Reclassification

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

AA

Listed below are the results of appeals to make lateral transfers within the new reclassification alignment for the 2012-14 cycle as voted on by the Reclassification Committee at a meeting on Monday, December 19, 2011 at the GHSA office in Thomaston. NOTE: The deadline for appeals of these votes to the full Executive Committee is Friday, January 6, 2012 at Noon! (There is no form for this appeal - just fax a letter to Joyce Kay's attention prior to the deadline.) Appeals will then be heard by the full Executive Committee on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 9:30 a.m., at the Macon Centerplex in Macon.

Class AAAAAA

Habersham Central (from Region 7 to Region 6, Subregion B) - DENIED

Class AAAAA

Cambridge High School (from Region 7, Subregion B to Region 7, Subregion A) - APPROVED

North Atlanta (from Region 6 to Region 7) - DENIED

Windsor Forest (from Subregion B to Subregion A in Region 3) - DENIED

Class AAAA

Burke County (from Subregion A to Subregion B in Region 3) - APPROVED

Fayette County (from Region 5 to Region 4) - DENIED

Upson-Lee (from Region 4 to Region 2) - DENIED

Class AAA

Rockmart (from Region 4 to Region 5) - DENIED

Southeast Bulloch (from Region 3 to Region 1) - APPROVED

Class AA

Atkinson County (from Region 1 to Region 2, Subregion A) - APPROVED

Dublin (from Region 3 to Region 4, Subregion A) - DENIED

Greater Atlanta Christian (from Region 6 to Region 8) - WITHDRAWN

Hapeville Charter (from Region 6 to Region 5) - WITHDRAWN

Lovett (from Region 6 to Region 5) - WITHDRAWN

Wesleyan (from Region 6 to Region 8) - WITHDRAWN

Westminster (from Region 6 to Region 5) - WITHDRAWN

Class A

Darlington (from Subregion A to Subregion B in Region 6) - DENIED

First Presbyterian Day School (from Region 7 to Region 4) - TENTATIVELY APPROVED

Lincoln County (from Region 7 to Region 8, Subregion B) - TENTATIVELY APPROVED

Mt. Pisgah Christian (from Subregion A to Subregion B in Region 6) - APPROVED

Mt. Zion, Carroll (from Subregion A to Subregion B in Region 6) - APPROVED

Pinecrest Academy (from Region 8 to Region 6) - DENIED

SW Atlanta Christian (from Region 6 to Region 5) - DENIED

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.

The schools listed below have notified the GHSA office of their intention to play at a higher classification for the 2012-14 cycle. NOTE: Forms declaring a school's intent to play at a higher classification MUST be in the GHSA office no later than 4:00 p.m., on Monday, December 5, 2011.

Class AAAAAA

None so far.

Class AAAAA

Jenkins, Savannah (from AAAA)

Windsor Forest (from AAAA)

Class AAAA

North Clayton (from AAA)

Washington, Atlanta (from AAA)

Butler (from AAA)

Glenn Hills (from AAA)

Marist (from AA)

Albany (from AAA)

Worth County (from AAA)

Class AAA

Coretta Scott King Academy (from AA)

Savannah Arts Academy (from AA)

Woodville-Tompkins (from AA)

Class AA

Davidson Fine Arts (from A)

Johnson, Augusta (from A)

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 Executive Committee believes that it is impractical and unfair to have a region comprised of 25 schools. Therefore, there will be a modification of playoff structure in certain sports for Regions 5-8 in Class A for 2010-2012.

The following sports are aligned by Areas (or they are Open Competitions); thus there are no region ramifications to the current reclassification plan:

The following sports will be played with all teams in Region 5 playing together as the region decides:

Track and Field has a peculiar set of circumstances. The state meet is not set up to handle 9 regions and cannot be easily modified to accommodate the change. Therefore, Region 5 will have 2 sub-region track meets, and the top four finishers in each event will advance to the region meet. The top two finishers at the region track meet will advance to the state meet.

The following sports need to have a ninth region added, and there should be little difficulty adding another region. Subregion 5-B will become Region 9

The following sports will need to have a bracket modification for the state playoffs in order to handle nine regions:

The brackets for Regions 5-9 in Class A in these sports will be modified as follows:

1. All of the #4 seeds in Regions 5-9 and some of the #3 seeds will have games preliminary to the first round of the playoffs to shrink the field from 20 teams to 16 teams.
2. These preliminary contests will be considered to be “Playoff Events” with the normal financial procedures.
3. The brackets will be modified so that there would be a clear cut “Regions 1-4” and “Regions 5-9” delineation at least through the quarterfinals – as is already occurring in Basketball and Tennis.
4. Precise bracket pairings will be published in the spring.
5. Calendar adjustments will be necessary to accommodate this change.

Governance issues will be as follows:

1. There will be a single representative on the Executive Committee from Region 5
2. Both sub-divisions of Region 5 will have a Region Secretary, and those individuals will need to work out the division of labor for sports in which there is no “Region 9”.
3. All other leadership positions will be determined by the schools in the region.

Click here to download the GHSA Region Alignments for 2010 as of 12/16/2009.

The GHSA Reclassification Committee met at the GHSA office in Thomaston, Georgia, on December 16, 2009, and made the following decisions in regard to appeals by schools to lateral transfer to another region:

Class AAAAA
Berkmar approved to move to Region 8
Newton denied to go to Region 8

Class AAAA
Harris County approved to move to Region 3-B
Griffin moved from Region 3-B to Region 3-A

Class AAA
Cedartown approved to move to Region 7-B

Class AA
Jackson County withdrew its appeal
Screven County denied to go to Region 2
Southeast Bulloch denied to go to Region 2
Toombs County approved to move to Region 2
Vidalia approved to move to Region 2

Notes for Class AA

1. The Committee voted to impose By-law 4.22(f4) on Region 3. There will be a mandatory subdivision in all sports except Football, and cross-over games will not be required in those sports.
2. The Committee sub-divided Region 2 because of the addition of two schools. That subdivision is included in the list of regions.

Class A
Chattahoochee County denied to go to Region 1
Johnson County approved to move to Region 3-B
Metter moved from Region 3-B to Region 3-A
Glascock County moved from Region 7-A to 7-B
Washington-Wilkes denied to go to Region 8

Notes for Class A

1. The Committee changed the Region numbers for Regions 5 and 7 to correspond to traditional numbering for those schools. (See the list of regions)

MISCELLANEOUS
The Committee discussed issues with the Executive Director about playoff brackets in certain sports for Class A (Regions 5-8) due to the large number of schools involved in Region 5. The Reclassification Committee agreed to support a GHSA plan at the January meeting.

FINAL RATIFICATION MEETING
The entire GHSA Executive Committee will meet on Tuesday, January 12, 2010, to vote on the proposals coming from the Reclassification Committee. The meeting will be held at the Ramada Inn Conference Center (formerly the Holiday Inn) in Forsyth, Georgia, at 10:00am.

AGENDA

1. Appeals from schools denied at the meeting on December 16, 2009.
2. Proposal from the Reclassification Committee to amend By-law 4.21 in order to reduce the reclassification cycle to two years instead of four years.
3. Proposal from the Reclassification Committee to accept the list of regions as approved at meetings on December 2nd and December 16th.
4. Proposal from the GHSA to modify playoff brackets in certain sports for Class A (Regions 5-8)