Realignment of the Realignment???

Has anyone heard of other changes ????


Proposal puts Burke schools together

By CHRIS HOBBS
Record Sports Editor
Friday, January 25, 2008


HICKORY
Patton High proposed changes in the first draft of statewide realignment on Thursday that would impact all 15 area high schools and put all four of Burke County's in the same conference.
At a North Carolina High School Athletic Association meeting with Western North Carolina schools at Catawba Valley Community College, Patton officials proposed:
n That Patton and Freedom - both to be 3A when realignment begins in 2009-2010 - be pulled from a recommended 3A-4A conference and placed in a 2A-3A conference with schools from Cleveland and Rutherford counties.
n That Draughn, a Burke County 2A school that opens in August, and East Burke, which will be 2A, move out of an eight-team 2A conference into the Burke-Cleveland-Rutherford combination league.
The newly proposed 2A-3A conference would consist of 3As Freedom, Patton and R-S Central and 2As Chase, East Rutherford, East Burke, Draughn and Shelby.
The move of Patton and Freedom would leave a seven-team 3A-4A conference ? 3As Fred T. Foard, Hibriten, Hickory and St. Stephens with 4As Alexander Central, South Caldwell and Watauga.
The move of Draughn and East Burke would leave a six-team 2A conference of Bandys, Bunker Hill, Maiden, Newton-Conover, South Iredell and West Caldwell.
Patton's plan involves potential changes in three other areas, including Lincoln and Gaston counties,.
All of the proposals will be reviewed by the NCHSAA realignment committee.
The committee, chaired by Alexander County Schools Superintendent Jack Hoke, will release a second draft for the school years 2009-2010 through 2012-2013 on Feb. 8.
The NCHSAA staff, as directed by the board of directors, prepared the first draft.
Thursday was an opportunity for all of the schools in the West to offer more input.
Patton's plan drew mixed reactions, including objections by some 2A schools that would lose Draughn and East Burke.
"It's just (a matter of) numbers," said Maiden athletic director Jeff Price, who doesn't favor a six-team 2A league because of scheduling difficulties. "We have no problems with the teams in it, but it's a numbers issue. Our travel is not extensive either way."
Officials from Bandys, Bunker Hill and Newton-Conover also said they do not favor a six-team conference.
The first draft featured a 3A-4A combination conference of Alexander Central, South Caldwell, Watauga (all 4A) and Fred T. Foard, Hibriten, Hickory, Patton, Freedom and St. Stephens (all 3A).
Fred T. Foard is asking that a 3A league of Fred T. Foard, Freedom, Hibriten, Hickory, Patton and St. Stephens be formed.
In Foard's plan, Alexander Central, South Caldwell and Watauga would form a 4A league with Davie County, Lake Norman and Mooresville.
The Tigers' major concerns about the first draft 3A-4A conference are travel distance and time away from school, Foard principal Sally Bradshaw said.
Foard fields 31 athletic teams.
Bradshaw has prepared a mileage study. It indicates Foard's overall travel distances (round trip) in the nine-team 3A-4A league would increase by about 100 miles even though the Tigers would visit one less school than they now do.
In the Catawba Valley Athletic 2A-3A Conference, the earliest Foard students leave school for an athletic contest is 2:30 p.m., Bradshaw said. In the proposed 3A-4A conference, students would have to leave by noon for a game, for instance, at Watauga.
"We're hoping they (the realignment committee) will consider it," Bradshaw, who is a member of that committee, said of Foard's plan.
With new information in hand, the realignment committee will meet in Chapel Hill on Feb. 7 to work through a second draft that will be posted to the NCHSAA website by 3 p.m. the next day.
The committee's final draft will be completed by March 6 and released the next day, Hoke said.
At that point, there is one final step ? presentation to the NCHSAA board of directors, who vote on the statewide plan as a whole. That meeting will be in May.
Once approved, the realignment will be in place for four years. If a school's average daily membership (ADM) declines after the plan is approved, it can ask the board to move it after the 2010-2011 school year.
Schools that have increases in ADMs after the plan is approved will not be moved up until the next realignment, for the school years 2013-2014 through 2016-2017.

 

Watauga to Mooresville? Watuaga to Davie County? That's just flat out insane...

 

why would foard have to leave at noon to go play watauga.all they got to do is get right on 321 and the school is right off 321.

 

This proposal will never happen.
A brand new school (Patton) already trying to dictate re-alignment ?
Rookies should be seen and not heard.
Get real !!!

 

I think patton dont want to be in a 4a/3a league because it will hurt their playoff chances every year.Also they know there baseball team wouldnt even come close to winning that conference.

 

I don't know about that. Their 09 baseball team will have an excellent chance of winning the 4a/3a conference if they stay healthy. Their playoff chances will only depend on how they do against the other 3A teams, I think.

 

leave it alone.

In a letter printed by the News Herald on January 25, 2008 by East Burke High School Principal Rexanna Lowman and Athletic Director Jeff Link, they stated their wishes to leave things as they have been assigned by the NCHSAA. As a parent of two EB softball players, I agree with all the points made my Mrs. Lowman and Mr. Link. I personally do not want to travel to Chase High School or East Rutherford High, whom we have never competed against and is almost 60 miles from East Burke. I think most all are in agreement here that EBHS should remain in the 2A conferance as was assigned by the NCHSAA. Sorry, but I feel that Patton should not prevail over this. JMO...

http://www.morganton.com/servlet/Sa...NH_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173354375265

 

Agree

For those of us who have kids that in the near future will attend Draughn High School (new HS opening in Burke fall of 08) we too want to stay in the straight 2A conference that we were originally assigned to for the same reasons as East Burke (travel distances, gate revenues, transportation costs, missed instructional time) as well as the fact that Draughn will be a very small 2A school (about the same size as Maiden if not smaller) and won't be able to successfully compete on a consistent basis in a 2A/3A conference. Talk about setting a new school up for failure right out of the gate... Our situational problem is magnified by the fact that the Burke County Board of Education is playing a game of political posturing and have not hired a principal for Draughn. So... we currently do not have any representation at these realignment meetings. Ughh!

 

Has anyone considered taking up a petition for the NCHSAA to protect the interests of the players since you don't have a principal in position to do so? I know most at EB would be willing to sign one.

 

Trying

We have made the Draughn Athletic Booster Club President aware of the situation. We've also contacted Jack Hoke who is the chairman of the NCHSAA committee for realignment. However, it's still not like having a voice present when these other ideas are being put on the table for consideration. We're hoping to have a principal named this Friday!!! Wish us luck on that one!