Should the N.C. High School Athletic Association designate separate playoffs for schools that do not have a defined attendance zone set by a local school district?

That is the question one school is hoping the NCHSAA Board of Directors will ask its member schools.

Dr. Jonathan Tribula of Nash Central High School submitted an agenda item for this week’s NCHSAA Board of Directors meeting suggesting the board consider changes to how schools that do not have a defined attendance zone are represented in the playoffs.

“A quick look in the 1A and 2A classifications across most non-revenue sports will see that many state championships are won from schools who do not have a clearly defined attendance zone,” Tribula wrote in his submission to the NCHSAA Board of Directors.

Tribula’s proposal would not impact the classification of teams or their assignment to conferences. He says he believes schools of all types will have to play in conferences together because of proximity. However, when the playoff season arrives, teams would be separated if they come from a school without an attendance zone.

The recommendation from Tribula says the NCHSAA should reserve six playoff brackets for schools who have traditional attendance boundaries, while schools without those boundaries would go to their own playoff brackets. Although the proposal does not mention any specific school types, this would apply to the dozens of charter schools and four parochial schools in the NCHSAA. It’s not clear if it would impact other school types, such as magnet schools or schools that allow participation from students who attend other schools, such as early colleges and academies.

“Schools who do not have a defined attendance zone can have student-athletes from across multiple counties which can create ‘all-star’ teams,” Tribula wrote.

Tribula is requesting the NCHSAA ask the member schools to respond to one question: “Should there be separate playoff classifications for schools who do not have a defined attendance zone as set forth by a public school unit?”

“Depending on the results, the NCHSAA will have its members voices heard and will have a better sense of direction when establishing playoff classifications,” Tribula suggested.

The NCHSAA Board of Directors is scheduled to discuss this proposal on the first day of its board meeting this week — Wednesday. According to the agenda, the discussion will take place at approximately 1 p.m.

The proposal could face an uphill battle… at least for now

While there is not any publicly available data on this specific issue, inherent advantages for schools that do not have traditional attendance zones is a common concern across high school athletics in North Carolina — and across the country.

However, adopting such a policy could violate the NCHSAA’s own bylaws, which were passed by the member schools last year on a 335-49 vote. It was this vote which led to the expansion to eight classifications in the upcoming realignment. The language of the bylaw amendment included the line: “The initial classification plan using this format … 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.”

This means the NCHSAA must use Average Daily Membership numbers to assign schools to classifications and cannot use any other factors in that determination. The type of school or whether or not a school has a specific attendance zone would be a separate factor.

There are other challenges that would need to be addressed before such a proposal could go into effect. For example, many charter schools have relatively small enrollments, but there are some schools that would be affected by this proposal that have very large enrollments. This would create a major disparity.

Cardinal Gibbons will be a member of the 6A classification in the upcoming realignment based on the numbers released by the NCHSAA last month. The school reported an ADM of 1,605 students. Compare that to the smallest school that would be affected by this proposal, Summit Charter Academy, which has just 82 students and will be a member of the 1A classification in the upcoming realignment.

Charlotte Catholic is the second-largest school that would be affected by this proposal. It reports an ADM of 1,369 students and will also be a member of the 6A classification next year. The largest charter school is Uwharrie Charter, which will be in the 4A classification with an ADM figure of 875 students.

Large differences in enrollment figures would create concerns about safety in some sports, in addition to a lack of competition.

There would also be concerns about sports that do not have enough teams at charter and parochial schools to field a full playoff bracket. Many charter schools do not offer football, for example. Other sports already have playoffs with combined classifications, such as lacrosse where the 1A, 2A, and 3A classifications all play for the same state championship.

What’s the next step for this proposal?

The NCHSAA Board of Directors is obligated to address this proposal at its meeting this week because it was submitted based on the guidelines in place for agenda topics. However, the board has a number of options.

The board could outright reject the proposal or vote to adopt it, which may be unlikely. The board could decide table this issue until a later meeting, while also asking the NCHSAA staff to research the issue or perhaps distribute a survey to the NCHSAA membership. This is often how the board chooses to address big topics, that way schools can provide their insight.

If the board interprets the current bylaw to mean any factors beyond the ADM number of a school are out of bounds when it comes to placing schools in classifications, a bylaw amendment would have to be proposed by member schools, then voted on by the membership.

Any bylaw amendment needs an affirmative vote from three-fourths of the entire membership to be adopted, not just three-fourths of the schools who vote. This makes adopting new bylaws difficult.

HighSchoolOT will have full coverage of the NCHSAA Board of Directors meeting this week, including around the discussion of the proposed changes for classifications based on the type of school.