The long process of finalizing a new realignment plan has concluded.

On Monday evening, more than 10 hours after the meeting began, the N.C. High School Athletic Association Board of Directors formally accepted the 2025-2029 realignment plan, finalizing conferences and classifications.

The board voted 16-1 to adopt the proposal, but it didn’t happen without changes to the last draft released by the NCHSAA Realignment Committee.

Perhaps the biggest change came in the northwest part of the state where two conferences were changed. Alleghany, Ashe County, North Wilkes, West Stokes, West Wilkes, and Wilkes Central all made appeals that related to one another. In the end, the board adopted a proposal from West Wilkes.

The change will create two separate conferences in that region of the state. One will be an eight-team 2A/3A/4A conference made up of Alleghany, Ashe County, East Wilkes, Elkin, North Wilkes, Starmount, West Wilkes, and Wilkes Central. The other will be a six-team 3A/4A conference that includes East Surry, Forbush, Mount Airy, North Surry, Surry Central, and West Stokes.

Board members spent more than an hour discussing the changes in the northwest part of the state. The eventual vote was 10-6 with one member recusing themsevles.

There were other changes made to conferences, but none of them were as far-reaching.

N.C. Science & Math-Durham’s appeal to move to 1A/2A Conference D with East Wake Academy, Franklin Academy, Raleigh Charter, Research Triangle, Roxboro Community, Triangle Math & Science, and Voyager Academy was approved. The school cited travel concerns with their original conference assignment, which included trips as far away as Nash Central and Roanoke Rapids.

Swansboro’s request to move to 5A Conference 1 as the only 6A team in the league was approved. Swansboro will join a conference with Croatan, Dixon, Havelock, Northside-Jacksonville, Richlands, and West Carteret. Their initial conference assignment placed them in a league with teams in Greenville and New Bern.

One change the board made will not require a change in any conference assignments. The board voted 12-6 to approve Cardinal Gibbons’ request to move up from the 6A classification to the 7A classification. Some board members rasied concerns about the decision as it relates to the new bylaws approved by the membership.

NCHSAA bylaws now state that classifications “shall solely use the ADM figures averaging the daily membership in grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 for the first month as submitted to the State Department of Public Instruction.”

Cardinal Gibbons’ ADM is listed at 1,605 studentsm, which places it in the 6A classification. There are six schools in the 6A classification with larger ADMs than Cardinal Gibbons, but those schools will remain 6A as the Crusaders move up to the 7A classification.

HighSchoolOT has reached out to the NCHSAA for comment about the decision as it relates to the new bylaw.

North Brunswick requested to move down from the 7A classification to the 6A classification, a move that was presented as a potential swap with Cardinal Gibbons, but that request was denied.

A total of 27 appeals were heard on Monday, but no other appeals were approved by the board of directors. The president of the board, Dr. Stephen Gainey, who is the superintendent of Randolph County Schools, says the NCHSAA staff will release a final document with new conferences in the coming days. These new conferences will go into effect next fall.

Attention now turns to determining the sports calendar for the 2025-2026 school year, something Gainey said the board and NCHSAA staff knows is important for member schools. There are other decision that need to be made by the board, such as how teams will qualify for the playoffs and how many teams will make up a state playoff bracket.