St. Pius, Woodward Academy and Carrollton don’t want to compete in Class 7A next year, and Class A private schools Trinity Christian and Holy Innocents’ want to move up to Class 4A.
Pace Academy also wants in 4A, while Lovett, slated for 4A, wants to stay in 2A.
Marist, Cartersville and Calhoun also are among 60 schools that will contest their class assignments for 2022-23 today, when the Georgia High School Association will hear appeals – 43 from schools wanting to move down in classification, 17 from schools wanting to move up.
That’s more than double the number of appeals the GHSA heard in 2019 during the most recent reclassification. It’s largely the result of a new 3.0 multiplier designed to place in higher classes those schools that get a large percentage of students from outside their attendance zones.
Larger private schools were the most affected in reclassification, which will go into effect next year. Of the eight biggest private schools, only Westminster and Benedictine, both slated for Class 4A, are not appealing.
Joining Marist, St. Pius and Woodward in appealing to move down will be Lovett, Blessed Trinity and Greater Atlanta Christian.
Lovett is actually bidding to remain in Class 2A, where it won five state titles, mostly in golf and tennis, in 2020-21. It was the success of Lovett and Pace in 2A that partly sparked the movement to increase the multiplier to mitigate private-school sports domination.
While most schools are appealing to play in lower classes, others prefer to play higher, usually to remain in regions with nearby schools in order to reduce travel and foster rivalries. Milton, an all-sports power, could’ve gone down to 6A but is requesting to remain in 7A.
Schools petitioning to move up generally get their wish, but private schools wanting to move often face resistance. Pace Academy, Holy Innocents’ and Trinity Christian realize their chances of moving into 2A and 3A will be slim so are asking to compete at the lowest level that other larger private schools have been placed, which is 4A. Fellowship Christian, another Class A Private school, is asking to be in 2A, where there currently are no private schools pegged for 2022-23.
Schools appealing to move down:
From 7A to 6A: Arabia Mountain, Camden County, Carrollton, East Paulding, Etowah, Kennesaw Mountain, Richmond Hill, Rockdale County, St. Pius, Woodward Academy
From 6A to 5A: Blessed Trinity, Cartersville, Chapel Hill, KIPP Atlanta Collegiate, Marist, New Manchester
From 6A to 4A: Thomas County Central
From 5A to 4A: Calhoun, Flowery Branch, Greater Atlanta Christian, Jefferson, Jenkins, Perry, Riverdale, Starr’s Mill, Walnut Grove, Whitewater
From 4A to 3A: Central-Macon, Cross Creek, Johnson-Savannah, Pickens, Richmond Academy, Ridgeland, Sonoraville, West Hall
From 4A to 2A: Lovett
From 3A to 2A: Bremen, East Jackson, Therrell, Thomasville, Vidalia
From 2A to A: Bryan County, Social Circle
Schools petitioning to play up:
7A: Milton
6A: Jackson County
5A: Mays
4A: Holy Innocents’, Mary Persons, Pace Academy, Trinity Christian
3A: Savannah, Woodville-Tompkins
2A: Aquinas, B.E.S.T. Academy, Coretta Scott King, Davidson Fine Arts, Elite Scholars, Fellowship Christian, Johnson-Augusta, Technical Career Magnet
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