Thursday afternoon in Murfreesboro, the nine-member TSSSAA legislative council voted 5-4 to deny the proposal that all public schools shall play in Division I and all independent schools shall play in Division II.
If the proposal had passed, the split would have been put into effect for the 2017-18 school year.
The next step is for the TSSAA staff to make recommendations to the legislative council by mid-August a few issues to work toward as level a playing field as possible without a complete split.
Areas of Concern: Items to be addressed include work study by student-athletes, tuition reduction for non-athletic family members whose sibling(s) is a student-athlete, but is not receiving any financial aid, employment of a family member(s) or guardian whose child (children) are student-athletes, hiring of coaches, the transfer of students from public to public schools or public to private schools and are eligible to compete at the junior varsity level without sitting out a year (some want a proposal to make that student sit out of practice and competition for a year if he or she does transfer) and the vast difference in percentage of state championships won by the independent schools as compared to those won by public schools mainly at the A and AA levels.
“The issue at hand is can we – TSSAA and the legislative council – find ways to create a fair playing field between public and independent schools without a total split,” said TSSAA executive director Bernard Childress.
The legislative council will most likely meet in September to discuss the new recommendations with the possibility of voting at its regular meeting in December after discussions with school representatives in each area of the state.
Voting in Favor of the Split: Soddy Daisy High School principal and member of the TSSAA legislative council Danny Gilbert voted to have all private schools in one division (D-II) and all public schools in another division (D-I).
“It was a tough decision for me on how to vote, but after talking with people at schools in my area, I decided to vote to split into two distinct divisions,” said Gilbert. “I weighed all the options, but literally did not make up my mind until two minutes before we voted.
“Yet, I am open to looking at recommendations from the TSSAA staff to find ways to create a more level playing field between pubic and independent schools.
”If these new recommendations are viable and in the long run work to make a more level playing field then that’s great.”
Gilbert pointed to five items of concern raised by school representatives (public and non-public) in his area.
Independent schools have these advantages
1 Boundaries. Private and church-related schools are not bound by a certain geographic boundary from which they can draw students.
2. State Championships. The independent schools are dominating the number of state championships won (and the number of teams in the state finals) in D-I Class A and AA. The independent schools make up approximately 20% of the total number of schools in D-I A and AA but are winning 70-80% of the team championships (and in several cases, both state finalists in a sport are independent schools).
3. Recruiting. The recruiting of students who attend public elementary and middle schools and in some cases at the high school level has been an issue for many years by both public and private schools.
4. Athletic Facilities. “There is no doubt there is a distinct advantage private and church-affiliated schools have over public schools in regards to athletic facilities, especially at the A and AA levels,” said Gilbert. “At the small school level, looking at the quality of facilities is comparing apples to oranges.”
5. Hiring of Coaches: “An example where a private school has an advantage in hiring is private school A can hire a non-teaching coach for a certain sport and then hire another teacher to fill a vacancy in the science department.
“Yet, the principal at a public school does not have that luxury and must find a good chemistry teacher who can also coach a certain sport,” Gilbert stated.
Independent Schools to Have Representation on TSSAA Board and Council
A representative from three independent schools – one each from the east, middle and west – will be added to both the legislative council and board of control this fall by vote of the membership which will make each of those boards have 12 members.
At present, there are no representatives from independent schools on the nine-member legislative council.
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net