Private School Promotion System Rejected In Colorado

Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/preps/ci_23054110/chsaa-shoots-down-colorado-private-high-school-sports

The public-private debate surrounding high school athletics in Colorado isn’t going anywhere. Instead, after a meeting on Thursday, the state’s membership remains divided.

A proposal seeking to install a promotion system for successful private school programs was narrowly shot down at the Colorado High School Activities Association’s legislative council meeting in Aurora on Thursday morning.

“We’re split,” CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico said afterward.

The proposal would have applied to any school that can selectively pick its enrollment, and sought to measure success over a four-year period with a points system.

Effectively, private schools would have gathered points for successes such as state championships (10 points), semifinal appearances (six points) and so on. If schools went over a 32-point threshold, they would be forced to move up a classification for at least one two-year cycle.

The bylaw, requiring a simple majority, went down by way of a 34-33 vote — but only after a handful of private school administrators spoke out against it.

“I’m all for athletic equity and competitive balance, but I think that this proposal, with the way it’s worded, is a bad precedent to set,” Kent Denver athletic director Scott Yates said before the vote. “In this case, we are isolating that group and we are proposing, to some degree, that there is a punishment for success.”