Published: November 12, 2008 09:06 pm      

9 private schools to reduce district boundaries

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Nine private high schools said Wednesday they would voluntarily reduce their district boundaries in what they called a "good-faith effort" to ease tensions with public-school members of the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association.

Under the proposal, unanimously approved during a meeting of the OSSAA's Board of Directors, the nine schools would reduce their district boundaries, on average, by 80 percent. The reductions would take effect on July 1.

"We don't have to do this," said Keith Cassell, the upper school division head of Heritage Hall in Oklahoma City. "We want to do this, because we're good members, and want to do what we can to dispel some of the perceptions" about private schools.

OSSAA Executive Director Danny Rennels said no students currently enrolled at the nine schools would lose athletic eligibility as a result of the boundary reductions.

Rocky Burchfield of Fairview High School, the president of the OSSAA board, praised the voluntary boundary reductions.

"I think this is good for the organization and public and private schools," he said.

In recent years, as private schools have enjoyed more success in OSSAA-sponsored athletics, resentment from public-school administrators and patrons has built because of suspicions the private schools recruited students for athletic purposes, which would be a violation of OSSAA rules.

The private schools have denied such recruiting and have said they need to draw from wider geographic areas than public schools to remain viable. Dallas Caldwell, the headmaster at Oklahoma Christian School in Edmond, said that while the private schools do provide tuition assistance for students based on financial need, no scholarships are provided to athletes.

In some states, the tensions between public and private schools have built to a point that separate postseason championships are offered, as in Tennessee, or have been proposed, as in Kentucky. Oklahoma private-school administrators said they wanted to prevent that from happening.

"What's good for our association is good for all of our (private) schools," Caldwell said. "We see the concern is serious, so our response is to be specific.

"It's helped that several of us have had good relationships with public-school administrators. We consider them friends. We're in the same business ... at different schools."

The schools making the proposal to reduce their boundaries were Bishop McGuinness, Heritage Hall and Mount St. Mary, all located in Oklahoma City; Bishop Kelley, Cascia Hall, Metro Christian Academy and Victory Christian, all located in Tulsa; Oklahoma Bible Academy in Enid and Oklahoma Christian School.

Those schools, along with Corn Bible Academy in Corn, received set boundaries upon joining the OSSAA, but those boundaries were large — Oklahoma Christian's territory, for example, currently covers all of the Oklahoma City and Edmond school districts.

Since 2006, eight more private schools have joined the OSSAA under a policy set by the Board of Directors. Each of those schools was assigned a well-defined and narrow district boundary.

Caldwell said the goal of the proposal was "to address concerns and operate in a spirit of cooperation and good faith."

He said the reduction of district sizes recognized comparable district sizes within each school's OSSAA classification and is meant to reduce, if not eliminate, the appearance of any advantage created by the current private-school district sizes.

"We're trying to be proactive and I think it's what's fair, especially because our private-school counterparts coming in now are getting smaller districts," McGuinness athletic director Gary Savely said. "It was only fair to restrict our districts down to be comparable to what they're doing."

The issue has risen to the forefront in Oklahoma in recent years as private schools have enjoyed success in high-profile sports. Heritage Hall won the Class 2A football title in 1998, led by current New England Patriots receiver Wes Welker, while McGuinness has won the last two Class 4A football titles and Cascia Hall won the 2A title last season.

In boys basketball, McGuinness has won seven of the last 11 Class 4A titles, and Oklahoma Christian has won five titles in 2A and 3A in the last seven years, with four of those won by teams led by current University of Oklahoma star Blake Griffin.

"One of the perceptions from public schools about us is that there are two different sets of rules," Heritage Hall athletic director Rod Warner said. "They say, 'Why don't they have to play by the rules?' But we do. This is to make sure everybody understands that we're bound by the same rules and regulations of the OSSAA and we always have been and always will be."