GISA not doomed despite 3 pending departures

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The day of Armageddon has arrived! That is, if you believe that the heartbeat of the GISA lies in Macon, Georgia.
No one in area athletic circles had to be shocked, however, at Monday’s announcement that both Stratford Academy and Tattnall Square Academy will be applying for membership in the Georgia High School Association. This news breaks on the heels of Mt. de Sales’ decision earlier this year to do the same.
That means, if you believe any doomsday talk, that the GISA is basically finished … not quite. The GISA as an organization isn’t going anywhere, and believe it or not, its membership roll is quite large and still includes – hold on for this – First Presbyterian Day School.
And Columbus schools called Brookstone and Pacelli Catholic. And Atlanta schools called Greater Atlanta Christian and St. Pius X. Need I go on?
The Georgia Independent Schools Association has two essential parts. One is general membership, which is this longer list. The more visible part, the one I report about when covering games of The Westfield School, has to do with interscholastic athletics, academic and arts competitions.
It’s this part that Tattnall Square, Mt. de Sales and Stratford are leaving to take their teams to the Georgia High School Association.
As stated earlier, these latest announcements didn’t catch anyone off guard. FPD broke one myth that suggested all the bigger Macon private schools would lock arms and dive into the GHSA together. The Viking program went GHSA three years ago by itself, and you may remember when the baseball team – with all of its Houston County connections – won the GISA title in its final overall game in the association Memorial Day weekend 2010.
“It is what it is,” stated Westfield athletic director Chip Champion.
William Carroll is serving his first school year as Westfield headmaster and in Georgia education overall. The Westfield board of trustees voted to stay in GISA for the next two years.
“You want what is best for your children and your community,” he said, stressing that is what they did in evaluating what to do about its standing in the GISA. He added he’s certain that is what the Macon schools did in considering their individual choices.
What did Stratford consider? Well, the GHSA may – intentional or not – be responsible for its move via a decision made within the past year.
As we all remember, the hot issue from this time last year was the GHSA reclassification and dealing with Class A public school concerns about having to compete with private schools for state championships. The claim was that a public school can’t match up with a school that can recruit.
(As a side note, I overheard one representative of a private school make an interesting statement. Won’t say who, or what school, or when, but it went something like this: “All of our (football) kids have been with us since the seventh grade. We don’t recruit.”)
Now we have two GHSA Class A championships being awarded to public and private schools.
At the same time, the GHSA had a proposal brought before its executive committee about allowing regular season games between its members and GISA members. That did not pass, wasn’t even brought up for a vote.
This is a quote from Stratford’s headmaster Robert Vito on ajc.com just over a month ago:
‘’If you’re stuck only being able to play members of your own organization, you may be driving past a school in your neighborhood that would be a natural rival,” Vito told Adam Ragusea of GPB News in September. ‘’You would draw a nice gate, save travel money, save time, your students wouldn’t be out of class as long.”
Obviously he’s talking about FPD, which is a hop, skip and jump from his campus.
That’s what this failed proposal was all about. I can be safe is guessing that, had it passed, you would never see a GISA member schedule a football game with a public school, especially one Class AA or higher.
Remember, just because something is allowed doesn’t mean you are obligated to do it.
The deadline for a school to apply with the GHSA for admittance beginning in the 2014-15 school year is April 1 (no foolin’). There’s still three weeks for us to keep our eyes on one other GISA powerhouse mainstay: Deerfield-Windsor of Albany. Carroll said he believes this school will follow what he stated earlier, doing what is best for its student-body.
Dave Davies, the Deerfield-Windsor headmaster, told WALB television basically the same thing, that they simply won’t play follow the Macon leader.
It only takes one look at the state map to see that Deerfield-Windsor doesn’t have much in terms of independent brethren currently in the GHSA. Davies is also stating that the private-public issue may not be a closed case for the GHSA.
Is the GHSA going to bring back the 1.5 multiplier for a private-school member’s enrollment and do away with the split in Class A? Is this going to lead to more threats of revolt from one side of the other?
It has to concern the GISA that this new deal with Mercer University is just getting started. The basketball championships were just held on the Macon campus, and the football finals are slated to soon all congregate to the new Bears football stadium. Oh, Tattnall Square and Stratford could meet in front of a packed house for the inaugural event … one time this fall.
Remember that one more school year will take place with the three Macon schools still battling Westfield in the GISA. That’s all of the Hornets’ current region rivals in baseball and basketball, but only one in softball (none in football provided Deerfield-Windsor stays). So Stratford has a chance for five softball championships in a row and Tattnall Square can defend the girls basketball title without Ivy Slaughter in the middle.
Taking away these four schools, 42 GISA members field football teams, half of which are in Class AA (out of three classes). Seventy-two are listed as fielding basketball and baseball programs, and 43 are in softball (only two classifications). So by the fall of 2014 and beyond there will be no shortage of people for the Hornets to play.
That is, if there isn’t a major announcement made two years from today. Carroll said Westfield will closely monitor how things are going once the 2014-15 school year begins and be prepared to make another vote within these next two years. He said Westfield shares more in common with schools like Southland (Americus), John Milledge (Milledgeville), Gatewood (Eatonton) and Tiftarea (Chula) in terms of demographics – agricultural ties for example – than a Stratford, and he is confident Westfield has made and will continue to make the right decisions.

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GISA not doomed despite 3 pending departures

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