VHSL: Marion, Grayson County will appeal to move to Class 1 under latest alignment plan (copy) (copy)
The Grayson County Blue Devils play the Marion Scarlet Hurricanes in a 2015 Southern Empire Conference baseball game.
The initial realignment plan for Class 1 schools.
The initial realignment plan for Class 2 schools.
The initial realignment plan for Class 3 schools.
Marion and Grayson County are appealing where they are placed in the Virginia High School League’s latest realignment plan for the next cycle which runs from the 2027-28 school year through 2030-31.
Declining enrollment numbers and geography are the reasons behind the appeals by Marion and Grayson County to compete at the Class 1 level instead of Class 2, where they were placed in the initial proposal.
The VHSL uses ADM (Average Daily Membership) numbers in grades 9-11 to decide the assignments of schools in each of the six classifications.
Page County and Westmoreland would be the largest Class 1 schools with an ADM number of 343 each according to the data released Wednesday by the VHSL.
Grayson County (344) would be the smallest Class 2 school with Graham (345), Marion (352) and Tazewell (359) also being on the lower end.
“It is time and it hurts to think about how much population and enrollment we have lost,” said Smyth County superintendent Brad Haga. “It is hard to believe when I started at Marion over 25 years ago, we had over 980 students. In 2015, there were 615 students at Marion Senior High School. Today, we are below 470 [total] students and will probably start school on Tuesday with less than that.”
Marion’s fellow Smyth County schools – Chilhowie and Northwood – compete in the Class 1 Hogoheegee District. Rural Retreat, Patrick Henry, Holston and Honaker are also in that league.
The Scarlet Hurricanes currently belong to the Class 2 Southwest District with the current membership of that league comprised of Richlands, Graham, Tazewell, Virginia High, Lebanon and Southern Gap.
“Marion would fit nicely on this Interstate 81 corridor in the Hogoheegee District. It's truly the right thing to do for kids. Students are on a bus way too long and miss too much instructional time,” Haga said. “We don't have any business going to [U.S. Route] 460 and beyond to play any school. It would also help with ticket sales the closer you play to your own zip code. We could fill any athletic schedule while playing Wythe, Smyth, Washington, Galax, and Grayson County schools. That would be the best scenario and the longest trip would be an hour one way versus over two hours, which is not fair to students and families.”
Marion competed in the Hogoheegee District from 2013-14 through 2016-17 when the VHSL used a two-region system (instead of four as it is now) and districts were used strictly for scheduling purposes. Conferences (which most of the time varied from districts) were used in the first leg of the postseason during that era.
Lebanon will move to Class 1 in the next cycle as the Pioneers have bumped between the VHSL’s smallest classification and second-smallest classification many times through the decades. The Pioneers had an ADM of 307 according to the VHSL numbers.
“I am not surprised that we dropped,” said Lebanon principal Ryan Potts. “We made the decision to appeal at the mid-cycle last go-round with the knowledge that we have seen some major decline in our enrollment numbers. We take a lot of pride in Pioneer sports and activities and we will continue to try and be competitive regardless of where the VHSL places us.”
A situation that will have to be addressed if Marion’s appeal is successful would be whether both Marion and Lebanon would be placed in the Hogoheegee District.
That would make the Hogoheegee an eight-team district, while the other Region 1D league – the Cumberland District – would have six teams.
Could Lebanon possibly be shifted to the Cumberland to make each district have seven schools?
Of course, that discussion will have to wait until after the appeals process is complete.
Grayson County successfully petitioned to stay in the Class 1 Mountain Empire District in both 2018 and 2022.
Kelly Wilmore, superintendent of Grayson County Schools, has already filed an appeal and his letter addressed to the VHSL realignment committee opened with these four paragraphs:
I am writing this document to appeal the decision to place Grayson County High School at the 2A level. We are requesting to be placed back in Class 1, and in Region 1C. The basis of our appeal is based on two factors.
First, the March VDOE collection determined that Grayson County High School had a total of 343.51 students in grades 9-11. The cut off for 1A classification is 343. We are only .49 students above the threshold and this is well below the 1% requirement for appeal.
Please note: the March ADM count for grades 9 through 11 may have been 344, but our “actual enrollment” had decreased to 331 students when the data was collected. Please see attached sworn affidavit from the principal and assistant superintendent to verify these numbers.
Second, we are appealing this placement is because of the undue hardship it will cause, due to travel, geography and cost.
According to the calculations by school officials, if Grayson County was placed in the Class 2 Southwest District in Region 2D the road trips would be 140 miles (Southern Gap), 102 miles (Richlands), 90 miles (Tazewell), 84 miles (Virginia High), 69 miles (Graham) and 45 miles (Marion).
If the Blue Devils were sent to the Three Rivers District (which consists of six Class 2 schools and Class 3 member Carroll County) the trips would take 30 miles (Carroll County), 60 miles (Floyd County), 66 miles (Patrick County), 68 miles (Radford), 95 miles (Martinsville), 95 miles (Glenvar) and 128 miles (James River).
Grayson County currently competes in the Mountain Empire District in Region 1C with trips that take 14 miles (Galax), 30 miles (George Wythe), 34 miles (Fort Chiswell), 52 miles (Bland County), 72 miles (Auburn) and 80 miles (Giles).
Tazewell principal Jerry Smith and Graham athletic director Randy Sparks both told the Bristol Herald Courier on Friday via e-mail that their schools do not plan to appeal to move to Class 1 at this time.
Liberty Christian Academy would drop from Region 3C to Region 2C, defending VHSL Class 3 boys basketball champion and nationally ranked powerhouse Petersburg would move to Class 4, Western Albermarle (which won the National Guard Cup in Class 3 for overall athletic excellence) would also move up a class and Tunstall would shift from Region 3D to Region 2C barring appeals.
Schools have until Monday to appeal their placements to the VHSL, while opposition appeals must be turned in by Aug. 17.
Appeals will be heard and decisions will be made on Aug. 25 and then a final plan would be recommended to the VHSL’s Executive Committee for approval.
Warren County (557 ADM) would be the biggest Class 2 school under the latest model, while Lee High (496) and Wise County Central (489) would be the largest Class 2 schools from far Southwest Virginia.
Abingdon (648) would remain well above the Class 3 cutoff.
Northwood (135) would be the smallest school in Region 1D.
The largest ADM in the state would belong to Alexandria City High School (formerly T.C. Williams) with 3,290.
