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Sections Home Page Local News AP News Archives Business Classifieds Event Calendar Forums Life Opinion Obituaries Photo Gallery Since We Asked Sports Tempo Weather Special Coverage 2006 Britt Festivals --> Shop Our Valley AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Search Our Valley Special Sections Homelife Magazine Joy Magazine Readers Choice 2006 Oregon Golf Info Oregon Wine Info Our Valley Other Publications Local Links Ashland News eSouthernOregon Newspapers In Education Personals Moving Here Movie Listings TV Listings Volunteer Customer Service Advertise With Us Media Kit Place Classified Ad Contact Us FAQ's Home Delivery Site Map --> Email Story to a Friend June 15, 2006 Schools prepare for widespread change By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune While not discounting the prospect of further appeals, Medford School District officials said Wednesday that their athletic programs will be ready to go when the controversial new six-class system for high school sports is put in place this fall. "Right now we’re prepared to go 6A," said Doug Jantzi, Medford’s director of secondary education and athletics. "We’re less prepared to fall back into the 4A. Most of our work all year long has been discussing the new 6A plan. Our budget is there and our schedule is 90 percent there." North Medford Athletic Director Tim Sam said officials from the newly formed Southwest Conference began talks last October to formulate a plan for the proposed reclassification. South Medford AD Dennis Murphy said a subsequent meeting in February was held among Southern Oregon Conference officials to set up schedules should an appeals process return the format to the four-class system. More recently, the Southwest Conference group met last Wednesday to finalize schedules and guidelines for the upcoming fall and winter seasons. Advertisement "We’ve been moving along like this was going to be the end result," Murphy said of the six-class system, which was recently upheld by state Superintendent Susan Castillo following an appeal. "We went back and did two sets of schedules just to make sure we were covered either way." In the six-tier system, adopted by the Oregon School Activities Association last October to improve competitiveness, half of the SOC was moved to a 6A distinction and the other half to 5A. The schools with larger enrollments — North Medford, South Medford, Grants Pass and Roseburg — were slated to be joined by two Eugene schools (South Eugene and Sheldon) in forming the 6A Southwest Conference. The other SOC members — Ashland, Crater, Eagle Point and Klamath Union — were tabbed to join a 5A league with Mazama called the Southern Sky Conference. Officials from those schools met Wednesday to finalize their plans for the upcoming school year, and have been in discussions since last November. "Today was very tedious work," said Ashland AD Karl Kemper, "just going through all the guidelines for every sport and finalizing some schedules." The latter has been the most involved part of the reclassification for the smaller SOC teams. "We’ve got a lot more nonconference games and several of the 6A schools aren’t scheduling us for a lot of things," said Kemper, "so we’re having to be very creative in how we fill our schedules." "We still have some holes here and there in lower-level volleyball and soccer," he said, "but I’m not done working yet. We’ve looked at some northern California schools and are really just thinking outside the box as much as possible." Playing in a five- or six-team conference means league teams will square off more often than ever, said Kemper, with basketball teams meeting three times and baseball and softball teams playing two doubleheaders for a four-game swing. "The smaller conference is certainly a different dynamic," said Kemper. Area schools in the current Skyline Conference or Southern Cascade League had their leagues remain intact for the most part and, therefore, expect to experience few changes. Since its development, the OSAA’s reclassification plan has met with considerable opposition — largely from the Eugene, Salem-Keizer and Medford districts — for the increased travel costs and lost class time for students. "We’re not blind to the potential benefits of it," Jantzi said of the reclassification. "We just think the overall costs with kids out of class and all the other issues really made us question why are we doing this and shouldn’t we stand up for our kids." District appeals to Castillo and Hearings Officer William Young have thus far been unsuccessful, although the Eugene School District filed an appeal with the Oregon Court of Appeals on Monday to further challenge the OSAA’s decision. "We understand we’re a minority voice statewide, although it doesn’t take away from what we feel are legitimate concerns, legally and logically," Jantzi said. "Our feeling is that the OSAA did not address the needs of Southern Oregon," he added, "they only addressed the needs up north and we were left as a pawn to help it all work out." Jantzi said the issue of joining Eugene in a court appeal will be discussed by the Medford School Board at its meeting on Tuesday. Reasons to collaborate with Eugene, he said, would be to strengthen its appeal status, help provide possible remedies to the situation and ensure that no decision would leave the four largest SOC programs out in the cold as a four-team league. "It would be a tough decision to abandon what we also believe is a good cause," said Jantzi, adding that the weighing of costs and remedies must also be a priority. In no scenario, however, will the 2006-07 school year be affected. "We’ve passed the point of no return on the upcoming year," said Jantzi. "As far as we’re concerned, the decision for the upcoming year is made." Jantzi is optimistic the six-class system will be done on a two-year trial basis rather than the current four-year plan. "The makeup of the schools could be very different in two years," he said, noting the growth of areas like Central Point and Eagle Point and diminishing numbers in Medford. "Right now we’re anticipating reduced revenues and increased costs (in the 6A plan)," Jantzi added. "We can probably sustain that for two years, but can we for four? I don’t know the answer to that, but it’d be nice to have some idea before it was too late." Districts would evaluate costs and other issues in the summer of 2007, then make necessary changes during the subsequent school year that would be put in place in the fall of 2008. Until then, Murphy and company are operating under one dictum. "We’ve got our league, the Southwest Conference, now let’s just go make it happen," said the AD and boys basketball coach at South. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail Schools prepare for widespread change ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback online casinos news Home Security Systems California Casinos Men's Clothing Southern Oregon Loans --> GMAT Prep Fundraisers Send Flowers Texas Electric Choice Entertainment Guide --> Casinos Canada Trunks, Footlocker Online Casino Reviews Advertisement s