LHSAA unity again on shaky grounds

    For the second time in nine years, the Louisiana High School Athletic association’s house is divided by the success  of a small portion of its member schools on the football field.
    One in particular, John Curtis Christian School, was recently honored as the nation’s football champion by a consensus of media sites that specialize in prep football and recruiting coverage.
    And although the title is a symbolic gesture because there is no national playoff system to determine a true champion  among the nation’s many high school sports federations, one might think that principals in the Louisiana High School Athletic Association would be overjoyed that a football team from our state  has represented the LHSAA so well on the national stage.
    But noooo.
     Instead, the word is out that public school principals are more determined than ever to separate themselves from the 25-time state champion by ending a common playoff system. Feeling their chances for success are next to nil against a school that has won state championships in multiple boys’ and girls’ sports in whatever class in which they are placed, the publics want to have separate playoffs for traditional public schools and others they consider “select.”
    We wrote about this prior to the start of the Christmas-New Year’s break, but it will come up for a vote in a few weeks.
    The proposal defines a “select-admission” school as a public or non-public school that has an admissions policy to select its students. That definition includes all non-public, charter, university lab and magnet schools.
    Additionally, dual-curriculum schools that include at least 25 percent of their enrollment as “select-admission” students who do not live in the designated attendance zone also shall be classified as a select-admission school.
    How many readers are aware that, under this definition, Lafayette High, the largest school in Louisiana, is not considered a public school any more? The revelation was news to Lafayette’s administration.
New take on old news
    In 2004, two public school principals presented a similar scheme that would have divided public and private schools into two separate divisions. Many of the 241 public school principals felt at that time that the 54 non-public schools had an unfair advantage in acquiring student athletes (the same way they feel today).
    The plan nine years ago was to create four classes of competition for the public schools and just two for the non-publics.        
    But after several meetings among smaller groups and an appeal to the LHSAA Executive Committee, they eventually came to their senses and voted 256-71 at the general meeting to keep the status quo. That was a different time with mostly different principals.
    How do the so-called “select” principals and athletic directors feel about the push for a separation of power? Will they form their own athletic association? Will they refuse to play against public schools that are not district members in an effort to deny them revenue from pre-game and gate receipts?
Big pow-wow this week
    Principals and athletic directors were scheduled to meet this week at Episcopal High in Baton Rouge to talk about their options and chances of warding off this travesty, which would shatter the spirit of competition and cooperation the LHSAA has enjoyed for 10 decades.
    “The Catholic League athletic directors met and voted that no matter what happens, the Catholic League will not pull out of the LHSAA,” Jesuit AD David Moreau told me Jan. 11.
    I doubt there will be a mass exodus because a renegade association would not have the backing of the National Federation of State High School Associations. And the logistics of starting a new association would be overwhelming.
    The proposal also is preposterous in that public school principals want to hold playoffs in three classifications and have the “select” schools, whom they fear, compete in just two playoff classes.
    If the “select” schools are so dominant, shouldn’t they compete in three classes and shove the “inferior” public schools into two? After all, the “selects” in most cases enjoy better fan and parental support and have larger attendance bases.
    My feeling is that, if this absurd proposal passes, the body of “select” school principals will appeal to the state Legislature to intervene. It will get nasty.
    Originally founded in 1916 by a large contingent of Louisiana’s public school principals meeting in New Orleans, the LHSAA was set up as an association for public schools only.
    That changed in 1929 when the association voted to allow faith-based and other private schools into the mix.
    Jesuit played for a football championship but lost in 1931. It then became the first new entry to win a title in 1933.
    Since then, discord has prevailed among the majority of member principals.
    So far, the 2012-13 school year has been dominated by non-public schools in volleyball and football, and non-public schools have won a majority of events in cross-country and swimming.
    Ron Brocato can be reached at [email protected]