Fair play? District boundaries still an issue for high school athletics
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Private and charter schools make up about 20 percent of the schools in the PIAA. Over the past three years, they’ve won 56.3 percent of the football championships and 75 percent of the boys basketball titles. Many public school administrators say a Pennsylvania law from 1972 has created an uneven playing field that favors non-boundary schools.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Trinity players celebrate their first appearance in the PIAA championship girls’ basketball game in 2017. The Hillers finished runner-up in Class 5A to Archbishop Wood.
Courtesy of the Herald-Standard
Former Monessen guard Justice Rice drives between two players from Kennedy Catholic in a PIAA Class A basketball playoff game in 2017.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
With Alexa Willaimson, left, who now plays at Temple University, Chartiers-Houston made the WPIAL Class 2A girls basketball championship game each of the last two seasons. The Bucs’ opponent in those two games was Vincentian Academy.
First in a two-part series
Many area school districts approve of separating boundary and non-boundary schools for postseason play in Pennsylvania high school athletics.
The argument from public schools is that boundary schools (traditional public) should not be forced to compete with non-boundary schools (private, parochial and charter) that draw students from multiple school districts.
However, nearly a dozen districts located within the Observer-Reporter’s coverage area are mum on the issue of boundary districts across the state pursuing the issue with the Pennsylvania legislature after the PIAA rejected the idea last year.
The O-R recently sent a survey to all principals and athletic directors in its coverage area last month, asking for each school district’s stance on the boundary/non-boundary issue.
Schools that responded to the survey were Avella, Bentworth, Canon-McMillan, Charleroi, Chartiers-Houston, Fort Cherry, Jefferson-Morgan, Mapletown, Monessen, Ringgold, Washington, Waynesburg and West Greene.
Avella declined comment on the questions, and Fort Cherry, which did not answer survey questions, said it would follow the recommendations of the WPIAL.
The following schools did not respond to the survey: Belle Vernon, Beth-Center, Burgettstown, California, Carmichaels, McGuffey, Peters Township, South Fayette and Trinity.
Some public school administrators across the state are advocating for separate public and private school playoffs, turning their attention to the state legislature to effect change. The PIAA points to a long-held stance that state law from 1972 (Act 219) prevents it from making the separation should the governing body of high school sports in Pennsylvania even want to make such a move.
“Monessen has been the only public school left in many WPIAL (basketball) finals and PIAA playoff games throughout the years,” said Gina Naccarato, the Greyhounds’ athletic director. “We used to joke that we were the best public school in the state or WPIAL. We were always proud of the fact that we won championships with our own kids, who were born and raised in Monessen.
“I truly believe we would have a lot more championships if we did not have to compete with charter, private and parochial schools. If (a private school) wants to recruit, then it should have to play in the highest classification or be separated (from public schools). If they want that competitive advantage, then compete at the highest level.”
George Lammay, assistant superintendent of Bentworth School District, said that while the district’s board has not officially taken a position, the administration has long believed that non-boundary schools have a significant advantage, namely the ability to attract athletes. The administration would support efforts to influence the legislature to create an even playing field.
“There is more than one way to address this issue, but the simplest answer would be to separate the boundary and non-boundary schools as it would take away their competitive advantage,” Lammay said. “Administratively, we would support that concept.
“The greater issue has become the competitive environment the legislature has created in more ways than athletics. Charter schools have solid support from the legislature. This support likely is part of the reason the legislature would struggle to force the change in legislation, which in some ways also helps non-public schools.
“Traditional public schools have now capitalized on this competitive environment to the detriment of other traditional public schools. Considering the difficult financial environment that exists in public education, it is truly a sad day.”
Call for action
Former Canon-McMillan athletic director, Guy Montecalvo, said he supports public school administrators pursuing a change. Times and circumstances are dramatically different from the early 1970s.
“Historically speaking, Act 219 of 1972, which admitted Catholic schools into the PIAA, was probably an admirable move at the time,” Montecavlo said. “I was an athlete (at Washington High School) during that era, and the vast majority of student-athletes who attended Catholic schools did so because their families wanted a Catholic education for their children.
“Catholic schools had established, geographic diocesan boundaries. That, unfortunately, is not the case today as those boundaries have disappeared. The landscape of high school sports is dramatically different. In the athletic realm, this has led to the rampant acquisition of talent by some schools, for purposes for which the original rule was not intended – athletic superiority. Private schools and charter schools were not really in existence, or were not an athletic factor at the time in which Act 219 was legislated. They certainly are a major player in acquiring championships on the WPIAL and PIAA level today.”
Kurt Kesneck, athletic director and assistant principal at Chartiers-Houston, agrees and points to the results of the WPIAL and PIAA playoffs. For example, last year non-boundry schools won seven of the 12 PIAA basketball championships, and of the 24 teams that participated in the title games more than half were non-boundry schools. In the WPIAL playoffs, non-boundry schools won seven of 12 championships including all six in Class A through Class AAA.
“We believe that there is an unfair advantage to those schools without boundaries,” Kesneck said. “You do not need to look any further than the WPIAL and state playoffs in most sports to see the the effect that the non-boundary schools have. I truly believe there is an unfair advantage with these schools in the PIAA and WPIAL. Some of these schools do it right; but I believe the majority are recruiting.”
Bill Simms, athletic director and softball coach at West Greene, and Mike Bosnic, the athletic director and football coach at Washington, agree that the non-boundary schools are having their way in certain sports and that both districts would support any move that would be in the best interest of their student-athletes.
“We feel that it’s important because private schools have an unfair advantage over public schools,” Bosnic said. “This is evidenced by the recent success of private schools in the PIAA playoffs, especially in sports such as football and basketball, where private schools make up about 20 percent of the schools but win about 75 percent and 56 percent of the state titles, respectively.”
Simms added volleyball as another sport dominated by non-boundary schools.
The West Greene School board passed a resolution last month, calling for changes in the current PIAA format with boundary/non-boundary schools.
“We at West Greene would consider any or all alternatives offered to the current format,” Simms said. “However, we are not in favor of pulling out of the WPIAL, nor the PIAA, over the matter currently.”
Linda Messich is the athletic director at Mapletown and serves on the WPIAL Board of Control. She said Mapletown supports the move to take the case to the legislature because “it appears that is the only avenue available to make a change,” she added.
“The PIAA seems firmly entrenched in its belief that separation of boundary and non-boundary schools would be a violation of the 1972 law,” Messich said. “Without action by the state legislature, a change isn’t likely at all.
“I feel it’s important to us because non-boundary schools have so much advantage over boundary schools that a level playing field is next to impossible, especially for those of us with very small enrollments. We have a very limited pool of prospective athletes to draw from; they have an unlimited pool. Looking at a list of past district and state champions points out the imbalance between boundary and non-boundary, if you compare the percentages. A disproportionate number of the champions come from the non-boundary side even though they have a smaller number of schools.
“New transfer regulations by PIAA attempted to rectify this but was not enough to effect the change needed. Recruiting is very difficult to police and the PIAA districts, absent first-hand knowledge and testimony, must rely on the integrity of the schools and coaches involved. Separate postseason play would not solve all the issues but would help level that playing field.”
Montecalvo said this is “not a PIAA problem,” as many believe.
“The PIAA’s hands are tied by the state legislature,” he said. “This is an issue that can be resolved only by the politicians. In 2011, the PIAA, examining this inequity, attempted to follow the lead of several other states and adopt a multiplier for private schools which would bump them up in classification.
“However, the legislature again stepped in and established Senate Bill 1389 of 2011, which inserted language into the school code’s non-discrimination clause that added private schools as a protected entity along with race, gender, religion and other entities. Consequently, the multiplier proposition effectively was squelched. Nothing can be done unless there is a change in the state law. Obviously, the private schools have a powerful, wealthy and influential lobby.”
Other problems
At least one local district – Jefferson-Morgan – thinks another related issue that needs addressed is that “several public schools are entering the area of non-boundary schools and enrolling students that reside outside their school boundaries,” according to Joseph Orr, the district’s superintendent.
“Our school district feels very strongly that a separation needs to take place, and that the PIAA is dragging its feet in its willingness to do so,” said Orr in response to the O-R survey. “Virtually every school district I speak with wants this change to occur.”
As for boundary schools becoming like non-boundary schools, Orr said, “Several Washington County school districts do this, with one specific district having 40 non-resident students on athletic teams in 2016-17 and 59 non-resident students on athletic teams in 2017-18. These public schools need to participate in the non-boundary classification when, and if, this change would ever take place.”
In September, Jefferson-Morgan School District responded to a lawsuit filed by Trinity School District over Trinity’s vocational-agriculture program, accusing Trinity of recruiting students for its athletic programs through academic offerings.
Trinity accused Jefferson-Morgan of underpaying for students who attended Trinity for its vo-ag program during the 2017-18 school year. Orr has contended that there is no need for the Jefferson-Morgan students involved in the program to be full-time students at Trinity when the program is only two class periods.
The matter remains in litigation.