Another significant step in the realignment process will happen on Monday.

The N.C. High School Athletic Association Board of Directors will meet on Monday to work on the upcoming realignment. The meeting will include the board hearing additional appeals from schools.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. and is expected to last for several hours. HighSchoolOT will have live coverage of the meeting on Monday.

Before the final realignment plan released by the NCHSAA Realignment Committee can become official, the Board of Directors must vote on and approve it. Before that vote happens, the board will hear one set of final appeals.

Schools have already had a chance to appeal their placement in the upcoming realignment to the Realignment Committee. However, schools that were unsasitifed with the results of the last round of appeals are now able to present their appeal to the full board.

The new realignment goes into effect this fall. It will result in the NCHSAA expanding from four classifications to eight classifications. The decision was made after the member schools passed a bylaw amendment to prevent more than 64 teams from being in a single class.

With more than 430 schools in the NCHSAA, the bylaw meant the association would have a minimum of seven classes. However, the board ultimately settled on eight classes to allow room for growth. New schools join the NCHSAA every year.

Once the board adopts a final realignment plan, additional decisions will have to be made. These decisions include playoff format and how teams qualify for the playoffs, when and where state championships will be held, whether or not there are enough teams to hold eight state championships in all sports, setting a sports calendar, and more.

The new realignment is scheduled to remain in place through the 2028-2029 school year. However, member schools are considering realigning more often than every four years. A bylaw amendment is being considered that would change the frequency of realignment.

Final decisions about the upcoming realignment are expected this spring. It is expected the board will take some votes prior to its regular spring meeting. However, the final meeting of the spring is scheduled for Apr. 29-30 in Chapel Hill.