SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Girls Varsity Soccer Splitting Fort Mill

In 2007 the Fort Mill School District will open a second high school, Nation Ford. Last week the district unveiled three options for determining the boundaries for who goes where. Right now it looks like freshmen, sophomores and juniors living in the new Nation Ford boundaries will be forced to attend in the Fall of 2007, with seniors having the option to remain at Fort Mill. I assume, with three full classes enrolled (FR, SO, JR), the district may decide to have Nation Ford field varsity teams right from the start.

Question????

How was this handled in other districts? I know Dutch Fork, West Ashley, Ridge View and Spring Valley are relatively new schools that field competitive teams.

Were all kids forced to attend the new high school right off the bat?

Did some schools start with JV programs?

Did some schools start with just frosh and sophs?

Hurst --

West Ashley's situation was the opposite of this. St. Andrews HS and Middleton HS (3A schools) were merged to form WAHS about 6 or 7 years ago. While the new HS was under construction the old campuses were used, split 9-10 and 11-12 but everyone still played under the banner of West Ashley.

lpaf

I was in the North Charleston/Folly Beach area when you posted this.. ..small world.

don't dilude yourself that the district is worried about the athletics.

they'll just decide based on the most politically safe course.

LED --

It's actually just a small state. How are things at SC's A and M?

lpaf

Here's a Letter To The Editor from a Fort Mill football parent concerning the same subject. Apparently the FMHS 9th grade team is having some success this season, resulting in this parent warning the rest of the state that The Big 16 Trophy will be residing in Fort Mill in three years (I'm sure Rock Hill, Northwestern and Gaffney are shaking in their boots!)

;>)

Don't send team members to different high schools
To the Contrary
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By Ann Oliver Special to The Herald
This letter is to address the recent decision by the Fort Mill school board to split the class of 2009 between Nations Ford High School and Fort Mill High School at the scheduled opening of Nations Ford in the fall of 2007.
This decision has many, many parents of the students in the current freshman class extremely upset. As recently as last year, we were told in School Improvement Council and LAC committee meetings with the past superintendent that only freshman and sophomores would be required to split. While we realize this was not "set in stone," we continued with life assuming our children would be the last intact graduating class of Fort Mill High School. The district would then graduate classes from both schools in 2010. I clearly remember at my son's eighth-grade graduation from FMMS the class receiving recognition from the staff as the last intact class of FMHS. Parents from GHMS remember hearing the same thing. Thank you, TEC Dowling.

Yet, here we are with a new decision based on a recommendation from a new superintendent with absolutely no consultation with the students or parents affected. This was not what we "signed up" for. In discussion of this decision, Dr. Callicut explained he was basing his recommendation on what he saw work in Irmo when Dutch Fork split under similar circumstances and supposedly only giving the incoming senior class a choice worked very well.

The other reason cited was the inability to explain why the district had a $40 million school sitting half empty while Fort Mill High still had children in portable classrooms. This is an unknown until you get some numbers on how many would opt to stay at FMHS or opt to move to NFHS. Acquiring these numbers would require a survey of the entire junior and senior class affected.

Setting priorities

I am the mother of a freshman football player. I am pretty sure if you asked any of our football players if it were more important to keep this team together or be in a real classroom, I think we all know what answer we would get. They will have already been in mobiles for two years by then, so what is another year or two? The freshman football team has the potential to be a powerhouse in our conference. For the first time since moving to 4A, Fort Mill High may have the opportunity to have a state champion caliber team in 2008 and 2009. The sheer number of the class of 2009 provides the opportunity.

This is an unusual happening for Fort Mill. The excitement of this particular team was the number of players garnered from the large number of students enrolled. While overcrowding in the schools is definitely the nightmare the superintendent and board have presented, this worked to the freshman football team's advantage.

A potential powerhouse

While I had the understanding the incoming juniors and seniors of 2007 would stay at FMHS, I couldn't help but think how lucky our freshman class was to have the opportunity to be such a powerhouse football team in the tradition of Dorman of Spartanburg. This was Fort Mill's chance to experience that for one or two years in athletics. A limited chance that our freshman boys would be part of when they hit varsity. How lucky were we?

We could possibly doom a group of great football players to possible mediocrity at both schools. Their junior and senior years should not be spent building or rebuilding programs. If they change schools their junior year, they have only one year to build, and that just isn't enough. If the then-junior class is given a choice, you will have some children take it. Let them. However, those boys who have played together for two hard years and want to see it through to the end should be given the opportunity to do so.

I realize this is only high school football. However, ask any man in his 30s or 40s who played football in high school, and he will tell you it was the best years of his life. They remember every player, every play, and their coaches were the biggest influence on them ever. A winning football season sticks with a man forever.

If this letter strikes a chord with you and your FMHS student from the class of 2008 and 2009, I urge you to contact a school board member or make an appointment with the superintendent and voice your concerns. The class of 2009 deserves a choice!

Ann Oliver is scheduling a time slot to speak at the school board work session on Monday, Oct. 17. The board will vote on the school division lines on Nov. 14.

Hurst, come on man. We all know that Fort Mill is a soccer town and belongs to the Koalas and to FM girls and boys soccer programs - the best ever.

You know, it is sad when parents like this base most of the high school expectations on a sport rather than on learning. Sports are a priveledge, not a mandatory part of the school experience. I would much prefer being in a good classroom with excellent teachers. I attended Irmo in the years before the split between Irmo and DF, and it was way overcrowded. When you have 700 to 750+ in a class, it is like being at a college. The school board is doing the right thing with only giving the seniors a choice. Really....I would much rather my child get a good education rather than worring about a "possible" state championship. Where is the state championship going to get you compared to a good classroom education?

Where is the state championship going to get you compared to a good classroom education???

How about a scholarship to help pay for the good education.

Soccerboy,

You make a very good point. Dr. Callicut was involved in the Dutch Fork / Irmo split and he obviously feels that everything there worked out for the better. Move the juniors and get it over with......they'll still have two full years at Nation Ford. This parent seems to be too caught up on having her kid as a member of the last "intact" graduating class of Fort Mill HS, rather than looking at the distinction of being part of the "first ever" graduating class at Nation Ford.

pricklyricky,

Fort Mill HS just won the Boys Swimming state championship last week. The Boys X-Country team will be the favorite to win the state championship this fall as well, with the Girls X-Country team probably finishing in the Top 3.

Not bad for a fall season. Obviously more than a one-horse town.

You forgot their marching band that has 18 state championships since 1981.. and multiple appearences at Grand Nationals..



sidenote: That FM parent is a moron.

Bluffton/Hilton Head went through a similar problem. At first parents were told that all students living in the Bluffton attendance zone would be forced to attend Bluffton High. This upset many '05 parents who had gone through a split with a middle school a few years earlier. The school board then amended the policy to allow seniors the choice to attend Bluffton or Hilton Head. All other Bluffton students were to attend Bluffton.

I hate to say this but the split has not been a good one. So I hope your situation will go better.

jwood,

Looks like as far as girls soccer is concerned, HH got the better end of the deal. HH was still 4A last spring and finished #15 in the state. They beat Bluffton 9-0 early in the season.

Bluffton is 3A, is enrollment growing to the point where they will be 4A soon? Will Bluffton improve on last year's record?

Hmmm...an interesting thread. It sounds like the old "bait and switch" in the Fort Mill school district.
Soccerboy: Did Dutch Fork High School start playing varsity sports right away, or did they keep teams at Irmo for awhile?

I want to say that they started varsity sports right away...but then again I was in Illinois in college. But I seem to remember varsity sports starting. Sorry I'm not any more help.

FMFAN,
Please, tell me where all of these "scholarships" are so that when my children become of age, they can get them. I think you need to realize that the state championship in HS doesn't mean as much as being seen on an excellent club team. That is usually where the exposure is, not in HS. But I am highly doubtful that most kids would get much of a scholarship for college when it comes to soccer. At a private institution, you may get a few bucks thrown your way...but to get a scholarship of any monetary amount for a D1 school, you have to be awesome!

Dutch Fork HS opened in 1992-93 and began with varsity athletics.

I believe the first DF football team had the Silver Foxes tail running down the middle of their helmet that fall and were quarterbacked by one of the Quattlebaum's.

On a side note, DF played in the inaugural Palmetto Cup, tabbed the Brookland-Cayce Classic, in the spring of 1993 along with B-C, Mauldin, and South Florence. DFHS competed in Class 3A their first four years, I think -- maybe Coach Wayne Quinlan can fill in some of the gaps.

FMFAN
nevermind that last post of mine...you are probably talking football scholarships. I never played football, so I don't know. But still, school is there to learn. The duty of the school board is to provide the best education for the students, not to worry about how good sports teams are going to be. That is for the AD and coaches. The school board is just doing their job!

Certainly in the big picture, one can see the wisdom of splitting a large school district. Initially, however, won't the first few graduating classes experience academic growing pains as well as athletic ones? This is a girls soccer thread, but won't the academics be a bit lacking also? How do you suddenly find qualified, expericed AP teachers? Established academic programs, as well as athletic ones, don't suddenly appear. Those first few classes at Nation Ford may suffer all the way around, won't they?

L-E Dude: I think I can understand the sentiment, but realistically, teachers like any other professional, don't just suddenly up and move. Are 2 or 3 dozen qualified teachers from Lexington or Charleston going to suddenly decide to move to Fort Mill, uprooting families along the way? Unlikely. Pay for teachers is not great anywhere, and moving is expensive, let alone a tremendous stress upon all involved.

Yeah.. you're right. If I were a graduate from one of the handful of universities in Charlotte/southern NC, or a teacher in the 35th largest city in the country.. I probably wouldn't look at a brand new 40mil facility to start a career.. and yeah..moving less than 30 minutes away would probably be singlehandedly responsible for the deterioration of the fabric of this nation..and family structure in general.

Seriously.. what point are you trying to make? A new school that isn't over crowded..is bad for academics.. right.. I say.. suck it up.. how about the schools out there in the middle of no where that have a tiny fraction of the resources these people are debating.

How about a little objective perspective...

Edit: ..nobody teaches public school for the pay.. I hate to break it to you.. not even at Fort Mill..so let's just drop that.

Why will they necessarily need all of these new teachers? They are not adding any students to the population of the district. The lines of the district are not being redrawn. There is a new school being built that will only draw from the only high school in the district currently. It is essentially breaking a 4A school up and producing what will probably turn out to be 2 3A schools. Thats the way I see it. so that means with FMHS reducing its enrollment, there will be a surplus of teachers who will go to the new high school.

So realistically, the AP program should not get much bigger than it currently is at FMHS. Thus there would not be a shortage of 2 or 3 dozen teachers. Yes, the district will have to hire some new teachers to help, but not as many as you think.

Thoughtful (mostly) points, but I still think it will take a larger number of qualified teachers than you think. You're not merely splitting up programs, you're attempting to duplicate programs at a second school. For instance, if you have 12 AP course offerings, and each course has only one class, in order to duplicate that at the new school you will need 12 new AP teachers.
L-E looking over the trusty atlas, a 30 minute drive from Fort Mill brings us to the academic powerhouses of Chester and Lancaster...
And "suck it up"? Should the folks who moved to Fort Mill for the schools feel badly because their current system outranks most others in the state? That's one of the reasons so any people have moved there.
Besides...we haven't even debated the impact that this could have on their girls soccer program...

my point was that there are probably very good/quality teachers who are not teaching AP that will be able to now because they are producing another AP program. I know at the schools i have been at, there have been more than one or two history teachers (for example) that were having to wait their "turn" in order to teach AP. If FMHS is as good as people say, then there should be a few quality teachers that can definitely fill the role that you claim will be missing.

Hurst, thanks for giving me a run down of the accomplishments of all of the programs at Fort Mill. Now I see where the soccer program ranks!

pr,

It ranks dead last in attention from the administration.....just like it does in most SC high schools.

;>)

Soccerboy
What I was saying is that some kids may only go to college with a scholarship - sports or academically. It may not be a full scholarship but every little bit counts. As for colleges looking at high school play you are dead wrong! Every college that my daughter sent a sports resume has asked for both club and high school schedules. There are several high school tournaments (soccer) that are attended by college scouts because there are so many teams that can be seen at one place. Also, if the colleges are in the areas they are there. But you are right if you want to be seen by a lot of colleges out of the area then it is club tournaments, ODP and Super Y ODP.

I agree with you FMFAN...I don't think I said that no college scouts come to high school games. It is up to the high school coach to promote the player, and the player to promote themselves to get the scouts out to the high school games.

Now on to the other topic of teachers and a new school. I have to agree with LE Dude with a few points. I am a project manager that is back in school to finish my education degree. At least in the north, there are way too many teachers for the teaching positions in the classroom. There have been hundreds of lay-offs up here, and there are plenty of teachers. I know in SC they are looking for teachers, but better pay, and working in a new school are huge things to look at. So what about AP classes. They are absolutley no harder to teach than normal classes. There may be different material to cover, but all teaching is basically the same. You have something that you need the kids to learn.....you find a way that works best for all the students to learn the material.....you teach it to them.....you move on to the next topic. There are certain things on the AP exam that need to be covered, so cover them in an effective way, and get the kids to learn. I am sure that there will be plenty of teachers to fill the classrooms when the new school opens. There are a lot of new teachers that need jobs. Even new teachers can be a very efficitve teacher. Most new teachers actually care about getting tenure and try very hard. I have spent a lot of time in the classroom, and have noticed the older teachers that are comfortable with their teaching styles tend to be the teachers that are not the best in quality and quantity learned in the classroom. The ones that are always looking at new techniques, new technology, and new ideas are the ones that keep finding better and better ways of improving their teaching quality. I just think that there will not be a huge hole to fill when the new high school opens. Sorry for getting on my soap box.....just my opinion.

Soccerboy, I was wondering if you have thoughts of becoming a coach once that degree is completed? Shouldn't be a problem making the transition from official to coach with how easily you have gone from project manager to teacher. You really have to figured out!

Hurst,

As far as girls are concerned HHHS did get almost all of the players. Only one player came to Bluffton and she graduated. We knew the girls' were going to be a building process that will take awhile but with a new coach who is committed they are heading in the right direction. Still B-Town is volleyball and softball territory as far as girls are concerned.

Regarding numbers, it is possible the Bluffton could be AAAA by the next realignment but the district is coming up with ways to relieve over crowding such as sending some Bluffton students back to Hilton Head. Plus, they are talking about making all high schools magnet schools which could lead to an "athlete grab" as I have seen in other places with a similar system (Orlando).

Hurst,

One more thing, I know you look at girls soccer but on the boys side both Hilton Head and Bluffton won their respective regions and were ranked in the top 15 in their classifications at season's end. One person who saw both teams play last year mused at what could have happened if the split was held off one more year. Yet, both teams had great seasons.

For the record, Bluffton boys only got 3 players from the AAAA final four team of 2004.

prettyricky...you lost me a bit on that last post...I can't tell if you are being sarcastic, or if you are being serious. I don't want to coach soccer. I feel that I don't know enough on how to develop the players. I would have to do some serious study into how to best develop players. I want to coach baseball...that is my favorite sport by far!

Many is the key word!

How is that Byronic L-E?

Nino, perhpas he meant ebonic?

Holla at Pooky for me.

His liking baseball isn't Byronic..the tragic flaw is..

I knew I shouldn't make literature references here..

Literature references are fine.. I just don't see how this reference to George is apt..

Bionic friend? Maybe he knows something we don't.

lpaf

Le Dude, you might want to hurry and edit or revise that post before nino reads it!


By the way, are you related to Le Coach?

Lord Byron.. aka George Gordon.. A not so subtle allusion..

i tried to warn you le dude.

cut le some slack, he does go to clemson after all

LE you might not want to call Nino out so much. Just ask Pooky and the boys what will happen

Lower, do you work for nino?

Yes Lower is really POOKY!!!!!! You can tell by the frosted lips.......hahahahahaha

Who was the worse "crackhead" .....

Pooky from New Jack City


OR


The guy w/ the Cheeseburgers in Menence II Society?

I vote Menence II Society !!!!

Pretty

Nah, I dont work for him. Just know about his rep.

Kyle,

You ruined my day bringing back memories of those old helmets. What were we thinking?
All DF sports competed at the varsity level that first year. We were AAA and competed well in all but football. That region at the time was very good in football; Camden, Clover, York, Ft. Mill. Our boys' soccer team more than held its own, winning the region and going to the quarter finals before losing to Seneca led by Jonathan Wilson.
Seniors got to choose between us and Irmo. As I am told, much of Irmo's state championship team that year could have gone to DF but opted, understandably, to finish out at Irmo.

Thanks for the memories

LE,
Tragic flaws have been around long before our boy George, which with your literary acumen I'm surprised you did not know his name.Agamemnon and Achilles had tragic flaws long before Lord Byron decided to fight for the Greeks.When the term "Byronic" is flung around in my circle, the term tragic flaw is usually not where the conversation goes. We usually discuss the "Byronic hero" as the romantic, though I suppose having a tragic flaw does fit in such that we all have tragic flaws, thus my confusion with your ubiquitous allusion.

Anyway, run along. I'm sure you have a Eng. 101 class you have to make.

I hear there is a new school opening in the Fort Mill area Nino.. they're probably looking for some qualified English buffs.. I say go for it.

The thing is.. it wasn't intended to be such a big deal..it was indeed intended to be an "allusion" ..congratulations.. we've wasted two and a half days..

As for my English.. I took 103 last year.. now in 215 Contemporary Lit.. not a bad class.. The Prof has taught at U of Oregon, Duke, and Harvard.. and she's easy on the eyes.. I've enjoyed Stanley Kunitz and Anne Sexton..etc so far..

Are we done?

I'm sorry I wasted 60 hours for you. Mine were actually quite productive. I'm quite apt at multitasking.

I'm done if you are.

Wayne, thanks for the insight. That's great that both Irmo and DF were able to be highly competitive the first year of the split. This is the model that the officials in the FMSD are looking at. Even if Nation Ford starts out at 3A, I don't think they will be as successful (state quarterfinals) as DF was in their innagural season. NF may do well within the region though.

H66 --

I know what you're doing, trying to bring things back to topic and cover over the spat between NB and LED. I was hoping for at least one more riposte from LED... maybe a forth allusion. Oh well...

lpaf

lpaf, sorry about that. Back to tragic flaw. What about that dude who wanted to fly and constructed his wings out of wax and feathers? I think everything was OK until he got too close to the sun???

Cheap wax was his fatal flaw, or maybe thinking he could fly like the gods. Who knows.

Puzzles from homophonic gods:

Escape in Alaska
False picture of heaven for a greek
Vague reference to making something disappear in a solvent

lpaf

(each has a two word answer)

I KNOW A TRAGIC FLAW!!!

..my love/addiction for this board.

lpaf, some folks just have to be in the spotlight.

LeDude,
Perhaps you could reverse your fate and learn from your mistakes?

Answers:

Escape in Alaska: Aleutian elusion
False picture of heaven for a greek: Elysian illusion
Vague reference to making something disappear in a solvent: elution allusion

lpaf

Lap,
Thought you were going at the Juno angle with Alaska. Tricky stuff.

NB --

I wondered after the fact if it should have been a Siberian escape instead of Alaskan. I think it was ok. I was just trying to pack the box with allusion homonyms -- there are a gracious plenty to chose among. Litterary references are great and seen too infrequently here. I've tried offering Vonnegut and Edward Abbey in the past with a very sharply delimited success. R1C is a Hemingway fan. Didn't see a Juno angle...

lpaf

ps: It's funny, it never occured to me that Lord Byron had a Christian name. Thanks.

Why am I not surprised.. the renegade is eclipsed by the bandwagon. Liberal becomes conservative.. radical becomes passe..

Enjoy the spotlight my friends..