Voting results just the start

The OHSAA is expected to announce final results of its spring referendum voting on Thursday, voting which includes the third attempt at passing a competitive balance measure in the last three years.

Whichever way the vote turns out, there are still going to be plenty of questions while the answers won’t be so clear.

If the vote passes, Ohio schools will be undergo a shift in how division alignment is assigned, with a multiplier being assessed in specific sports for athletes on teams who live outside a school’s geographic attendance zone. The assignment method would apply to both public and non-public schools.

If it doesn’t pass, expect talk of separating public and private schools in the postseason to return. That is what was supposed to be on the ballot until OHSAA commissioner Dr. Dan Ross and proponents of separation, headed by Wooster Triway superintendent David Rice and Dalton superintendent Scott Beatty, came up with this compromise proposal and announced it less than eight weeks ago.

There are some administrators and coaches around the state who are willing to separate schools in the postseason in the name of obtaining a more level playing field, not that it can ever be completely level. There are always going to be some teams, some players, some coaches, some communities that are simply better than others at certain sports. Maybe they are in all sports.

Writers such as me and fans love a good storyline where the underdog comes out of nowhere to beat the traditional power. It’s a motivating tool for coaches on both sides of the equation.

But if the goal of the OHSAA is to ensure the starting point for teams is level, I don’t see how this proposal answers those concerns.

It’s a complicated proposal that includes a lot of moving parts and a lot of tinkering that remains to be done before it would be fully implemented in the 2015-16 school year. OHSAA representatives spent the month of April touring the state in an attempt to educate administrators and coaches about the plan’s nuances. If the meeting in Cincinnati on April 15 was any indication, the OHSAA is asking its membership for a lot of trust and leeway on an issue that has gone from simmering to hot-button over the last decade.

The questions came from schools with various perspectives. Questions like: how do you draw up geographical lines of attendance for schools that have changed their way of educating students?

Cincinnati Public Schools did away with its old system of neighborhood schools in 2000. Parents throughout the district can now choose to send their children to any of the district’s schools based on that school’s curriculum and focus. It could be a traditional approach, a magnet school with a Montessori program, an information technology basis, the arts or career technical focus.

CPS has added six new high schools since 2000. There are no old geographical boundaries to fall back on for Clark Montessori, Shroder Paideia and Riverview East Academy. The 12 high schools in the district already run the full range of Division I (Withrow, Walnut Hills) on down the line to the smallest divisions.  

“We suggested to our principals that they vote ‘no’,” said Dave Dierker, who is the athletic director for CPS. “We have been a school system of choice since 2000. Are you now going to draw up the city of Cincinnati into 12 school zones?”

A competitive balance committee made up of representatives from various perspectives – public, private, small, large, rural, urban and suburban schools – worked for two years to bring the previous measures to ballot in 2011 and 2012. Moeller basketball coach Carl Kremer was the only coach on the committee.

“I truly believe the people in that room wanted to do what was best for the kids in the state of Ohio and there was a good atmosphere in there,” said Kremer. “We pretty much amicably agreed that we could do this a better way and that there were a lot of things that we could fix. We didn’t feel our final proposal was perfect – the devil is in the details – but I felt there was to some degree a bunch of people trying hard to get it done. It’s a tough issue.”

That full committee, according to Kremer, was not part of discussions that produced this proposal.

“I like the concept of doing something but I don’t think this was the right concept at all,” said Kremer.

Rice said on Wednesday that he has no idea if the measure will pass or fail. Even though he headed the movement for separate tournaments, when the compromise was announced in March he put his full support behind it and asked that member schools do the same and let the process play out.

He took a lot of heat from people who supported separation over the compromise.

“That subsided within a week afterwards and I reached out to those people. They were very understanding when we talked and discussed the matter,” said Rice. “I’ve never felt like a punching bag. I have felt like a leader, like someone who is ready to fashion change.”

Rice said if the measure should fail, he will re-propose separating postseason tournaments. He would likely need to find a co-sponsor because he feels he’s lost some credibility by pulling separation off the table this time.

Regardless, the issue is not going to go away whatever the outcome of the vote. If it passes, there will be a lot of work for the OHSAA to do over the next two years to work out what many fear will be a logistical nightmare.

“I’m not in favor of separating,” said Lebanon athletic director Bill Stewart, whose school is entrenched at the lower spectrum of Division I enrollments but still with enough students that it won’t move down a division.

Stewart pointed at Mentor as an example of dealing with the situation the right way. Mentor is in the same region as St. Ignatius and St. Edward and has had success against both powerhouse schools, including winning the Division I state basketball title in March and beating both en route to an appearance in the state football semifinals last fall.

“I don’t know that either proposal helps us. I’ve always believed that if you’re not getting better than you’ve got to find solutions to compete,” said Stewart. “I’d rather find ways to get better as opposed to looking for excuses.”