CHS School Board: "No" to three classes

The latest proposal to establish three classes of high school basketball competition in the state was the topic of conversation at Tuesday's meeting of the Carrington School Board.

Superintendent Janelle Helm outlined the current proposal with the board, which puts Carrington into the East Region of the new Class A.

Proposed enrollment cutoffs are as follows, using enrollment numbers from the 2021-22 school year:

• Class AA: 576 or above

• Class A: 180-575

• Class B: 179 or below

Carrington has the lowest enrollment of the current Class A East Division schools, Helm says. Carrington's 9-12 grade enrollment as of Oct. 7 was 181, just barely over the 180 minimum for Class A.

The proposed Class A East Region includes the following teams: Wahpeton, Oak Grove, Valley City, Kindred, Lisbon, Central Cass, Northern Cass, Hillsboro-Central Valley, Four Winds-Minnewaukan, Grafton, Dunseith, Devils Lake, Carrington, Thompson and Turtle Mountain.

Carrington girls' basketball coach and educator Andy Braaten attended the meeting. He said that the aim of the committee proposing the three class system is to increase participation in the sport. An example of the opposite, he says, is Nebraska, where they have six classes and their participation has dropped by 28 percent in the past 20 years.

"It's a national trend," Braaten said of reduced participation in competitive sports. He also cited the addition of other winter sports, namely girls' wrestling and archery for both boys and girls, as other possible reasons for the decrease in participation.

Braaten said he presented against the proposal during the Region 3 Zoom meeting on Oct. 7, citing six reasons. Among them was the increased mileage and cost to the district. The average distance to road opponents would increase from 74 miles to 117 miles, he calculated. The change might require overnight trips, more Saturday games, additional bus driver time and more substitute teachers for coaches leaving their classrooms earlier in the day.

Possible solutions Braaten offered included moving the 12 largest schools in Class B into a third region of the present Class A, or increasing the enrollment cutoff for Class B to 200. Both solutions would keep Carrington in Class B.

District officials cited the growing open enrollment in Carrington as part of what is pushing the district up the ladder in the proposal. If that trend continues, Carrington would eventually move up to Class A even if the enrollment cutoff was increased to 200.

Braaten also noted that he believes Carrington is among a small number of schools bearing the brunt of other districts' pursuit to get private schools out of Class B.

Braaten said he doesn't see an issue with the current Region 3 make-up. He cited the "competitive balance" in the region, noting that six different teams have advanced to the state tournament over the past nine years.

"Region 3 is lucky we don't have a private school," Braaten said.

Board member Randy Hooey had another theory about the drive behind the change.

"You want to know how many times girls basketball is mentioned (in the proposal)? Zero," Hooey said. "This is 100 percent driven by boys basketball."

Hooey made a motion to vote NO on the proposal, seconded by Angela Kutz. The motion was carried unanimously.

The change is driven by Valley City Superintendent Josh Johnson and LaMoure Superintendent Mitch Carlson. Johnson is the vice president of the North Dakota High School Activities Association (NDHSAA) board. They convened a focus group of region representatives from Class A and Class B schools this summer, and since then have reached out to schools across the state to get their feedback on the plan.

When decision time comes, each district has one vote, and they need 60 percent approval to move forward. If that happens, the proposal would move to the full NDHSAA board for approval and implementation.

"My overall feeling is that I don't think it will pass," Helm said, adding "I think they will go back to the drawing board again if it fails."

"It's going to happen, in some shape or form," Principal Connor Weber concluded, regarding the move to a three-class system. What it looks like and whether or not Carrington moves into a new class is still in question.

The board also approved a no-tuition agreement and an open enrollment application, each for a student from a neighboring district to attend Carrington School.

Other school news and updates:

• Fall Parent Teacher Conferences are set for Oct. 25 - 26. Parents will again be able to schedule their conference times online.

• NWEA testing is underway, with all students now testing on individual iPads/devices in their classrooms

• Backpack food program enrollment is up to 55, from an average of 40 the past five years. This does include pre-K students.

• Construction of the new storage building is nearly complete.

• District officials noted that they had received many compliments on the resurfaced parking lot/bus parking area south of the school.

• The CTE visit went well, and the school received a lot of compliments on their programs, including Vo Ag, FBLA and FCCLA. The school awaits the full report, which Helm says she expects to include a recommendation that additional staff be hired for the Vo Ag program, as participation numbers are strong.

• Progress on the stadium project is at a standstill. The press box is not slated to arrive until late this month.