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:
- subjective definitions and determinations of what constituted Level 3 students
- imposed ineligibility on students who might desire to participate at a later time
- 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:
| November 21 |
Meeting of full Executive Committee |
|
| December 5 | Deadline to register decision to play up or possibly play down in a classification (if the policy is not rescinded) | |
| December 6 | Placement of schools in regions | |
| December 19 | Appeals for lateral transfers will be heard | |
| January 10 | Ratification of the reclassification |
