Unity may cause LHSAA to reconsider two items

January 29, 2020

By Ron BROCATO, SPORTS

Imagine, if you will, a Louisiana High School Athletic Association without the sport of football. If that were to happen, its annual meetings, like the one that taking place on Jan. 31, would be less contentious and polarizing.

There would be no reason for public school principals to devise ways to drive a wedge between private/Catholic schools and themselves.

And the man charged with the task of getting them back together is LHSAA executive director Eddie Bonine, a mostly misunderstood administrator who presides over both factions.

But there is the sport of football, and it has been the driving force behind the creation of a book of rules and bylaws since the LHSAA was formed 100 years ago. The book has gotten out of hand in size and scope.

Back then, there were just two classifications to monitor: A and B. Schools in both classes fielded football teams (Kentwood, Slidell, Hahnville, Kenner, Holy Name of Mary, St. James and Ridgewood won state football championships between 1928 and 1970).

Today we have a principal – Thomas J. Byler of North Vermilion High – who wants to add a sixth class (6A). Obviously, like most of the proposed rule changes, the sport of football is the catalyst.

Moves toward unity

I don’t believe Bonine will open the general meeting by crooning a chorus of “Come Together.” But, it is quite possible one or two items proposed by Bonine and the LHSAA executive committee (EC) to encourage an end to the split will never be voted on.

The original split of select and non-select schools in playoffs and championships for certain sports was deemed unconstitutional within a few years of its passage.

For enrollment purposes, the EC wants to add a 1.5 multiplier to dual-gender schools and a 2.5 multiplier to single-gender schools – if such schools accept students from outside their attendance zones. The rationale is that this rule would remove any competitive advantage these schools may have over traditional public schools, which are limited to operating with students within their attendance zones.

A second, and more bizarre, amendment would remove non-public schools from the constitution and place them in a “special membership” category without representation. By doing so, a private, parochial or charter school would be free to form its own organization but still be able to join the LHSAA.

I’ll never be confused with a legal mind like Clarence Darrow, but if the LHSAA is an organization of high schools with their principals as stockholders, how can approximately a third of them be cast out of the association they’ve served for decades?

Bonine said he wouldn’t be surprised if either or both items are pulled from the agenda before an actual floor vote.

“A lot of the things (on the business agenda) are to try to bring this thing back together,” he told a group of local administrators at an area meeting held at St. Martin’s Episcopal School last week. “I truly hope that what we’ve done doesn’t make the situation worse. But in an attempt to do so, it has. It has been an unintended variable.

“I have (formed) a committee that is committed to try to get something done, by whatever means, to have unified championships. People have told me, ‘Eddie, you’ll never get anything done with a two-thirds vote needed for passage.’ I said, ‘Maybe not. But at least we’re not going to dig ourselves deeper in the hole we’re now in by a simple majority vote.’”

Bonine was behind the rule that principals whose school does not participate in a sport (such as football) cannot vote on a proposal that pertains to that sport. He was quick to point out, “The split in 2012 would not have passed with a two-thirds vote or even a simple majority. But we had 70 votes cast by schools that didn’t have football.”

That separation has since increased to separate championship playoffs in basketball, baseball and softball.

Bonine said he doesn’t see Proposal 1, on the enrollment multiplier, passing. “The question is, do we want to get this thing back together or do we care? I think we do.”

He noted that Proposal 2 was not intended to “kick any school out of the LHSAA” even though it would take a two-thirds vote of the EC to re-admit a non-public school if the item passes.

“I’ll be surprised if that item is on the agenda at the convention,” he said. “I’m going to report what has transpired in meetings around the state to the committee, and I’m going to make recommendations to them on what I’ve heard.”

If unity is to come, it will take passage of a series of amendments on a sport-by-sport basis to eliminate “divisions” and return public and non-public schools to “classes,” according to their size and willingness to participate in a higher class (with or without a multiplier).

The authors of the unity proposals, Dr. Stella Arabie and John LeBlanc, principals of Catholic-New Iberia and Loyola Prep, respectively, noted for the record, “Select and non-select schools should be competing against each other. Overall, coaches, players and fans want to see the best teams compete against each other for an ultimate championship.”

The good news is that passage of the unity proposals will require a simple majority vote and not a two-thirds majority.

Ron Brocato can be reached at rbrocato@clarionherald.org.