1999-01-14-sr-p24-reardan-reclassification

January 14, 1999 Spokesman-Review Page 24:

Changes fewer than last reclassification

Decision isn’t final, but Reardan appears certain to return to Class B

By Dave Trimmer

Staff writer

Compared to where things stood two years ago, the current allocation period for area high schools will slip by almost unnoticed.

Reardan and Liberty are flip-flopping next fall and East Valley is moving up to 4A to be replaced by Colville.

The last enrollment count came two years ago when the fifth classification was added, bringing with it much confusion.

School classifications are determined every two years, based on the average of enrollment for the top three grades at each school on Oct. 1, Nov. 1 and Dec. 1 of even-numbered years. The changes go into effect the following fall.

Reardan moved up to 1A after football in 1997, when the 1996 count was audited. Now, the Indians are going back to the Bi-County, but are being replaced in the Northeast A by Liberty.

Colville is returning to the Frontier League, now 3A, after two years in the 2A Great Northern League. East Valley leaves the Frontier for the Greater Spokane League.

Schools can choose to move up, but not down, There was some speculation Reardan would stay at 1A if the drop to B was going to just be a two-year interruption.

“I think we’re going back down to B,” Reardan athletic director Bonnie Long said. “The reason I say ‘think’ is because it was discussed at the last board meeting and tabled until next board meeting.”

The next board meeting is Tuesday, superintendent Rob Clark said.

“Our numbers are B, That’s a done deal,” Clark said. “The only way we would go A is if we made a conscious choice to go there. I would be very surprised if we did that. I would like to wait for the board meeting to make a definitive comment. . . . (but) the feeling is we should be where the numbers are.”

Reardan’s count was 145. The enrollment for 1A is 151. There is a deadline in January to appeal to be in a different classification than a school’s enrollment would dictate.

Looking at the future, Reardan’s numbers would be more than 151 in two years but Long said, “Based strictly on numbers, we'll be back up to A after this allocation period, but that hasn’t been the trend. We seem to lose quite a few kids. We have 40 seniors this year and we started with 63 in the class.

“If we're back in two years, I’m comfortable there...The numbers are there for a reason. Wherever the numbers say we go, that’s where we go.”

Clark said last year’s graduating class of 55 was the largest in school history.

“Will we go up in two years?” he asked, “I can't make that prediction because of students we lose as sophomores, juniors and seniors.”

Moses Lake will rejoin the Big Nine after two years as a 3A school. The ML School District lost an appeal to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association asking its students at an alternative school be counted separately from the high school.

The WIAA upheld an earlier decision that Columbia Basin Alternative High School does not meet all 10 requirements to be considered a separate school for athletics. The addition of 160 students in its count pushes Moses Lake above the 1,201 4A minimum.

After losing the appeal, Moses Lake formally applied to the Big Nine and was accepted last week.

With Moses Lake adding one to the Big Nine, there was talk among athletic directors about changing the league’s name.

“But the Big Ten’s got 11 teams in it, so it’s no big deal,” Kamiakin athletic director Randy Dolven told the Tri-City Herald. “We'll leave the name alone for now and maybe bring it up later.” The 3A Mid-Valley League drops to seven teams with the loss of Moses Lake.

Other changes in Central Washington include River View dropping from the 2A Central Washington Athletic Conference to the 1A South Central Athletic Conference. The 1A league will have a seven-team Southern Division and a six-team Northern.

The CWAC added Cashmere, Chelan and Tonasket from the 1A Caribou Trail League. The three new teams will be part of the CWAC North with Cascade-Leavenworth, Ephrata, Omak and Quincy. The South is Connell, Grandview, Kiona-Benton, Othello, East Valley-Yakima, Goldendale, Naches, Wapato and Toppenish,

The schools explored splitting into two leagues but the superintendents decided to go with one league, two divisions and one district tournament.