Brookland-Cayce AD sounds off on Gray Collegiate as Lexington 2 schools face fines
Brookland-Cayce High athletic director Rusty Charpia went on the offensive Thursday about Gray Collegiate and its effects on B-C’s sports teams.
The S.C. High School League’s executive committee met to discuss fines levied against Lexington 2 schools Airport and Brookland-Cayce for not playing Gray in junior varsity football games in 2024. B-C and Airport appealed and had the penalties reduced, with Airport’s fine going from $2,500 to $500 and B-C’s dropping from $2,500 to just $2.
Airport athletic director Shane Fidler said the school will appeal the fine.
Charpia, in explaining Brookland-Cayce’s reasoning for not playing the JV games, sounded off on Gray Collegiate and what he described as the negative impacts the public charter school has on the Bearcats’ ability to field competitive athletic teams.
Charpia multiple times Thursday contended that Gray is recruiting athletes from B-C and other schools to transfer and play for the War Eagles.
South Carolina’s public charter schools routinely attract students from multiple attendance zones and school districts. But those charters are also assigned the same attendance zone as the nearest high school.
In Gray’s case, that’s Brookland-Cayce High.
“There are 300 students who should be going to Brookland-Cayce High School but made the decision to go to Gray,” Charpia said. “There are 140 playing there now that used to play for us.”
The three high schools are in the same athletic region this year for the first time, which means Airport and Brookland-Cayce have to play Gray in varsity sports if they want to avoid fines and be eligible to make the playoffs. But there’s no requirement or mandate that teams play each other in middle school or JV sports, SCHSL executive commissioner Jerome Singleton said.
Gray has about 100 students who are zoned for Airport, according to Fidler.
Gray’s ascension as a Class 2A sports powerhouse was a big reason the SCSHL added a multiplier to the formula for placing teams in athletic classifications. The War Eagles, whose student population is 81% from outside its designated attendance zone, were elevated to Class 4A and in the same region with B-C, Airport, Gilbert, Aiken, Midland Valley, South Aiken and North Augusta.
The schools played in the fall in all varsity sports, including football, with Gray winning big over Brookland-Cayce and Airport. B-C defeated Gray Collegiate in varsity boys basketball on Tuesday for its first win over the War Eagles.
“This charter school situation is competing for the heart and minds of students,” Charpia said. “We are supposed to win and compete. If you don’t win, you lose your jobs.”
Gray Collegiate principal Brian Newsome issued a statement in response to Charpia’s comments and the SCHSL executive committee’s ruling. Newsome’s statement, among other things, took issue with the reduction of the fines and contended that state legislation protects such penalties being issued when scheduled games are not played.
“In our opinion, the actions by the SCHSL Executive Committee neither meet the letter nor the spirit of this law requiring a uniform system establishing fines for cancellation of games applicable to all SCHSL member schools,” Newsome wrote in the statement. “Today’s decisions have made a mockery of the rule of law.”
“... GCA will continue to advocate for families and students who exercise their rights to attend a school of their choice. Likewise, GCA will continue to advocate for our student-athletes and their right to participate in athletic contests at every competition level: varsity, sub-varsity, and middle school.”
The S.C. High School League has 223 total member schools, with 23 of them public charters and four of them private schools. Charter schools are public schools, and not all charters operate with sports as a priority.
Gray is one of the charter schools that’s built a reputation for having strong athletics. Academically, Gray’s high school students are in class four hours a day, sometimes in a morning or afternoon block. The rest of the day can include free time, sports practices or other extra-curricular activities.
“It has been quite a task to keep our kids,” Charpia said. “We are traditional school. We go to school eight hours a day. They are in a different model.”
At issue in Thursday’s SCHSL executive committee meeting was how official Gray’s plans to play B-C and Airport in JV football were before they were removed from any scheduling — and when each school communicated their plans to not play the War Eagles in middle school or JV sports.
While both schools have to play Gray in varsity contests, Charpia testified that B-C will never play Gray in any sport at the subvarsity level despite the schools being just six miles apart.
“We don’t want to play them at subvarsity level,” Charpia said during the meeting. “It’s not in our best interest to give them access to all our children.”
Gray’s addition of a middle school has only exacerbated impacts on Brookland-Cayce’s athletics, Charpia said.
“They have drained many of our teams and taken away competitive balance,” Charpia said in his testimony. “They’ve created a middle school that’s cherry-picking our kids. Right now we’re at a huge disadvantage.”
This story was originally published January 9, 2025 at 1:35 PM.
