Dallas Morning News Realignment Article

[Matthew328]

http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/spt/highschools/topstories/stories/013004dnspohsalign.ad36a.html

[Hupernikomen]

Matthew328:
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/spt/highschools/topstories/stories/013004d nspohsalign.ad36a.html (http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/spt/highschools/topstories/stories/013004dnspohsalign.ad36a.html)Can someone post the article? Proxy server doesn't like the DMN it seems.

[JustAFan]

Moving day: Realignment answers to come Monday

State's high schools will find out districts for next two years Monday

10:20 PM CST on Thursday, January 29, 2004


By TIM MacMAHON / The Dallas Morning News


The University Interscholastic League takes the secrecy of its biennial realignment seriously.

The UIL gathers enrollment figures in October and spends the next few months behind closed doors, separating schools into classes and districts. The suspense will end when the UIL shares it decisions Monday. Mum is the official word from Austin until then.

"The CIA needs to learn something from the UIL," former Lewisville ISD athletic director Buster Leaf said. "There's never a leak from the UIL."

That, of course, doesn't stop the rumor mill.

It's all educated guessing – speculation about which scenarios would make the most sense. It's all you'll get until Monday. Here's the buzz about some of the burning questions regarding realignment:

High schools
UIL realignment

Adjusted high school enrollment numbers

More high schools
Question: Where will Jesuit go?

Answer: Jesuit, the all-boys private school that was granted membership by the UIL in a controversial decision last spring, has seemingly been linked with every 5A district in the area.

One potential scenario is for Jesuit to remain in District 7-5A. Jesuit will compete in the district in every sport but football this school year, so the other 7-5A schools have already had to adjust to the scheduling quirks of playing a school with no girls sports. However, there are no assurances that 7-5A will remain intact.

Another possibility is Jesuit joining a district with the Lewisville ISD (Lewisville, Flower Mound, Flower Mound Marcus and The Colony) and the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD (Newman Smith, R.L. Turner and Creekview). If The Colony drops down to 4A, Coppell or Denton Ryan could be included in this district.

The Richardson ISD (Richardson, Pearce, Berkner and Lake Highlands) could replace the Lewisville schools in a similar scenario.

Jesuit has also been mentioned as the final member of a district with the Garland ISD's seven schools or as a replacement for McKinney in 9-5A. Jesuit athletic director Steve Koch said the school isn't in any position to state a preference.

Question: Will the Garland ISD and Arlington ISD get their own districts?

Answer: That depends on how the other pieces fit for the UIL in area 5A districts.

With the opening of Sachse, the Garland ISD will have seven 5A schools. That presents a bit of a predicament for the UIL. The UIL prefers six- or eight-team districts. There is hesitancy, however, to put a school in a district in which every other school is from the same ISD.

Should the UIL decide to place an eighth team with the Garland ISD schools, Rockwall would make the most geographic sense. Jesuit is another possibility.

With the opening of Arlington Seguin, the Arlington ISD has six 5A schools, enough for its own district should the UIL choose that route. Another scenario that makes sense would be a setup similar to the current District 12-5A, in which the six Garland ISD schools are joined by Mesquite and North Mesquite.

Mansfield and Mansfield Summit or Grand Prairie and South Grand Prairie would be good geographic fits for such a district.

Question: Are the Mesquite 5A schools headed east?

Answer: Mesquite ISD athletic director Mickey DeLamar expects the 5A schools under his watch to combine with Longview, Tyler Lee and Tyler John Tyler to form an Interstate 20 district. Conventional thinking is that Lufkin, which competed with the East Texas schools in the state's only four-team district the last two seasons, will move into a district with schools from South Texas.

Mesquite and North Mesquite are certain to remain in 5A, while Mesquite Horn is on the bubble to move up from 4A. Rockwall would be a logical candidate to complete the district if Horn remains in 4A.

Rockwall and DeSoto successfully appealed their assignment to District 11-5A in 2002.

DeLamar said that he hopes the UIL can find another solution for other sports to avoid extraordinary travel costs.

Question: What will happen with District 4-5A?

Answer: Nobody said the UIL had an easy job.

This district was the toughest in the area on travel budgets the last two years. Playoff teams wind up on West Texas' corner of the bracket, which means a long bus trip in most cases. And an hour separates Cedar Hill, Duncanville and DeSoto from district foe Weatherford.

El Paso no longer has enough 5A schools to fill two districts, causing the problem. There has been murmuring about a drastic change: moving the remaining El Paso district to the opposite side of the bracket, by the South Texas districts. The UIL then could have schools from the Dallas-Fort Worth area fill 3-5A and 4-5A, eliminating the first-round playoff travel woes.

Cedar Hill, Duncanville and DeSoto shouldn't stick with their current district rivals. The neighboring schools could wind up with the Irving ISD (Irving, MacArthur and Nimitz) and Grand Prairie and South Grand Prairie.

E-mail tmacmahon@dallasnews.com

MOVING UP?
School Current class Enr.
Denton 4A 1,920
Denton Ryan 4A 1,981
Richland 4A 2,027
Highland Park 4A 1,926
Mesquite Horn 4A 1,940
Richardson 4A 1,987
Richardson Pearce 4A 1,976
Granbury 4A 1,968
North Crowley 4A 1,928
Lake Dallas 3A 973
Everman 3A 1,044
FW Carter-Riverside 3A 1,094
FW Diamond Hill-Jarvis 3A 950
Paris North Lamar 3A 927
Pinkston 3A 893
Forney 3A 938.5


MOVING DOWN?
School Current class Enr.
Hurst L.D. Bell 5A 1,944
The Colony 5A 1,937
McKinney 5A 1,907
A. Maceo Smith 4A 921
Mabank 4A 915.5
Roosevelt 4A 778
Godley 3A 376
Celina 3A 379


THE CUTOFFS
Class 2002-2004 2000-2002
5A 1,910-up 1,865-up
4A 900-1,909 845-1,864
3A 345-899 345-844
2A 180-344 170-344
A 179-down 169-down

[VWG]

345 to 899 sounds OK to me.

[PPHSfan]

VWG:
345 to 899 sounds OK to me.That is where we have been for the past two years. I don't see it not changing.

[callandraise]

I imagine it sounds a lot more OK if you are the one with 899 than it does if you are the one with 345. Thats a 2.6 to 1 ratio, just what their supposed to be getting away from.

[3afan2K3]

PPHSfan:

VWG:
345 to 899 sounds OK to me.That is where we have been for the past two years. I don't see it not changing.The last two realignments were different


Class 2002-2004 2000-2002
3A 345-899 345-844