Originally Posted By: Kevin Heise
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think I heard the football coach at Oceanside say that they do have an attendance zone and if players come from that zone they have to sit out a year. Is that true?

Let me attempt to clear this up on attendance at the charter schools, since I'm at Gray Collegiate Academy (GCA) in West Columbia. GCA is a sister school of both Oceanside Collegiate Academy (Mt. Pleasant) and Legion Collegiate Academy (Rock Hill) under the ownership of Pinnacle Charter -- http://pinnaclecharteracademies.com/

For SCHSL purposes, geographically, GCA resides in the Lexington Two School District attendance zone (Airport HS & Brookland-Cayce HS), although we are governed by the Charter Institute at Erskine. Under this arrangement, student-athletes (grades 9-12) from AHS or BCHS could move to GCA and be eligible for athletics immediately at the varsity level and vice versa as well.

However, as a statewide district, charter schools can have students attend from all over the state, but with parameters. For instance, if a student-athlete is a 10th grader from a school district other than Lexington Two (i.e. Lexington 1 or Richland 1) and transfers to GCA mid-year, that student can only participate at the sub-varsity (JV) level at GCA, until the following year when they would be eligible for varsity. If a student enrolls at GCA prior to 9th grade (cannot attend their home zone school at all), that student may participate a the varsity level as a freshman. However, if they attend even one day at their home zone school, they establish their eligibility at that institution. Of course, there are no public school buses provided to charter schools, so transportation is up to the students attending.


Thank you. So for admissions purpose and SCHSL attendance zones, those two are not necessarily equivalent. Oceanside is a state charter (like Gray), but the SCHSL defines their attendance zone for athletic purposes as the same as Wando's.

On another note, it appears this amendment is dead based on input that it may conflict with a proviso by the legislature that prevents magnet and charter schools from being treated differently than regular public schools.

The workaround suggested by the ADs was a rule that would apply to all SCHSL schools, but would impact some schools considerably more than others. That proposal was to deny eligibility to any student that did not enroll from one of that schools feeder schools. The primary exception would be a verified change of address.

An unanswered question that was brought up was how to address school of choice scenarios. This would certainly impact those without feeder schools.

On a completely different note, Boys volleyball may become sanctioned by the SCHSL. Of course football balked at it being played in the fall and pushed fo it to be in the spring - with baseball, soccer, track, and lacrosse. Because the spring isn't congested enough.