rockmom

True to all of the above. Interesting, until maybe a decade ago, there was a period when, in football, there was a Louisville team vs. a State at Large team. Then, everyone complained it wasn't fair to always have a Jefferson County Team in the final. So, it was switched to East/West brackets, and Trinity was put in the East, and Male & X in the West. Maybe what really needs to be done is to put Trinity/X/Male all on the same side of the bracket? I still think that one of the 3 will be in the final, but no one can cry foul that both Trinity & X are there.

There is that talk, but to be honest, I think the liklihood of Prop 20 passing is greater than adding a class. Adding a class (or classes) will do nothing but further accentuate the disparity, and unless those in the same class with T & X choose to be there, this will not work either. The real thing here is that football is the only big sport T & X dominate. X dominates swimming and cross country..and golf...but some schools, public and private don't even offer those sports. Trinity's had some great success at lacrosse, but that's not a sanctioned sport and we've been travelling all over in that sport to play. And that's a club sport...no 'real' state title available. Assumption dominates Volleyball, Sacred Heart basketball. All the girls private schools pretty much dominate field hockey...but again, it's not a sanctioned sport, so that isn't an issue. As far as soccer, public schools all the way, and baseball the same. It's really an issue selectively...

I think the schools you mentioned could compete with the 4A schools in their respective areas, and the others could as well. KCD wouldn't be a factor in most sports in 1A....I know they don't have a football team.

I find it interesting in Kentucky, that several proposals were presented in addition to Prop 20, that addressed individual issues of concern: 1) Setting boundaries from which the private schools can draw kids. The proposal was 20 miles. A kid outside the 20 miles would have to sit out the first year at the school. 2) Out-of-State students. This affected the border schools overall, and not primarily the private schools. But, there seems to be a side-issue with private schools in Louisville allowing Southern Indiana students into their schools and onto their sports teams. Apparently, it's actually a much bigger issue for publics on some of the borders, but it still would have addressed one bone of contention. These two proposals were skipped over and Prop20 voted upon first. I find that both interesting and telling of the willingness of the public schools to REALLY work toward a compromise that allows the private schools to compete in the same system.

So, by doubling our enrollment already, there essentially isn't any room to add a multiplier, if I understand what you've posted correctly. Not to mention, doing so would only affect 2 of the private schools, as far as pushing them into higher classes (for classified sports)...Trinity and X. The rest of the private schools are small enough to essentially be able to absorb an additional multiplier while possibly moving only one class.

I'm not asking why it's allowed, I'm asking what benefit it is to the public schools to play the privates. In Trinity's district, we're the only private school on the schedule. The same with X's district. I'm sure another out of district public school could be scheduled for that one game for the public schools. So, what's the benefit to the public school for playing Trinity or X? So, doubling the enrollment is not a multiplier....what, then exactly, IS the multiplier?

The multiplier's been in place for a long time in Kentucky...but I'm not sure how long. I'll have to research that. Trinity already faces what we refer to as a public school "boycott". None of the public schools in our district will play us at the Frosh or JV level. They do play us at the varsity level, but only because it will affect their playing in the post-season. We realize exactly what will happen if Prop 20 passes. Manual is the only Jefferson County public school on our pre-season schedule. We scrimmage Scott County every year, but on their condition that we travel to their site to play...they do not come to Louisville. To be honest, I have no idea how the financial aid restriction would hurt us. I don't have any idea how many of our athletes receive financial aid. Frankly, it's not my business, I feel. The KHSAA stipulated that an outside agency determine financial aid, and we've met that. The KHSAA instituted a multiplier, and we've dealt with that. We've undergone audits, and we've been determined to be in compliance with the KHSAA rules. I know that LexCath was found to have violated some rules regarding financial aid and are facing sanctions. I'm not sure of the details of either the violation or sanctions, but I'll try to research that as well. I will say that if 40% of our ~1300 students recieve financial aid, that means ~520 STUDENTS receive aid, thus making the liklihood of that athletes are more than one of those students a good possibility.

I guess you're not as familiar with the private schools in Louisville as you may have thought. Trinity and St. X travel extremely well, ask MBA, Cincy Elder, or any other out of state, or out of county team we've played. Except for Manual & Male, in Louisville when X or Trinity plays a local team away, we bring more fans than the home team. It's a fact, and not one I'm bragging about, it's just simply way it is. Private schools already exist under a 2.1 multiplier here in Kentucky. So, looking at the KHSAA enrollment numbers, we show as having an enrollment of ~2600, when in fact, we have ~1300. I read the entire Proposal 20, as well as the other proposals put to vote in October. The exact language was to "allow" the interplay. So, my question is, and was....exactly what is to be gained by this for the public schools?

I'll list as many as I can remember and a little about each: St. X-All Boys, about 1300 students-151 years old Trinity-All Boys, about 1300 students-53 years old Assumption HS-All Girls-About 952 students-50 years old Sacred Heart Academy-All Girls-About 751 students-128 years old Mercy Academy-All Girls School-About-402 students-133 years old Presentation Academy-All Girls School-About-373--174 years old DeSales High School-All Boys-about 332-49 years Old Holy Cross High School-Co-ed-about 339-about 20 or so years old, formed by merging the old Bishop David boys school and the Angela Merici girls school. Other schools: Academy For Individual Excelle 473 Co-ed PK-12 Beth Haven Christian School 264 Co-ed KG-12 Chr Academy Of Louisville High School 499 Co-ed 9-12 Evangel Christian School 444 Co-ed KG-12 Families For Christ Chr Academy 18 Co-ed 1-12 Highview Baptist School 824 Co-ed PK-12 Kentucky Country Day School 804 Co-ed KG-12 Landmark Christian Academy 155 Co-ed PK-12 Louisville Collegiate School 648 Co-ed KG-12 Portland Christian School 295 Co-ed KG-12 St. Francis High School 132 Co-ed 9-12 Victory Christian Academy 347 Co-ed PK-12 Walden School Corporation 254 Co-ed KG-12 These are just the schools that affect High School years. There is an extensive list of Catholic Grade schools and Christian grade schools as well.

We do not get the pick of athletes in Louisville, or we'd have Douglas Beaumont, KJ Black, Tim Horton and a few others at either St. X or Trinity. We'd have had Earl Heyman (now @ the University of Louisville), Keenan Burton (Now at University of Kentucky) or Michael Bush (University of Louisville)....The last DI player was Brian Brohm....I'm hard pressed to remember any others, except DeQuese May who's at Villanova now. Exactly what is the point of the Publics "allowing" the play in the regular season and not in the post-season? Is it to capitalize on the gate receipts? If the "playing field" is not level with us in the post-season, how is it any more even during the regular season?

Slightly more than 95% of the students at Trinity & X are Catholic. I guess you could say that Louisville has a large Catholic population. There ae a LOT of Catholic churches and parish grade schools in Louisville. But fewer High Schools, mainly due to population shifts toward the east. There are currently no restrictions on the number of financial aid athletes. The delegates in Kentucky have decided that the best proposal is to split the championships into Public/Private. They've essentially skipped over any proposals addressing the individual issues at hand (financial aid, district boundaries, out of state students, etc). Interestingly, Public school supporters had decided that they'd "allow" the Catholic/Private schools to play the Public schools during the regular season, but when playoffs began, it would be Public/Public and Private/Private. I hope we can keep the MBA/Trinity series as well. I believe it is one of the reasons we've become better and better each year. The atmosphere is great, the pride in each program is similar, and I know it's one of our players most anticipated matchups each year as well.

Since Louisville has almost a million residents, and there are slightly less than 3000 students at each Trinity and St. X, and slightly less than 300 playing football between both schools and including their freshmen teams, which do not dress for varisity, I'd have to say you are incorrect about us getting the best athletes. In addition, with open enrollment in Louisville, every student has the ability to apply for admission to any public school. The players the AP pick for their first team district teams are overwhelmingly from public schools, and very rarely does a private school player wind up higher than 2nd team All-State. Very, VERY few go on to play DI ball, and even fewer earn scholarships to play DI ball. Coach Glaser has been at St. X for 28 years, and he is one of the best. But, 28 years ago, I don't think you'd have classified him as such. Coach Beatty took over the Trinity program 6 years ago, after 3 years as head coach at a private high school in Missouri. The assistant coaches, interestingly, are former players, and there are Trinity graduates on X's staff, and former X coaches on Trinity's staff...and our DC is actually X's former DC. We aren't exactly wooing great coaches from public schools here. I can't speak for any schools other than Catholic private schools. Yes, we offer financial aid, administered by a 3rd party, out-of-state agency. The application contains nothing but one's financial information, income, assets, liabilities, etc. The student's name is not even on the actual application, simply a number. No family is awarded any more than 50% aid. The tuition at Trinity is $7,800/year...meaning a family, at the minimum, pays $3,900/year, plus books, etc. 40% of students at Trinity receive financial aid of some sort. Most awards are $1,000 or less. I find it interesting that you can offer such a definitive statement into the reason for Trinity and St. X's success, given you admit you know nothing about their schools. Do you have knowledge of Jefferson County Public Schools open enrollment policy, vs. the larger portion of the state's closed district policies? And, you really think that coaches prefer kids with no experience at all? Why then, are so many great athetes coming out of some areas' youth leagues and into the public school programs? You don't think that learning the fundamentals of football at an early age would allow them to be ready for higher level of play in high school?

There are many factors, but the single biggest factor, IMO, is that Catholic grade schools have organized sports beginning as early as 1st grade (for some sports). My son began playing football in 3rd grade, in the Louisville Catholic School Athletic Association league. As these kids grow up, they're playing sports from the earliest possible age, in an organized, league setting. 90% of these kids go on to Catholic High Schools, the boys most often to Trinity and St. X. Many of these kids have been playing football together since 3rd grade. As far as football is concerned, this is a huge edge for the Catholic high schools. It hasn't seemed to work in basketball or baseball, but definitely in football. Now, that being said, there IS a numbers advantage, when Trinity & X have 100 dressing. However, besides numbers, it's the level of play these kids are playing at by the time they reach varsity level. Trinity and X are dressing a huge team of players, made up predominantly of kids who've been playing since at LEAST age 10, many since age 8. It's not just the number, it's the skills these kids have. Even their 3rd string has more experience than some schools' 1st string. The public school system has no formal grade school/middle school programs for most sports, most interestingly, football. How can one deny the advantage of having kids arriving into a high school program with the knowledge, skills and discipline already in place, to kids arriving in their freshman year and BEGINNING to learn football? It's not a sport you can watch and then assume you can translate the skill on the field. No one wants to look at that aspect. Everyone wants to focus on the fact that we have huge numbers. We acknowledge that, but assert that it's the skill level of those kids that makes the difference.

Congratulations, MBA! I didn't get to make it to the game, but I listened to it over the internet. I want to thank the MBA commentators who 1) knew the Trinity players' names, & 2) made several comments of respect for the Trinity program. It was a heartbreaker for us, but it sounded like a great game, and since it was Trinity's first actual game of the season, I'm sure alot of lessons have been learned, and points of improvement will be addressed. Thank you for your hospitality! We'll see you guys in Louisville next year, and you'll LOVE our new stadium!

Sorry, rollredroll...we aren't looking at that score and underestimating MBA! Trinity, of all teams you may play, understand the occasional negative consequences when playing the best to be the best. We fully expect you will have learned a lot from that game, and that the players will be FIRED up to avenge not only that loss, but their loss to Trinity last year. Remember, 2 years ago, we lost our first 4 in a row, before eventually righting the ship and winning the 4A State Championship. Sorry, RRR....we've been in your shoes!