High School Sports - GHSA Classifications Expanding - But "Student" Remains Last

What is best for the student athletes should have been the main concern for the Georgia High School Association Executive Committee, but it wasn't.

Last Tuesday, the GHSA's Executive Committee voted on a plan that would expand the current five classifications by adding a new classification, AAAAAA, by a vote of 26-24.  That means the  443 schools competing in athletics would be included in the reclassification process.  The plan that best suited our student/ athlete, the 4/8 plan,  lost by a vote of 15 yea's to 35 nea's.

The 4/8 plan would have crowned 8 classification champions. It was broken down into 4 lower state classifications and 4 upper state classifications. What this meant is that the southern part of the state would play the schools in the lower part of the state and this would be opposite for the northern part of the state. The plan was similar to what the South Carolina High School league is using.

The 4/8 would have kept travel time, loss of class time, and fuel costs down. Students wouldn't leave school early  to make long bus trips to play games. That meant less time out of classes and less money spent.

What bothers me is that it was drastically turned down. I thought the purpose of the GHSA was to put the "student" part first of the term student/athlete. I guess not. We have to wait to the new state school enrollment counts come out in August to find out where the 443 schools will be placed. We missed the point on this one concerning the "student" in student/athlete, because the "student" was placed last.