privates have no advantage

[silverpie]

I don't know what you were seeing in New Orleans, but the Louisiana High School Athletic Association has public and private members who do compete against each other in the playoffs. States that have full splits that I have been able to find are Texas, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia, with partial splits in North Carolina and Mississippi. There are also states (including Tennessee and Georgia) where a few small private schools have chosen to form their own league, and some cities (New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Honolulu, and until recently Chicago) where public schools have their own conference with a separate route to the state playoffs.

[ELA]

PANFAN... look at my other thread... Combination Plan. This is the result of two years of you and I debating about this issue. I think the numbers are pretty close and the private schools would be divided between almost all classifications. Looking at where most of them would end up, I think it would make some very interesting matchups. The only small schools that would be "out of their league" might be CAK and a couple of the smallest Catholic schools! For the most part, I think it would be acceptable to most coaches!

[TheEgoHasLanded]

I don't think Harding, BCS, MUS or ECS has work study programs...

 

So I'm with Sportsguy, find a different argument.

[pujo]

I am so glad you're not talking to me anymore, now I can post and not have to worry about getting smart remarks back from you. I do however, have something to say back to your last post. WE DO NOT HAVE A WHOLE COUNTY TO GET OUR STUDENTS FROM. We only have a little over 200 students, like I have said a million times, their are four other schools in this county, and we are the smallest, by far. If we could pick from the whole county, wish we could, we'd probably be able to beat just about any size school that come our way, public or private. I'll say it again, WE ARE ONE OF THE VERY SMALLEST SCHOOLS IN THIS STATE. Carter county has four other schools, including one 4a school, and a good 4a school at that. As a matter of fact, and somebody please tell me if I am wrong, no small rural public school has the pick of a whole county. We're country, but not that country. The counties are divided up into zones for public schools, not like the privates who have no zones. We are lucky, living where we do, we don't have to worry about our students going to a private school. I argue this for all of us small publics, because some of them do. I believe however, it's generally the larger schools that lose players to the privates. It still hurts the 1a because we have to play you somewhere along the line. Check out ela's plan, I think it's great. It may not look good to some of the 2a schools, but the good ones can just move to 3a. Wonder why they would do that?

[VolunteerGeneral]

pujo...I think Perry County does for one.

[VolunteerGeneral]

pujo...I think Lake County for another.

[ie3]

Silverpie, it has been a few years since I was in La. but at that time there was a split. My high school team competed in the state semifinals 3 years running, there were no privates in the class. Some of the really large privates in New Orleans and Baton Rouge may have competed with the publics, but I was not exposed to that. My fault for believing there was a full split. All I can say is that no private played with our public school, or any they played, at that time. And there were nearly as many private schools as public.... the whole race thing you know. Most of these privates were white only, by whatever means necessary.

Beyond all of our mutual experiences, the solution for Tennessee is going to be a long and difficult road. I think several of the ideas here have merit, or at least parts of them. I think the first thing that needs to happen to fix the public schools is to unify school districts, no more city schools taking away from county schools. That will level the playing field a little and save all the wasted money from duplication of administration, etc... I am still not convinced that one answer can fairly be applied to all private schools. What we have to remember here is that the private schools have intentionally, willfully, and absolutely separated themselves from the state school system. But, they want to be affiliated for the purposes of athletics. My first question is (because I don't know): Is the TSSAA a part of the state government, either throught the education department or any other department? If it is, then it is my contention that the private schools, by virtue of their separation, have no claim on the TSSAA for scheduling, or any other support. That would be providing state aid to a private company. Surely that is still a no no. If the TSSAA is not affiliated with state government, then the Association must address this issue. What is the recourse open to member institutions for an appeal to the current structure? As I have said several of the plans are workable, the trouble is determining the method of implementation.

[just1np]

scout had some good points concerning "selecting talent".

It is absolutely impossible to know what an eight grader is going to become at the high school level.

Kids grow. One year a kids a big fullback, the next he's a right tackle.

There was a kid that was in my class that was about 6' 215lbs as a freshman. By our senior year he had swelled to 310lbs and moved from TE to tackle. There was another kid that went from running back to DE.

So those who assume talent is plucked like grapes are dreadfully wrong.

 

Other than that, there is nothing I can add to this thread. Pretty much like a tennis game. Back-forth, back-forth, back-forth. Very boring.

[TheEgoHasLanded]

HAHA well said Just1np

 

And just so you know, Privates did play publics in LA...I believe one of the mannings went to a school called Newman or something like that...with about 50 boys a grade, and they would beat some pretty good competition...basketball wise they were pretty darn good too.

 

Maybe you have heard of a school called Evangel Christian? I would say off hand that at least 3 of LSU's players are from there if not more.

[silverpie]

In Los Angeles, public schools in the LA Unified School District compete in the City Section. Private schools in the LAUSD's territory compete with private and public schools from nearby areas in the Southern Section. Both then qualify for Southern Regional and state series. And of course, they're free to play each other in the regular season.

[silverpie]

TSSAA is not controlled by the state government (unlike, say, Texas and North Carolina, where the state associations are extension programs of the main university). And I looked at the LHSAA website again--they do make an effort to separate public and private schools in drawing districts, but they come together in the state tournament. This may be a recent development, I can't say for certain.

[ie3]

Thanks silverpie, it has been more than 20 years... And to answer the other questioner, yes I remember Newman, and Evangel Christian. When I was there they were all white, upper income families. Newman was not a power then, and Evangel didn't make much of a dent either. Things do change...

Just1np, you are correct, we are going around and around here. Does anyone know the answer to my second question from previous post? What course of action does the TSSAA allow member institutions when a percieved problem arises? Perhaps that is the correct method of putting some of these ideas before the powers that be, for the purpose of stimulating debate and pushing for equality. I think this applies not only to the privates, but to the magnet schools, and the large city schools that tend to attract athletes from other school districts.