Why and when these SC high schools are appealing realignment
Ridge View and Irmo are two of eight high schools marking their realignment appeals pitches this week.
Starting Tuesday, schools wishing to appeal their South Carolina High School League’s 2020-22 realignment position can do so before their classes executive committees. Ridge View will go first Tuesday morning, followed by Irmo. Those are the only scheduled appeals for Tuesday. The others will go Wednesday and Thursday.
Schools had until last week to announce if they were going to appeal.
If schools win their appeal this week, it will be automatically be amended to 2020-22 realignment. If they lose their appeal, they can go before SCHSL executive committee Feb. 12 for another appeal. If that fails, they still could go before the Appellate Panel on Feb. 19. Realignment will be finalized Feb. 26.
The number of schools appealing the realignment is down considerably from the previous one in 2018-20 when 27 schools appealed and the majority were unsuccessful. Realignment happens in the state every two years and is done to level the competitive playing field among schools.
Longer trips to games, more missed classes
Ridge View is arguing its move up from Class 4A to Class 5A. The Blazers would be the smallest of the 40 schools in Class 5A.
Blazers athletic director Brian Rosefield said there was a problem with the way they counted their 45-day enrollment numbers from grades 9-11, which determined the 2020-22 realignment. In the past, the 135-day numbers from grades 9-12 determined realignment.
Ridge View’s 45-day number is 1,292 students, just two more than the No. 41 school, West Florence. Rosefield said 39 students were counted incorrectly. If that was the case, Ridge View isn’t in the top 40 schools.
Rosefield said the 39 students are in their fourth year of athletic eligibility but not academically, therefore, they were counted in their 45-day numbers. He said in talking and doing a surveys with other schools that some of them weren’t counting those students in their 45-day numbers.
“We are looking forward to get in front of executive committees and making sure the process is fair,” Rosefield said Monday.
If Ridge View wins its appeal, it would move into Region 4-4A with AC Flora, Dreher, Lugoff-Elgin, Richland Northeast and Westwood.
Irmo’s appeal deals with switching regions. The Yellow Jackets are dropping down from Class 5-5A to Region 5-4A with Airport, Aiken, Midland Valley, North Augusta, South Aiken. Only Airport is located in the Columbia area.
Irmo wants to move to Region 4-4A, which is made up of all Midlands schools, including AC Flora, Dreher, Lugoff-Elgin, Richland Northeast and Westwood. The Yellow Jackets’ is arguing against the new region due to how it will increase travel time and the number of missed classes, especially for JV and mid-week games.
The closest trip for Irmo in the new region is Airport, which is 16 minutes by car, according to MapQuest. The other four trips would range from 53 minutes to more than an hour.
If Irmo wins its appeal and moves to Region 4-4A, four of the five trips are under 30 minutes with the Lugoff-Elgin (36 minutes) the longest trip for its teams.
Realignment appeals schedule
Tuesday
Ridge View - Move from Region 4-5A to Region 4-4A
Irmo - Move from Region 5-4A to Region 4-4A
Wednesday
Battery Creek - Move from Region 8-3A to Region 6-2A
West Oak - Move from Region 1-3A to Region 1-2A
Cheraw - Wants Legion Collegiate to move from Region 3-2A to Region 2-2A
Christ Church - Move from 1-2A to 1-A
Thursday
Burke - Move from Region 6-2A to Region 7-A
Denmark-Olar - Move from Region 3-A to Region 6-A (football only)
This story was originally published January 27, 2020 at 4:28 PM.
