Virginia High School League moves toward six classifications

The Virginia High School League Executive Committee has mandated a new classification system that will split Virginia high schools into six groupings by the 2013-14 school year and in the process likely eliminate existing regions.

Most details of the plan have not been formulated — a concern for many — but after years of debate about changing the state classification system, this time it is likely to happen, school officials say.

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The VHSL Executive Committee in December charged an ad hoc task force with coming up with a new plan for its 315 schools that would involve anywhere from four to six classifications. The committee opted for six.

“Prior to this point, there’s been talk about what’s wrong, but there have been no proposals, just concepts thrown out there,” said George Mason Athletic Director Tom Horn, who chaired the ad hoc committee. “The Executive Committee took a step that it had not taken before which is to say that three classes no longer suits Virginia.”

The task force wants to fix what it and many member schools consider to be problems with the current system — the enrollment disparity within the A, AA and AAA classifications, and at times gaping enrollment differences among teams competing for the same championships.

Currently, schools in the four AAA regions, the state’s largest classification, are split, with the most populous half forming Division 6 in each region and the others Division 5. But that formula can result in inequitable postseason matchups both inside and outside a region.

For example, a Division 6 football semifinal this past season pitted Centreville, with an enrollment of 2,336 students, against Richmond area school Hermitage, with 1,688. The gap would have been even wider if Hermitage had been paired with semifinalist Battlefield (2,587). T.C. Williams is the largest Division 6 school with 2,903 students.

In the Division 5 football playoffs, South County (1,987), with 300 more students than Division 6 participant Hermitage, faced Richmond area school Hanover (1,306) in the semis and even smaller Hampton school Phoebus (1,215) in the final.

In the Division 4 championship, Briar Woods (1,750) beat Christiansburg (1,109). And Division 3 semifinalist Kettle Run (1,082) had more students than Division 4 semifinalist Broadway (1,003), even though Broadway played in a larger division.

The 13 largest schools in the state, and 20 of the top 23, are from the Northern Region and Prince William County. Football is the only VHSL sport that already crowns six champions. The new system would result in six state titlists in many sports.

“If the purpose of classification is to make sure when you get to the postseason that you compete against schools of like size, then the current divisional alignment has failed that,” Horn said.

In a press release, VHSL Executive Director Ken Tilley called the decision to establish six classifications “the most significant step the league has taken in more than 40 years.”

Regular season schedules are expected to remain largely the same. The smallest class (1A) would consist of schools with 475 students or fewer. The remaining schools would be separated into five additional divisions.