Parameters in place for next major SC high school sports realignment. What we know
Changes in the next South Carolina High School League realignment will include a bigger Class A and smaller Class 5A.
Schools were informed this week of the parameters for the next realignment, which will go into effect for the 2020-22 seasons. A realignment committee met on two different occasions to decide the parameters and now turned it to the SCHSL to fill in the schools once the 45-day enrollment numbers for grades 9-11 are released.
The realignment committee decided the biggest changes will be in Class A, the smallest classification, and 5A, the biggest classification.
Currently, there are 38 Class A schools but only 29 of them have football. In the next realignment, there will be a base of 50 schools with the flexibility to move plus-or-minus four schools giving it between 46-54 schools.
Having more Class A schools would probably eliminate some of the issues that happened in the football playoffs in which a winless team Hemingway hosted a playoff game or one-win teams made the playoffs.
In Class 5A there are 48 schools, but in the next realignment there will be a base of 36 with a plus-or-minus of four schools, meaning there could be as few as 32 schools or as many as 40 in 5A.
Once Class A and 5A are established, the remaining schools will be divided equally among Class 2A, 3A and 4A with the flexibility to move plus-or-minus four schools as it pertains to that classification.
Schools in the plus/minus area may be moved up or down to address these concerns:
▪ Geography and travel. There hopefully will be no more than three region trips exceeding 60 miles.
▪ Even number of teams in regions, either six or teams.
▪ For rivals to be considered or maintained in the same regions if possible.
▪ For schools in the same district to be considered or maintained in the same regions if possible.
With the parameters set, the next thing is getting the 45-day enrollment numbers from the schools, which determine the classifications.
The SCHSL hopes to get the enrollment numbers from the SC Department of Education in early December and then meet between Dec. 9-15 to figure out classifications and region placement. The SCHSL will inform schools of the class and region placement on Dec. 16. Each classification is responsible for determining its own playoff structure and how many teams will qualify for the playoffs.
On Jan. 28-30, each classification’s executive committee will hear appeals from their member schools regarding classification and region placement. If a school wants to appeal further, they would have to go before SCHSL executive committee on Feb. 12. If a second appeal is needed, the school would have to go before Appellate Panel on Feb. 19. Twenty-seven schools filed appeals for the 2018-20 realignment but that number might be a lot less this time.
The SCHSL hopes to send finalized realignment to schools on Feb. 26.
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 11:08 AM.
