Schools fighting league reshuffle.

Byline: Steve Mims The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran 10/9/2005): An article in Friday's Register-Guard listed an incorrect estimation of missed class time for students at Sheldon and South Eugene high schools if those schools are moved into a new league by the Oregon School Activities Association. According to Eugene School District activities and athletic coordinator Pat Latimer, students at those schools currently miss an average of five hours of class time per term due to athletic participation. Those figures could increase to 25 hours per term if the two schools leave the Midwestern League and are put into a league with schools in Roseburg, Grants Pass and Medford.

The Eugene School District has received support from two neighboring districts in a bid to keep all of its high schools together in the same athletic league - and to avoid putting Eugene's two largest schools into a conference with games as far away as Medford.

Bethel schools Superintendent Tim Keeley and Springfield Superintendent Nancy Golden have joined Eugene Superintendent George Russell in signing a declaration asking the Oregon School Activities Association to keep all seven high schools from their districts in the same league.

Wednesday's action came nine days after the OSAA classification and districting committee recommended a six-classification system for prep sports that would put all schools with an enrollment of 1,521 or more in the top classification.

If the recommendation is approved by the OSAA executive board on Oct. 24, Sheldon and South Eugene would move into a 6A league with North Medford, South Medford, Grants Pass and Roseburg. Thurston, Springfield, Willamette, Churchill, and North Eugene would remain together in a 5A league with Marshfield.

The six-classification proposal would affect every league in the state, and is receiving mostly positive reviews.

The Sky-Em League would become 4A and would add Sisters while losing Siuslaw to the Far West League, which would be a 4A league. Creswell would drop out of the Sky-Em to join a 3A league with current Trico League schools Harrisburg, Jefferson and Waldport.

The proposal has raised concerns among local school officials regarding travel costs, loss of class time for students and added danger caused by long road trips. Russell told the school board Wednesday that the phone calls and e-mails he has received about the issue rival last winter's controversy over alternative schools.

District activities and athletic coordinator Pat Latimer estimates that athletic travel costs for Sheldon and South Eugene could triple to as much as $50,000 annually per school if they have to make numerous trips to Southern Oregon. He added that student athletes now miss about five hours of class time per week because of sports, but that could increase to 25 hours because of increased travel time to contests.

The declaration signed by the superintendents stated the desire of the seven high schools in those three districts to be in the same league at the 6A level.

That declaration, which was sent to the OSAA, states that the seven schools all would agree to move up to the 6A classification if they were assured that they would remain in the same league. If the OSAA does not place those schools in the same league, then Churchill, North Eugene, Springfield, Thurston and Willamette would return to the 5A level.

The OSAA will consider the request when its executive board meets to make a final decision later this month.

"I'm delighted that Eugene, Springfield and Bethel are all willing to work together to support the request to the OSAA that the Midwestern League, with the exception of Marshfield and Lebanon, stays intact," said Laurie Moses, the Eugene district's director of high school services. "I'm hopeful that the OSAA will make a decision that allows our Eugene, Springfield and Bethel schools to stay together. If it doesn't come to pass, we certainly have some concerns about the loss of instructional time for students, transportation costs, safety, and the longstanding traditional rivalries among schools in our area that are no longer present."

Willamette athletic director Barry Bokn said Keeley signed the declaration so the school could limit its travel costs as well as support its neighbors.

"It was in the greater good of the Willamette community and athletes to try and have as many games locally as possible," Bokn said. "If we get to have a seven-team league, parents, friends, and students can support one another without traveling great distances. The bulk of the schedule would be local and that outweighs the interest to play at a lower level which certainly would have added travel. The other piece is a certain feeling for other members of our Midwestern League, supporting them."

Golden said she considered both the advantages and disadvantages of moving up to 6A before signing the declaration.

"We work closely with Eugene and realized that for some of their schools this will create a lot more travel for them," Golden said. "I understand it is difficult because gas prices are off the charts. So we had to weigh the pluses and minuses for us, and we decided that when we looked at all the issues it was important to support it because that is our neighbor district."

The Eugene School Board also sent a letter to the OSAA stating its support of the declaration to keep the local schools in the same league.

"I don't have a sense of what the OSAA is going to do, and obviously I am hopeful that between the board position and the e-mails they are getting from both patrons of 4J and coaches and athletic folks that they will see the wisdom of trying to make this work in terms of the declaration," Russell said.

The final recommendation of the OSAA classification and districting committee can be accessed at www.osaa.org.

COMING TUESDAY

A detailed look at the OSAA's proposal in PrepWeek

CAPTION(S):

Under the proposed realignment, Sheldon and Willamette would no longer meet on the field of play. Thomas Boyd / The Register-Guard, 2000