rules.”
After the 2012 vote, Tucker said last winter that the association formed a 20-person committee to delve into the issue of Catholic and charter schools -- smaller public schools that were popping up all over the state with no geographic boundaries and having the kind of instant athletic success Pinyon is concerned about. The committee ultimately added the 25-mile radius for those schools as a geographic boundary.
“People will always say, ‘I don’t know if Catholic schools recruit or not,’ ” Tucker said. “By nature, if I’m a Catholic and my parents want me to have a Catholic education, I’ll go to whichever Catholic school is closest to me. So I think their area to draw from is really the Catholic population.
“If I’m not a Catholic and I want to go school there, several things still kick in. Look at the amount of money I’ve got to pay. It is a private education.”
Tucker said she does not believe Catholic recruits. That’s a sentiment shared by Davidson men’s basketball coach Bob McKillop, whose sons -- Matt and Brendan -- attended Charlotte Catholic and starred on Cougars basketball teams.
“I recruited them, they didn’t recruit me,” Bob McKillop said of Charlotte Catholic. “Both of our boys had to sacrifice tremendously, a one-hour drive every day each way. It taught them time management, discipline, spiritual values and, on top of that, some of the best friends they have in their lives are from the Catholic school days.”
McKillop, himself a product of Catholic education, said he never witnessed recruiting at Catholic.
“I did not have any sense of that,” McKillop said. “I don’t think it was naivete, either. I would know about it as my position as a college coach. I would know where kids were going. It was never a part of my observation that they were recruiting.”
In 2014, Elijah Hood was named national high school player of the year.
JEFF WILLHELM jwillhelm@charlotteobserver.comBrodowicz has coached at Catholic for 10 years. He said during that time the school has had five high-level college recruits -- Mark Harrill (Notre Dame), David Herlocker (Richmond), Elijah Hood (North Carolina), Henry Lawson (N.C. State) and Nick Starcevic (North Carolina). Four, he said, started their Catholic education in elementary school. Hood started in sixth grade. The fathers of Herlocker and Hood both played at Charlotte Catholic.
Hood, 22, is arguably the school’s greatest player. A former North Carolina Tar Heel, Hood is now on the Oakland Raiders’ NFL practice squad. He says he still hears that his alma mater bends rules.
“It’s just hard work and discipline,” Hood said. “Commitment and working hard is a tradition at that school. The results speak for themselves. But if they were recruiting, they’re not doing a good enough job.
“When I think of recruiting, I think of a lot of guys going to big-time colleges and stuff like that. It’s really been me and a couple other guys there who have wound up at the big-time college level. That’s about it.”
If NCHSAA Won'e Fix Non Traditional School Problem, It Looks Like The N.C. General Assembly Will. By J.J. Smith "In This Corner" Column. - June 7, 2023.
If NCHSAA won’t fix nontraditional school problem, it looks like the N.C. General Assembly willJ.J. SMITH "In This Corner" column
I used a quote to introduce last week’s column about government takeovers of high school athletic associations.
This week, I’ll focus on the same issue, so here’s another quote to start it off.
In the movie “Grosse Pointe Blank,” John Cusack’s hit-man character Martin Blank says, “If I show up at your door, chances are you did something to bring me there.”
I’m sure many would argue this applies to the N.C. High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) and the N.C. General Assembly (NCGA).
They could point to a few areas of concern but especially to the problem of nontraditional schools in the 1A division.
Had this been rectified years ago, perhaps less negative attention would have been applied to the association.
In an ironic twist, it’s hard to lay too much blame at the feet of the NCHSAA on this issue because it probably thought it was doing the will of the NCGA.
These nontraditional programs are defined as metropolitan charter and magnet public schools and non-boarding parochial private schools that don’t necessarily adhere to strict district lines like traditional schools in rural, small towns.
These schools haven’t just won in some sports – they’ve dominated, effectively eliminating any chance that a traditional program can even compete at the state championship level.
Charters are the pet project of the NCGA, so you can’t blame the NCHSAA for not wanting to touch that third rail.
In 1996, when the original charter school legislation passed, there was a 100-school cap.
In 2011, the legislature lifted the cap, and there are now more than 200 charter schools in the state with more opening every year.
In the one, two, or 42 times I’ve written about this subject, I’ve suggested these nontraditionals be put in their own division come playoff time, seeing that it’s apples versus oranges when it comes to competing against traditional schools from small, rural towns.
But the NCHSAA had to be very careful in its dealings with nontraditional schools, particularly charters.
Any effort on the part of the association where it gave even the appearance of excluding charters would likely have not been well received by the NCGA.
Or at least that’s what we thought.
Now to those of us who feel as if the inclusion of these schools in the 1A postseason is an affront to the NCHSAA’s boasting of a fair and equal playing field, the state legislature has come to the rescue.
Well … kinda.
There’s a House Bill out there that would place charter and parochial schools in the NCHSAA in the classification based on where the largest percentage of its students would be assigned if they attended a traditional public school.
The amendment means charter and parochial schools in metropolitan areas like the Triangle, Triad or Mecklenburg County, would be placed in the largest classifications with schools that have thousands more students enrolled.
Putting these nontraditional schools in the highest classifications in the state seems as unfair as putting them in the lowest classifications.
Why not just let them play each other in the postseason?
Doesn’t that seem like the easiest and simplest solution?
And shouldn’t it be done as quickly as possible?
Some sports have nearly become off limits to traditional schools at the state championship level.
Girls soccer is probably the most glaring example.
Nontraditionals won their 10th straight state championship this past weekend when Christ the King defeated Woods Charter.
These schools have also won 11 of the last 12 state finals. The last eight, and nine of the last 10, have been all-nontraditional matchups. The only break in that stretch came in 2014 when East Carteret made it to the state final.
Boys soccer isn’t much better.
Nontraditionals have won six state titles in a row and seven of the last eight. Six of the last eight state finals have been all-nontraditional matchups.
If these state finals already pit one nontraditional school versus another on an almost annual basis, doesn’t it make sense to give them their own classification in the postseason?
There are plenty more examples.
Nontraditionals have won seven state championships in a row in volleyball and the last three have been all-nontraditional matchups.
Tennis is mostly the same.
Before this spring, nontraditional schools had won seven consecutive state crowns on the boys’ side with all seven finals being all-nontraditional matchups.
On the girls’ side, they’ve taken six of the last eight with four of those finals being all-nontraditional matchups.
Basketball is no better.
On the boys side, nontraditionals have captured seven of the last eight state titles, 10 of the last 12, and 12 of the last 16. Five of the last eight state finals have been all-nontraditional matchups.
Nontraditionals have won 13 of the last 18 on the girls’ side.
And then there’s cross country.
Nontraditional schools have taken 10 of the last 12 on the girls’ side.
On the boys’ side, they’ve won five of the last six and eight of the last 11.
Let’s also not forget about boys golf where nontraditional schools have captured nine of the last 12 state championships.
Maybe without all this mounting evidence of an unfair and inequitable playing field, the NCGA would never have come knocking on the NCHSAA’s door.
Or perhaps they would have.
I guess we’ll never know.
(Send comments or questions to jj@thenewstimes.com or follow him on Twitter @jjsmithccnt.)
I used a quote to introduce last week’s column about government takeovers of high school athletic associations.
This week, I’ll focus on the same issue, so here’s another quote to start it off.
In the movie “Grosse Pointe Blank,” John Cusack’s hit-man character Martin Blank says, “If I show up at your door, chances are you did something to bring me there.”
I’m sure many would argue this applies to the N.C. High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) and the N.C. General Assembly (NCGA).
They could point to a few areas of concern but especially to the problem of nontraditional schools in the 1A division.
Had this been rectified years ago, perhaps less negative attention would have been applied to the association.
In an ironic twist, it’s hard to lay too much blame at the feet of the NCHSAA on this issue because it probably thought it was doing the will of the NCGA.
These nontraditional programs are defined as metropolitan charter and magnet public schools and non-boarding parochial private schools that don’t necessarily adhere to strict district lines like traditional schools in rural, small towns.
These schools haven’t just won in some sports – they’ve dominated, effectively eliminating any chance that a traditional program can even compete at the state championship level.
Charters are the pet project of the NCGA, so you can’t blame the NCHSAA for not wanting to touch that third rail.
In 1996, when the original charter school legislation passed, there was a 100-school cap.
In 2011, the legislature lifted the cap, and there are now more than 200 charter schools in the state with more opening every year.
In the one, two, or 42 times I’ve written about this subject, I’ve suggested these nontraditionals be put in their own division come playoff time, seeing that it’s apples versus oranges when it comes to competing against traditional schools from small, rural towns.
But the NCHSAA had to be very careful in its dealings with nontraditional schools, particularly charters.
Any effort on the part of the association where it gave even the appearance of excluding charters would likely have not been well received by the NCGA.
Or at least that’s what we thought.
Now to those of us who feel as if the inclusion of these schools in the 1A postseason is an affront to the NCHSAA’s boasting of a fair and equal playing field, the state legislature has come to the rescue.
Well … kinda.
There’s a House Bill out there that would place charter and parochial schools in the NCHSAA in the classification based on where the largest percentage of its students would be assigned if they attended a traditional public school.
The amendment means charter and parochial schools in metropolitan areas like the Triangle, Triad or Mecklenburg County, would be placed in the largest classifications with schools that have thousands more students enrolled.
Putting these nontraditional schools in the highest classifications in the state seems as unfair as putting them in the lowest classifications.
Why not just let them play each other in the postseason?
Doesn’t that seem like the easiest and simplest solution?
And shouldn’t it be done as quickly as possible?
Some sports have nearly become off limits to traditional schools at the state championship level.
Girls soccer is probably the most glaring example.
Nontraditionals won their 10th straight state championship this past weekend when Christ the King defeated Woods Charter.
These schools have also won 11 of the last 12 state finals. The last eight, and nine of the last 10, have been all-nontraditional matchups. The only break in that stretch came in 2014 when East Carteret made it to the state final.
Boys soccer isn’t much better.
Nontraditionals have won six state titles in a row and seven of the last eight. Six of the last eight state finals have been all-nontraditional matchups.
If these state finals already pit one nontraditional school versus another on an almost annual basis, doesn’t it make sense to give them their own classification in the postseason?
There are plenty more examples.
Nontraditionals have won seven state championships in a row in volleyball and the last three have been all-nontraditional matchups.
Tennis is mostly the same.
Before this spring, nontraditional schools had won seven consecutive state crowns on the boys’ side with all seven finals being all-nontraditional matchups.
On the girls’ side, they’ve taken six of the last eight with four of those finals being all-nontraditional matchups.
Basketball is no better.
On the boys side, nontraditionals have captured seven of the last eight state titles, 10 of the last 12, and 12 of the last 16. Five of the last eight state finals have been all-nontraditional matchups.
Nontraditionals have won 13 of the last 18 on the girls’ side.
And then there’s cross country.
Nontraditional schools have taken 10 of the last 12 on the girls’ side.
On the boys’ side, they’ve won five of the last six and eight of the last 11.
Let’s also not forget about boys golf where nontraditional schools have captured nine of the last 12 state championships.
Maybe without all this mounting evidence of an unfair and inequitable playing field, the NCGA would never have come knocking on the NCHSAA’s door.
Or perhaps they would have.
I guess we’ll never know.
(Send comments or questions to jj@thenewstimes.com or follow him on Twitter @jjsmithccnt.)