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Here's the text of a Charleston Post and Courier front page article from this morning regarding an Emerald HS proposal to move BE to 3A. Thanks to Soccerwatcher for posting it on the Boys Board.


BY PHILIP M. BOWMAN
The Post and Courier

Bishop England High School's highly successful athletic program has several of its rivals crying foul and pushing for new rules aimed at reining in the Bishops.

Bishop England was so successful during the 2004-05 academic year that Sports Illustrated rated the school South Carolina's top high school athletic program. But critics of the Catholic school on Daniel Island contend that Bishop England has unfair advantages in enrollment and is allowed to recruit players because it has an unlimited attendance zone.

As a result, two of Bishop England's rivals have gone to the South Carolina High School League in an attempt to 'level the playing field.'

Emerald High School has proposed that Bishop England, a school with an enrollment of about 900 students, be reclassified from Class AA to Class AAA and compete against schools with enrollments of about 1,500 students. Emerald is a Class AA school in Greenwood that lost to Bishop England in four state championship finals last spring. The proposed amendment to the High School League's constitution will be voted on during the South Carolina Athletic Administrators Association's spring meetings March 10-14 in Charleston.

The possible reclassification isn't the only issue on Bishop England's plate. A new public school is opening on Daniel Island in the fall for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, and Hanahan High School recently got the High School League's executive committee to approve a rule that would make students living on Daniel Island and attending the new school ineligible to participate in sports for one year if they go on to attend Bishop England.

'What this means is that any individual living on DanielIsland and not attending one of our Catholic feeder schools would be ineligible the next year in sports for one year,' Bishop England athletic director Paul Runey said.

Students living on Daniel Island, which is in Berkeley County, are required to attend Hanahan High unless they go to private school. Hanahan athletic director Jeff Cruce led the push for the Daniel Island ruling.

'I am the only Class AA school in the state that has another Class AA school in my region, in my attendance zone,' Cruce said. 'I'll fight it until I can't fight it any more. If they (Bishop England) want to go to AAA, that's fine. If they want to go to AAAA, that's fine. But I'll fight it if they stay in Class AA.'

Runey said the school appealed to the High School League's executive committee but lost by an 11-1 vote.

Cruce said the Daniel Island ruling that he supports and the proposed reclassification by Emerald are separate issues.

'It's apples and oranges,' said Cruce, who unsuccessfully tried to have Bishop England reclassified in 2001. 'I have a vested interest in my school, in my students. Emerald's (proposal) is sour grapes.'

Bishop England beat Emerald head-to-head last spring in boys' golf, girls' track, baseball and boys' soccer to win four state championships in a span of five days.

Emerald's proposal asks the High School League to reconsider allowing private schools to participate in the league.

And if private schools are allowed to continue competing in the High School League, Emerald wants a 1.5 student multiplier for grades 9-12 at private schools. That means Bishop England, which has an enrollment of about 860 students and competes in Class AA, would see its enrollment artificially increased to 1,290 students and move up to Class AAA.

Bishop England is one of only four private schools in the High School League. The others - Christ Church, Thornwell and Southside Christian - wouldn't be affected because they have such low enrollments that the sports programs would remain at Class A despite the multiplier.

Runey attended Bishop England's state soccer championship match against Emerald and remembers seeing a banner that proclaimed Emerald as 'the real public schools state champion.'

Runey said the message was disturbing. 'The big thing that hit me was, 'What did we do wrong? Why are we any different from you guys? Our parents pay taxes just like y'all, yet we get none of our tax money to run our schools. We play by the same rules you do.''

John 'Mac' Bryan, the athletic director and football coach at Emerald, said the proposal is about fairness, not last year's state championships. 'It's about leveling the playing field,' he said.

Emerald officials contend Bishop England and other private schools keep enrollment down to play at a lower classification.

Bryan and Emerald officials also contend private schools pick specific students to enhance any area the school administration chooses, including drama, art, music and athletics.

'They can bring in the clientele to do the type of things the school wants to achieve,' Bryan said.

Runey laughed when asked about holding down enrollment so Bishop England could compete at a lower classification.

'We could easily add at least 50 students without having to add any new classes or teachers,' Runey said. 'The low end (of tuition) is $6,000 a student. Do you really think we could afford to turn down an extra $300,000 in tuition?'

Runey said Bishop England is fortunate to have parents who can afford to pay tuition and also pay for their children to play in club sports, which are not connected with Bishop England. The students' year-around participation in sports, not recruiting, is the key to the Bishops' success, Runey said.

Bryan contacted state associations in the South to determine policies of private vs. public schools.

'In Tennessee (which has 60 private schools), they use a 1.8 multiplier because 30 percent of the student body participates in public schools sports compared to 60 percent in private schools,' Bryan said.

Georgia has 47 private schools and used a 1.5 multiplier in 2000, but has since repealed it.

North Carolina has only two private schools that compete in the state athletic association and doesn't use a multiplier.

Jerome Singleton, the executive director of the S.C. High School League, said he didn't have an opinion on the reclassification issue.

He said the executive committee doesn't have the authority to pass proposed constitutional amendments. 'They can only make recommendations,' he said.

Runey seems as if he's oblivious. They play by the same rules? Isn't this what the proposal is all about? The fact that BE can either select or have a student from any region that they please is not playing by the same rules. If anyone would like to challenge that statement, I am willing to listen. I see that as being the one simple factor that gives this, and other private schools an unfair advantage. To base our similarities on the fact that both public school and private school parents pay taxes is ridiculous. You pay state and federal taxes because you live in SC.

The athletic program at BE is exceptional, and likely will be for years to come. They run a clean and successful program that I am nearly certain does not recruit students based on their athletic abilities. These qualities all shine a positive light on the program and its athletes, and this post is to in no way contend with the fairness or quality with which BE athletes compete, or the fact that their parents pay taxes to the state that they live in (for Mr. Runey's sake).

The fact is that the availability of students that can legally attend BE, is limited only to how many they can hold. Emerald, on the other hand, is limited to a population in a determined geographical zone. note the differences in those two description. These are NOT the same RULES.

And, as far as this being a "sour grapes" issue, Emerald supporters have been calling for this action for a few years now. That includes the time before and after the Emerald men's team defeated the bishops in 2004.