COLUMBIA – The South Carolina High School League office staff has released the reclassification/realignment of schools for the 2020-2022 school years. The staff appreciates the challenges that this reclassification/realignment process has created but feels that the application of the guidelines issued by the Guidelines Committee creates a more balanced division of schools.
Several new factors were used in this year’s process:
Used the 45 ADM enrollment count of the current school year;
Only includes grades 9-11 in the enrollment count;
Used a plus or minus (+/-) four (4) schools to address geography and travel.
The goals of the process was to reduce the number of schools in the AAAAA Classification (currently 48); increase the number of schools in the A Classification (currently 38); and create a balanced number of schools in the remaining classifications (AA, AAA, AAAA). Throughout the process, geography and travel were major considerations. To address the considerations the following concepts were used:
The top 40 schools (by enrollment) were placed in the AAAAA Classification;
The next 40 schools (by enrollment) were placed in AAAA Classification;
The remaining three classifications (A, AA, AAA) were more challenging; therefore, the concept of plus or minus (+/-) four (4) schools was employed. This created the opportunity
for schools to be assigned to more geographically friendly regions among the classifications;
In an effort to maximize the number of schools with football teams in each region, some schools are participating in a different region (same classification) for football only.
“I appreciate the hard work and commitment of the staff and the cooperation and patience of the member schools as we worked through this process,” states Commissioner Jerome Singleton. “We truly appreciate the time and input from the reclassification/realignment guidelines committee as well. The newly formed group of individuals provided a wealth of experience and knowledge to assist us with this project.”
The next step in the process is to allow any school wishing to appeal their placement to the Classification(s) Executive Committee.
Courtesy: SCHSL
