Albemarle to Jefferson? VHSL releases new six-division alignment proposal

Updated at 4 p.m. with reaction from athletic directors.

There were a ton of questions back in December when the VHSL released its initial realignment plan. There were even more questions when the numbers were modified just a day later.

Now the VHSL has released a completely different model, potentially doing away with the Group AAA/AA/A system and moving to a true six-division, across the board change. Titled the “Initial Proposed 2013-14 and 2014-15 Alignment plan – Model Only” on the league website, the plan breaks down, prior to planned modification, what the state would look like as a six-division model.

According to the VHSL, the six-classification model will be presented to the Executive Committee February 22 and to the League’s membership in March. Before the membership presentation, the Redistricting and Reclassification Committee will meet Monday, February 27 to consider modifications to this plan. On September 11, schools can appeal assignment and the numbers could actually change anyway because the March 31, 2012 enrollment figures will determine the final six-division plan.

It should be noted the R&R committee only looked at classification and did not tackle playoff structure. The ad hoc playoff committee will handle that, including potentially replacing regional competition with sectionals.

The move would allow schools like Albemarle and Orange with higher enrollments than natural geographic rivals to join localized districts and but compete in the playoffs in their respective divisions. It’s not dissimilar to what football already does with regards to the playoffs, but now all sports would participate in six-division play.

It opens a particularly interesting door in Central Virginia, potentially allowing Albemarle, at long last, to enter Jefferson District play. In this first look, Orange County re-joins the JD. Both schools are classified as Division 5 while Western Albemarle and Monticello get Division 3 nods. Fluvanna County would be placed in Division 4 along with Louisa County, Charlottesville and Powhatan.

“Any time you can protect your local rivalries and put yourself in a position to increase your gate receipts and increase instructional time and decrease transportation costs, that’s a good thing,” said Albemarle athletic director Deb Tyson. “It’s the best of both worlds.”

Tyson pointed out that she’d reserve judgment on the new system until things like governance and playoff systems were determined, but was pleased with the initial look that seems to fix a number of problems for Albemarle.

“I’m just excited that the executive committee has been willing to step outside the box,” Tyson said. “Particularly if we end where the district has no influence on sectional or regional play, we’ve never had that before in Virginia.”

That seems to be foregone conclusion as making the playoffs contingent on a mixed-division district would be difficult to even fathom or consider.

Albemarle’s 1,741 enrollment number would be the new-look JD’s highest while Western Albemarle’s 1,034 would be the lowest. Orange’s potential return to the Jefferson District pleased at least one JD athletic director.

“The more local rivalries you have the better it is and it reduces travel for us as well,” said Monticello athletic director Fitzgerald Barnes. “Orange is one of the best local rivalries you can have, it’s always a pleasure. It just doesn’t seem like the Jefferson without Orange County.”

Albemarle and Orange would be far from the only schools playing against local rivals a step or two down in division across the state in this model. Franklin County, a Division 6 school, could enter the Seminole District where Division 4 schools Amherst, E.C. Glass and Jefferson Forest would be the next closest in enrollment while four Division 4 schools fill out the Seminole slate. Patrick Henry-Roanoke faces a similar potential move into the River Ridge District where it would hold a nearly 600-student enrollment advantage over the next closest district-member, Pulaski County. William Fleming in Roanoke would shift into the Blue Ridge District as the Blue Ridge’s lone Division 5 school — the six other programs were tagged as Division 3.

It’s no coincidence that those teams are geographic outliers, schools that have been identified as a fit problem for the Group AAA/AA/A system in the past. This six-division plan is an attempt to fix issues exactly like that.

Goochland, Buckingham, Madison and Nelson County all were given Division 2 tags. William Monroe was placed back in the Bull Run District, but would be competing with Western and Monticello in the Division 3 playoffs instead of football and basketball’s current Division 2 alignment. That move back up may have happened anyway, barring an appeal, based on the last realignment proposal from the VHSL. Central Woodstock and Warren County (a new addition) would also be Division 3 schools in the Bull Run.

In the James River, Prince Edward and Division 3 Park View-South Hill would join the mix bringing the JRD to 11 total schools.

It’s clear this is early in the process and a lot of moving parts need to come together, but it appears to be a productive direction for the VHSL.

“Nothing is ever easy with the VHSL membership, but football has been a six A-classification and that’s all this is,” Barnes said. “It’s just allowing districts to have combination districts (of different divisions).”

To see the proposal, click here.