The South Carolina High School League released the proposed reclassification and realignment plan for the 2020-2022 school years in mid-December.
Every two years, the league reclassifies schools based on enrollment numbers. The proposed plan would keep Colleton County High School in Region VII-AAAA along with Beaufort High School, Bluffton and Hilton Head. Joining the seven-team region will be James Island, Lucy Beckham and May River. According to the SCHSL release, the top 40 schools were placed in AAAAA and the next 40 in AAAA.
Colleton County is currently ranked 52nd in the state for enrollment.
For the remaining placements a “concept of plus or minus (+/-) four schools was employed. This created the opportunity for schools to be assigned to more geographically friendly regions among the classifications.” According to an SCHSL release, several new factors were used in this year’s process in order to create a more balanced division of schools: Used the 45 ADM enrollment count of the current school year; Only includes grades 9-11 in the enrollment count; Used a plus or minus (+/-) four schools to address geography and travel.
“The goals of the process was to reduce the number of schools in the AAAAA classification (currently 48); increase the number of schools in the A classification (currently 38); and create a balanced number of schools in the remaining classifications (AA, AAA, AAAA). Throughout the process, geography and travel were major considerations,” according to the SCHSL release.
An appeals process for schools is scheduled to begin in late January and may be heard on several levels within the SCHSL. Once the appeals process is complete, each classification will determine the number of playoff positions.
A final realignment plan should be released by the end of February.
