MIDVALE — Is it time to talk realigment again?
No, not really. But the first draft of future Utah High School Activities Association regions for the 2013-2015 sports seasons has been released, and the public is invited to voice their approval.
Or disapproval.
The first proposal would, for example, move Viewmont back into its usual spot in Region with four other Davis County schools.
But the alignment would also break up Ogden city schools Ben Lomond and Ogden for football. Morgan would also find itself in an odd group of football schools.
The UHSAA Board of Trustees recently met and passed a first consideration of regions for 2013-15. A full look of he initial placement of schools can be found at http://www.uhsaa.org/realignment/2013-15Regions.pdf.
A public hearing will be held on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the UHSAA offices, in an attempt to get feedback from the various districts, schools and communities on the placement of schools into regions.
Currently schools as small as Concordia (15 students) and as large as Alta (2,466) compete in UHSAA sports. The group is constantly attempting to level the playing field, at least by the numbers.
This will be the first games when the UHSAA moves into six classifications in football, although regions will remain the same for all sports in 5-A and 4-A under this first proposal. The 3-A ranks would be split into bigger and smaller groups.
In the first proposal, Viewmont would rejoin Region 1, while Ogden would move up to Region 5 in the 4-A ranks.
Bountiful, Clearfield and Woods Cross would remain in Region 6.
In the 3-A classification, Bear River and Ben Lomond would remain in one football region, while Morgan would move to a 3-A classification for smaller enrollment schools. The three schools would be in the same region for all other sports.
Layton Christian would play football at the 2-A ranks, along with its other sports.
St. Joseph, which doesn’t play football, will remain in the 1-A ranks for its sports.
Those schools considered tied may discuss classification placement. All other schools may discuss region placement.
One of the biggest issues facing the UHSAA is how to include students who attend charter or alternative schools but might be included in sports enrollment numbers.
The Board of Trustees voted this year to include those students in population counts.
Some schools have large numbers of students in alternative schools who don’t participate in sports.
In addition to the hearing, the UHSAA is seeking comment regarding region placement of schools at http://www.uhsaa.org/realignment/comment.htm
The assignment of schools into regions will be finalized on Thursday by the Board of Trustees, allowing time for schools and regions to organize and schedule for the two-year alignment period.
The first contests under the new alignment will take place the fall of 2013. The enrollment data upon which the alignment is based will be less than one year old.
The UHSAA reaches 136 member schools and over 86,000 participants in high school activity programs. The organization sanctions 10 girls sports and 10 boys sports, as well as music, drama and debate in five different classifications.
The public hearing will be held at the UHSAA offices (199 E. 7200 South) in Midvale. For more information, visit www.uhsaa.org.
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