MSSportsGuy

Despite my vocal and total dislike for 7 classes I won't go so far as to say anything was "ruined" but rather just changed to benefit the association and appease some coaches. None of this was done for the kids, fans, or better of the sport. It's just like the NCAA only on a smaller scale.

I agree with you and I'm a native of Northeast Mississippi where many of the small schools have opposed any consolidation. I don't think bigger is necessarily better but there are places where there are 1A/2A schools within a 10/15 minute drive of each other in aging facilities. What keeps these schools going is largely: 1a. Athletics 1b. Keeping schools racially exclusive or at worst balanced. 2. Tradition and history, both of which have 1A and 1B as factors. I'm more of a fan of district consolidation. My home county where my mother and brother still live has 2 school districts for no reason other than that's how it was set up and people are happy with it. Those citizens will say consolidation needs to happen but if you mention "their" school all heck breaks loose.

I have no issue with the top 4 making the playoffs if a region is 7 or 8 teams, but to get regions that large would mean shrinking the number of classes again.

I'm old and here are the iterations I experieced and have also witnessed: I was in HS in the early 90: 7 or 8 teams in our district (3A), top 2 made the playoffs. My junior year I think we were 8-2, maybe 7-3, but missed out because we lost two districs games to people better than us. Late 90s or early 2000s (I was a newlywed with twin babies so clearly my mind was elsewhere lol): Top 4 were making the playoffs. Most divisions below 5A had 7 teams but eh, whatever. Also 1A due to so many non football members moves to 4 regions with 7 or 8 team districts because coaches complained they couldn't fill out a schedule. 5A also had the same issue when they initially made it top 32. These divisions did have some travel issues for a few teams but I was only an observer at that point. 2009 Association moves to 6A: Read the rationale was the "gap" between 4A. Up to that point 5A had been the largest 32 with 4 on down divided evenly, Too big of a gap in 4A (allegedly) so top 32 6A, next 32 5A, then divided evenly. Districts in lower classes shrink to 6 or so teams. Again, I sort of get it but another trend was happening and that's school consolidation was taking place in some rural communities. With the top 4 making the playoffs in 6 team regions, I started to see 2-8/3-7 teams from some classes in the "Playoffs". 2022 Association goes to 7A: This was done to "increase excitement" and reduce the gap in 6A. The gap argument had some merits and I get it if you were Grenada playing Tupelo or Desoto Central but virtually no thought was given to the lower classes and what this would do. 6A could have become the top 24, 5A the next 24, and the other 16 who were part of the old 5A would have shifted down as things were divided evenly again. Sixteen schools over 4 classes would have mean 4 per class so not even one additional school per region. The numbers dividing the lower classes are basically moot as it's whoever is sitting where the line is drawn. Other considerations: In my 30 years since HS graduation there has been some consolidation in rural communites for small schools. It's true Desoto built 4 new high schools, Madison County 2, and 1 in Harrison County but the total number of schools in the state has been shrinking, as has overall enrollment. This is over the course of three decades so obviously things change and I don't say we should stay frozen in time but we should also be realistic. If I were king, which I won't be, I'd honestly make 5A your largest 24, 4A next 24, then divide the rest up evenly on down as much as possible. The top of 3A to bottom wouldn't be that much of a difference in the big picture unless there were a couple of outliers. If the association doesn't have enough officials to cover all the games now why did we add more (rhetorical question). Maybe the principals and coaches will push back but I doubt it. The moves from the association, such as forcing the hand of the Catholic schools to go MAIS because a couple of soccer and baseball coaches were upset they lost a state finals appearance, tend to be short sighted and reactive.

Last week Georgia's association released prelimnary enrolment nubmers going back to 6A being their largest class after 7A being the largest class for a couple of cycles. This apparently was passed in 2022 but will take effect starting with 2024-25 cycle. Reasons given were to create larger regions and cut down on travel. https://sports.yahoo.com/ghsa-approves-move-back-six-223100095.html Granted they are a much larger state with many more schools but their 6A will have 65 schools. They use a 3.0 multiplier to add for students who are considered to be out of their zone so some numbers look strange, but a quick examination of the FTE for 6A has Brookwood in Gwinnett County with 3880 with the smallest 6A being 2084 in Alpharetta High. I wonder if their assocation was concerned about reducing excitement, or if Alpharetta High will have a fit because they will be in a class with a much larger school on top, as some of the old 6A apparently were upset about being with Tupelo and Desoto Central having so many more students. https://www.ghsa.net/sites/default/files/documents/reclassification/GHSA_Reclassification_2024-26.pdf Of course I'm the jerk who regularly bashed 7 classes and will because we all know it was largely done to make more $$ and to appease a small number of coaches, sold under the guise it was more equitable for the students while basically ignoring the association benefits the most. I really am curious to see if people are happy with the 7 classes if they think about it. 6 was plenty for a state our size and I would guess 5 would still be okay with consolidations inevitably on the horizon.

Not quite sure what you are saying, but there are far more than 2 North Schools who don't play football. 1A Hickory Flat West Union Pine Grove Blue Mountain Jumpertown Wheeler Houlka Tremont 2A New Site Ingomar My original point is it's dumb to have a 4 (let alone 3) team region when all of them will make the playoffs. I said this last year when I fussed about 7 classes. 1A could have stayed in 4 regions just like 7,6 and 5A but the powers that be must not have wanted it. While I'm fussing this morning I also think it's silly to have a 5 team region (like in some 3A and 4A regions) and 4 make the playoffs there as well. All of this goes back to my irrational dislike for 7 classes that was brought on with little consideration beyond making more money for the association and for more coaches and parents to say their teams are in the playoffs.

I didn't understand why they went back to 8 regions from 4. Years ago in the dark ages of my youth, 1A moved from 8 districts to 4 because, at that time, coaches were having problems getting a 10 game schedule with home games against larger schools. They wanted 4 districts with 7 or 8 teams to help with this problem. It must have been requested again after the move to 7 classes.

There are several 4 team districts in that part of the state that are pretty bad but all of them are in the "playoffs" and will be able to play another week along with more revenue for the association. Some 1A and a couple of 2A schools don't play football in that area so it makes their districts have 4 teams rather than 5 to spread everyone out. With the closure of Coldwater last spring that left a 3 team district with Potts Camp, Strayhorn, and Coffeville. The MHSAA really should have shifted over one other school but oh well. At least everyone in those regions can make the playoffs even if they've not beaten a district opponent. After all, 7 classes was needed to "increase excitement" (sarcasm).

When did schools start moving their last regular season game to Thursday? I know some Thursday games are due to a lack of officials but it was most of the state last night with the teams who were finishing up the regular season.

It doesn't surprise me they would, but what is illegal about a school board choosing to vote to consolidate? The issue would be with the board, not the legal system. Doesn't seem to me the parents would have a case, but who knows these days.

I'm not sure why school consolidation would go before the court unless they are still under a desegregation order in Simpson County, which is possible, not sure what else it would be.

The same argument could be made in several towns in our state. Places that really don't have high quality public schools usually have a private school or one or more county schools that are around, but some even have another private school that didn't start of for the same reasons as the older ones from 1970ish. My kids graduated from public schools in Rankin County and we were overall pleased with their experience academically and athletically. Rankin County now has 5 private schools that have siphoned off students from the public system here and in some cases students from surrounding counties. I am not anti private school at all but believe public is a better option in an area like mine. Too many communities in the state are losing population yet desire to keep the same educational infrastructure (schools, districts, etc) as when there were significantly more students in the area. Greenville would probably be better served with one public and one private school but we are probably still 20+ years from that being a reality. One need only look at the pushback the JPS Superintendent has received when proposing closing 16 schools that are partially full and need signficant maintenance.

Blight is probably the city's second biggest problem after crime and the two really go hand in hand. I live in Rankin and some of those old hotels that are abandoned along 55 and 20 are terrible. I get the city doesn't have a ton of cash to tear everything down but I've truly wondered why there hasn't been a city wide effort to do something about these places. I don't like to see any school close because even those that aren't considered strong academically still have supporters and advocates. Despite my consolidation talk on this board I also don't believe bigger is always better but the sad truth is schools costs money to operate and repair and if there aren't bodies in them, one has to ask if the expense is worth it. I can forsee a day in my lifetime that the city could have 4 high schools that probably still wouldn't be at capacity.

The sad truth is the school district cannot afford to have so many schools, in aging facilities, that are half filled or less. This is way overdue. If Wingfield does close I expect the students to be divided between Forest Hill and Jim Hill. That would leave 6 high schools but I'd say 4 wouldn't be out of the question with the continual population drop. What will be tougher getting these rival schools and communities to mesh and support one another as the transitions happen. Jackson isn't the only community where this should be happening but it's truly sad what has happened there. I live and work in Rankin County and have never lived in the city proper because my family and I decided it would be better to own in the suburbs and put the kids in public school. We never regretted that decision.

Really 10 games is fine and still having a bye week is good since everyone can use a small break sometimes. Now that 7 classes are a reality, maybe only take the top 2 teams out of a region again from 1A to 4A? That takes a week off the playoff grind and makes them more competitive. Years back an assistant principal told me one reason the start date kept getting pushed back up is for schools who are on a 4X4 block so allow for state testing to take place in December without the distraction of football. I'd say that's probably a reason why now. I think most of us can agree the season kicks off too early and should be pushed back, but we can probably all agree virtually none of these decisions are made with the actual kids in mind.

Just reading a few posts about this underscores why this is such a touchy subject. People are quick to say it needs to happen but when a district close to them gets impacted, people react strongly. I live in Rankin County and I can almost guarantee that no one with the Pearl School District wants to merge with the county administratively. Additionally, Clinton probably wants nothing to do with JPS or Hinds County Schools, and I would say Madison County (where I once lived) would prefer to keep the Canton district out of their hair for a variety of reasons. I posted earlier that I would stop short of saying one district per county is all that is needed, but I can think of probably 20 small districts that don't have many more students than a large high school and are currently paying a 6 figure superintendent and staff. That is an area where consolidation should happen. The legislature forced many consolidations in the delta years back and how we took Bolivar County from 6 to 3 districts, Sunflower from 3 to 1, and others as well. I won't name names but anyone is free to search how many students are in a district and how much their superintendent makes and see what could potentially be money back in a classroom.

This bill has no shot of passing but this will only happen with their actions. There are simply too many districts in the state for our size. The average resident will agree with that statement but when "their" district gets mentioned they immediately throw their hands up and cry foul. I grew up in Northeast Mississippi in a county with two districts for literally no reason other than "always been that way". Neither of those boards or leadership structures would ever voluntarily merge themselves out of a job. The only way to get it done is by law. I will stop short of saying one district per county is all that is needed, but there are about 30 or so districts at first glance that could merge and it would have zero impact on the quality of education the students get but plenty of impact on the politics and comfort levels of administrators and community leaders.

Several of those programs are in areas where there was a major shift in population. None of those schools have experienced any enrollment or community growth. That, combined with a lack of support from coaching or a community, will damage most programs.

The Tate County School District has attempted to close Coldwater for years due to budgetary reasons plus their declining enrollment. Families in the area filed an injunction against it and that takes time to work through the courts and get a ruling. I have zero idea what all was asked of the district but it sounds like they finally got approval to proceed with the closure. Situations like that happen and in no way should athletic reclassification play a role in how a board does business.

Senatobia is the county seat. It is a separate school district. District consolidation is more needed than school consolidation in many places. I posted because I will be curious how the association handles this one. A football district with only 3 schools or does someone get shifted?

The closure had to be approved by a federal judge due to the fact Tate County is still under a desegregation order. The board voted to close the school but the feds had to let them move forward. Nothing related to athletic reclassification was considered, nor should it be. no clue what the association will do but we will just have to see how it’s handled.

No doubt it will increase travel for some but Tate isn't a large county geographically so it won't be the same as in some areas. Consolidation will keep taking place and I truly don't think there will be any new public high schools built in the state due to overcrowding in the next twenty years.

Coldwater is in Tate County, which is just below Desoto but that area isn't thriving at all. Tate County schools built a high school in Strayhorn, which only had K-8, in the mid 2000s and it dropped the Coldwater population. The student body demographics changed and the enrollment has continued to drop. I haven't been to their football stadium but the high school building was allegedly built in 1958. Frankly I think the age of facilities in many places will be what forces the hands of consolidation for some communities.

Yeah sorry for beating a dead horse lol. I just wonder what will happen in a district with 3 teams, schools who only have 2 district games trying to fill a schedule of 10 games. Actually, I wonder why it made sense to go from 4 regions in 1A football back to 8.

Tate County in Northwest Mississippi has approved the closure of Coldwater High. Presumably students will attend Strayhorn or Independence. They haven't had much luck in athletics for many years but this leaves only 3 schools in their football division. I wonder if they will be reexamined. The number of 1A schools will keep dropping gradually which is another reason I think 7 classes is silly but it's here.