By JAMIE BAKER
SPORTS EDITOR
BLUFFTON — The ballots are in the mail and on their way to high school principals for this year’s Ohio High School Athletic Association referendum.
The biggest issue to decide is a fourth try at a competitive balance plan for high school athletics in Ohio.
Principals at the OHSAA’s 823-member schools will ultimately decide the matter during the OHSAA’s referendum period that runs from May 1-15.
But after the OHSAA’s regional town meeting for northwestern Ohio’s athletic and school administrators, a number of principals who will be voting on the issue are still undecided.
OHSAA commissioner Daniel B. Ross, associate commissioner Deborah Moore and assistant commissioner and former Findlay High School athletic director Jerry Snodgrass were at The Centre in Bluffton to shed some light on the referendum items up for a vote.
Discussion of the competitive balance plan dominated the day.
If approved, the new proposal will require schools to provide the OHSAA with team rosters of student athletes in grades 9 through 12 as well as additional residential background information about each student. Students in public schools will be subject to modifying factors if their parents do not reside in the district or if the student has not been continuously enrolled in the district since seventh grade. Additionally, students in non-public schools will be subject to the same modifying factors if they did not attend that school’s designated “feeder” school(s) continuously since seventh grade or have not been continuously enrolled in the same system of education.
The new proposal would be applied in football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball.
Most area athletic administrators didn’t think the new plan would affect their schools much, if at all.
A majority of local schools are rural, have small enrollments with few open enrollment or transfer students that would cause their schools to move up and out of the smallest OHSAA divisions.
As with anything, there is always an exception to the rule and that exception might be Hopewell-Loudon.
With more than 360 students open-enrolled into Hopewell-Loudon from adjoining districts like Fostoria and Tiffin, the new competitive balance plan could have a big impact on a school like Hopewell-Loudon.
“I think they explained things pretty well today and put it in a way everyone could understand. I’ll take what I heard here today and share it with our super, board and coaches and we’ll come up with a consensus and how we will vote on this plan,” said Hopewell-Loudon principal Bill Dobbins, whose school will join the Blanchard Valley Conference beginning next year.
“We have a lot of open-enrollment students though so this could really impact our school particularly. But I do think the plan addresses a lot of issues people have.”
Carey principal Peter Cole doesn’t think it will have that much of an impact on his school and it’s the best competitive balance plan that the OHSAA has come up with so far.
“It’s better than the last one but I don’t think it addresses all of the issues people have. But it’s the best one we’ve had to vote on so far,” Cole said.
While Cole is still on the fence as to how he’ll vote, after narrow losses for the OHSAA competitive balance plan the last three years, he has a feeling this plan will end up a winner.
“I think those that voted yes on the previous ballots will vote yes for this too. They only need to turn 10-15 no votes into yes votes for it to pass. I think this will probably pass because they’ve appeased enough people.”
Baker, 419-427-8409
jamiebaker@thecourier.com
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