All 2012-13 regions need to report their elected officers to the GHSA office as soon as possible, but no later than March 1st. The form to use when reporting officers can be found by clicking here.

The GHSA Reclassification Committee has made the following changes to the 2012-2014 region alignments:

AA

AAAAA - Camden County	AAAA - Pope
AAA - Gilmer	AA - Jefferson
A - Holy Innocents'

Brackets
AAAAA Bracket
AAAA Bracket
AAA Bracket
AA Bracket
A Bracket

Athletes for a Better World and the GHSA announce the Fifth Annual Vincent J. Dooley Awards and Scholarships.  The athletic director of each school may designate the male and female recipient of the Awards for their school, and their recipients may compete for a four year, $1,000 a year, scholarship.  For more information and the nomination form, please click here.

Each year, every high school in Georgia is invited to select one male and one female senior athlete to receive the Dooley Award. The award recipients are chosen for their distinguished individual character, outstanding teamwork, and citizenship. All award recipients are reviewed by a selection committee, who choose 10 boys and 10 girls as finalists for the Dooley Scholarship. The Dooley Scholarship is then presented to one male and one female athlete. All recipients are invited to attend a banquet at Turner Field, after which the 20 finalists are recognized on the field before an Atlanta Braves game.

Click on the link below to download the minutes from the GHSA Called Executive Committee Meeting held on January 10, 2012 at the Macon Centreplex in Macon, Georgia.

Click on the link below to download the agenda for the GHSA Called Executive Committee Meeting to be held on January 10, 2012 at the Macon Centreplex in Macon, Georgia.

Agenda for January 10, 2012

The proposed regions for 2012-2014 have been updated to reflect the results of lateral appeals heard on December 19, 2011.

Proposed Regions for 2012-2014 (After Lateral Appeals) (Updated 12/19 8:30pm)

AAAAA
Move Cambridge from Region 7-B to 7-A

AAAA
Move Burke County from Region 3-A to 3-B

AAA
Move SE Bulloch from Region 3-B to Region 1-A

AA
Move Atkinson County from Region 1-B to Region 2-A

A
Move Mt. Pisgah and Mt. Zion from Region 6-A to 6-B
Move 1st Presbyterian from Region 7-B to Region 4-B
Move Lincoln County from Region 7-A to Region 8-B

RECLASSIFICATION CLARIFICATIONS

1. Nothing about the current reclassification proposals may be considered to be final or official until ratified by the full GHSA Executive Committee on January 10, 2012. Any region meetings held at this time are premature.
2. The provisions of GHSA By-law 4.23d are still in effect.
   
   1. Regions are encouraged to play full region schedules in football unless there are large travel distance issues.
   2. Regions with eight or fewer schools must play a full region schedule in order to get close to the “70% rule” (By-law 4.23d3).
   3. Regions with more than eight schools may elect to keep sub-region alignments for football, but crossover games must be guaranteed in order to meet the “70% rule”.
   4. In a rare situation where there are extreme travel distances involved (as determined by the Reclassification Committee), the schools in a region may appeal to the Reclassification Committee to waive aspects of By-law 4.23. This appeal may be filed after the January 10^th ratification meeting.
3. In sports other than football where there are multiple contests during the school week, regions are encouraged to play sub-region schedules.
   
   1. Regions will need to work out enough crossover games to meet the “50% rule” (By-law 4.23d4).
   2. If the Principals in a region approved playing a full region schedule by a 2/3 vote, the region may do so.
   3. In a rare situation where there are extreme travel distances involved (as determined by the Reclassification Committee), the schools in a region may appeal to the Reclassification Committee to waive aspects of By-law 4.23. This appeal may be filed after the January 10^th ratification.

A - Savannah Christian	AA - Calhoun
AAA - Burke County	AAAA - Tucker
AAAAA - Grayson

Photos courtesy of Georgia Photographics

Championship Brackets
AAAAA
AAAA
AAA
AA
A

Rebroadcast
Games will be rebroadcasted on GPB Knowledge, one of GPB’s digital channels, from Dec. 12-16 at 8 p.m. Schedule: Class A, Mon., Dec. 12; Class AA, Tues., Dec. 13; Class AAA, Wed., Dec. 14; Class AAAA, Thurs., Dec. 15; Class AAAAA, Fri., Dec. 16. Games will also be available On Demand at Comcast, GHSA.tv and GPB.org/sports. DVDs can be ordered at GHSA.tv.

Photos
Action photography will be available on GHSAPHOTOS.com.

Merchandise
Championship merchandise can be ordered online at ghsa.teamip.com.

Throughout the deliberations on reclassification that have been going on for nearly a year, emphasis was placed on the importance of reducing travel costs and time out of class. In a state as large as Georgia, there is no way to eliminate all travel issues. The Reclassification Committee continued to emphasize that viewpoint by establishing sub-regions in nearly every region. Here are the guidelines for this format.

1. If a region chooses to subdivide because of either the large number of schools in the region or the large travel distances in the region, then the subdivisions established by the Committee must be used.
2. In accordance with GHSA by-laws, a region may choose to play a full region schedule with a 2/3 vote of the Principals of the schools in that region. This decision may be made on a sport-by-sport basis.

During the meeting to place schools in regions, the Reclassification Committee approved the following proposal: “When the Reclassification Committee subdivides a region due to travel distances involved and the number of schools in each sub-region is not the same, the GHSA will work with the region to designate games outside the region that will take the place of cross-over games for region seeding purposes in all sports except football.”

The deadline for member schools to appeal their region placement and to ask for a lateral transfer is Friday, December 16th at noon. Those appeals will be heard by the Reclassification Committee on Monday, December 19th at 10:00am at the GHSA office building. Representatives from the “sending region” and/or the “receiving region” will have the opportunity to be heard along with the school filing the appeal. The list of schools filing for appeals will be placed on the GHSA web site as they are received.

Proposed Regions for 2012-2014 (Updated 12/7 9:45am)

Corrections - 12/6/2011 4:30pm
Remove duplicated Irwin County from Region 2-A Sub-Region B
Add Hephzibah to Region 3-AAAA - Sub-Region to be determined by Reclassification Committee

Changes - 12/7/2011 9:30am
Move Hephzibah to Region 3-AAAA Sub-Region B
Move Burke County to Region 3-AAAA Sub-Region A

Change - 12/7/2011 9:45am
Change Dalton Christian to Heritage Christian (Dalton)

The GHSA Reclassification Committee has placed the schools in classifications for the 2012-2014 school years. Please click on the following link to download the proposed classifications.

2012 Reclassification Worksheet

Member Schools have the opportunity to choose to play at a classification higher than the class where they were placed by their enrollment numbers. Schools wishing to play-up should submit the Request to Move Up in Classification form to the GHSA Office by Monday, December 5, 2011.

Update 11/28/2011

Added missing schools to Class A:
Our Lady of Mercy - 281
King's Ridge Christian - 127

The GHSA Reclassification Committee on Tuesday voted unanimously to ask the GHSA Executive Director to call a special meeting of the full Executive Committee for Monday, November 21, 2011, at 10 a.m., in the GHSA office in Thomaston.

The purpose of this meeting will be to vote on the following proposal passed Tuesday by the Reclassification Committee:  “The GHSA will rescind the policy that allows schools to drop certain special-needs students from their FTE counts.”

As this issue was discussed by the Reclassification Committee, it became more and more apparent that the complexities of the categories (Level 3 and Level 4) were greater than what had been discussed when the matter was approved in August.  It was believed that the process to secure a reduction of the FTE count was problematic in regard to:

1. subjective definitions and determinations of what constituted Level 3 students
2. imposed ineligibility on students who might desire to participate at a later time
3. concerns about the legality of not securing parent input on these decisions about these students

Regardless of the outcome of this vote on November 21, the Reclassification Committee will place schools in their respective classifications immediately following that meeting. The revised calendar for reclassification is as follows:

AAAAA - Mill Creek	AAAA - Northgate
AAA - Carrollton	AA - Coosa
A - Trion	COED - Winder-Barrow

Photos courtesy of Georgia Photographics

Cheerleading - DVDs, Action Photos & GPB Special

DVDs are available to order through Mr. Video. Action photos can be ordered at GHSAPhotos.com. A "Cheerleading Special" will air on GPB TV on Nov. 18 at 7:00 pm & 10:30 pm and again on Nov. 23 at 7:00 pm. Online viewing will be available next week on gpb.org/cheerleading.

GHSA-TOMMY GUILLEBEAU FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Executive Committee of the Georgia High School Association recently voted to name the GHSA Football Championships the “GHSA-Tommy Guillebeau Football Championships presented by Georgia Farm Bureau.”  This was a significant move to honor a person who contributed tremendously to high school football in Georgia.

“Tommy Guillebeau’s tenure as GHSA Executive Director was a pivotal time in the association’s history,” said Ralph Swearngin, who followed Guillebeau as Executive Director in 2001.  “Under his leadership the association focused more attention on serving the needs of the membership instead of just being a regulatory organization.”

A Lincoln County High School and University of Georgia graduate, Robert Thomas Guillebeau began his career as a coach and science teacher at Warren County High School in 1953. He then served three years in Korea as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot.

After returning from military service, Guillebeau taught and coached for a total of 13 years in high school before spending seven years as a high school principal and nine years as Superintendent of the Polk County School district in Cedartown. He came to the GHSA in 1987 as Associate Director under the late Bill Fordham. Guillebeau then succeeded Fordham as Executive Director in 1992 and served in that position until his retirement in June of 2001. Guillebeau and his wife Gail now live in Evans, Georgia.

“Mr. Guillebeau had the vision to understand the role that television could play in high school football,” said Swearngin. “His first contract with a network station produced the seed money for the GHSA Reserve Fund, and over the years, the amount of television coverage grew as he established a relationship with Georgia Public Broadcasting.

“Mr. Guillebeau pushed the idea of bringing football teams to the Georgia Dome for semifinal games.  At first this was just the games featuring schools from North Georgia, but as interest grew, it became a statewide event.”

At Guillebeau's urging, the GHSA began playing semifinal-round football playoff games at the Georgia Dome in 1994. Then, in 2008, the Executive Committee approved playing the championship games at the Dome. From 1994 until the present, almost three-quarters of a million fans have paid to see the games in the Dome, and tens of millions more have watched live on GPTV.

Attention Coaches:
 
The NFHS was just notified from Consumer Reports that Under Armour  has recalled chin straps for football helmets due to laceration hazards.  The football helmet chin strap being recalled is the Under Armour Defender Chin Straps. Please go here for further information.

AAAAA

1. Milton High School – "The Diviners"

   

2. Kennesaw Mountain High School – "The Kentucky Cycle"
3. Norcross High School – "Crimes of the Heart"
4. Brookwood High School – "Into the Woods"

Best Actress: McKenzie Kurtz – Milton High School
Best Actor: Connor Barnard – Valdosta High School

AAAA

1. Northside High School, WR – "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying"
2. Johns Creek High School – "Almost Maine"
3. McIntosh High School – "The Caucasian Chalk Circle"
4. Glynn Academy High School – "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee"

Best Actress: Emma Widtfeldt – McIntosh High School
Best Actor: Ben Stroman – Northside High School, WR

AAA

1. West Hall High School - "The Spitfire Grill"
2. Columbus High School - "The Balkan Women"
3. Davidson Fine Arts - "Almost Maine"
4. Perry High School - "Eurydice"

Best Actress: Victoria Wallis - West Hall High School
Best Actor: Josh Parrott - Dalton High School

AA

1. Buford High School - "Sweeney Todd"
2. Manchester High School - "Step On A Crack"
3. Calhoun High School - "Pippin"
4. Pike County High School - "The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon"

Best Actress: Rosa Campos - Buford High School
Best Actor: Marcello Audino - Calhoun High School

A

1. North Cobb Christian School – "Running Upstream"
2. Commerce High School – "I Never Saw Another Butterfly"
3. Seminole County High School – "God's Favorite"
4. Savannah Country Day School – "War at Home, Students Remember Sept. 11"

Best Actress: Summer Duckett - Commerce High School
Best Actor: Jake West - North Cobb Christian School

INTERPRETATION ON RECLASSIFICATION AND SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS
(Passed at the August 29, 2011, meeting of the GHSA Executive Committee).  “There will be an appeals process for schools whose population of special needs students (level 3 and higher) move those schools into higher classification to seek to play at the lower classification.”

INTERPRETATION OF PROCEDURE:
     1.    When the school files such an appeal with the GHSA office, a list of special-needs students who are in this category must be submitted.
     2.    The appeal should be filed as soon as the Reclassification Committee places schools in classficiations.
     3.    The students included on that list will be ineligible to compete in GHSA activities for the two-year reclassification cycle.