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Split private schools out of HS sports to promote parity
Letters to the Editor
lettereditor

Editor, For decades, students at the traditional public schools in Georgia have been denied the chance to win a state championship because the system overseen by the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) ignores the fact that there is no parity among traditional public schools, private schools and city schools.
Whether you are in South Georgia or North Georgia, coaches from traditional public schools talk about the disadvantage of having to play against city schools and private schools. Traditional public high schools have a defined border or service area. Private schools do not. For city schools, that defined border or service area is vague, at best. Some city schools have open enrollment. In my statistics and comparisons below, “public schools” refers to traditional public schools and “private schools” refers to private, independent and parochial schools.
On Jan. 20, the GHSA held a meeting on reclassification. At issue was a debate that has been brewing for many years: whether private and city high schools should be judged differently than public schools during this reclassification process.
2-A public schools are saying the GHSA needs to do what it did with 1A schools a couple of years back: split the state playoffs between public and private schools. Private schools are asking for a student enrollment multiplier rule.
Ten private schools won 26 percent of the 1,826 sports championships that took place during 1995–2014 (excludes sports that split). What was the GHSA doing while this was occurring? Well, they did have a 1.5 multiplier rule in place during 2001–2008. This approach to parity failed. During this period, private school wins continued to rise.
The following private school statistics are for the years 1995–2014. In 2A and 3A boys and girls’ cross country combined, private schools won 67 of the last 79 championships (85 percent). In 2A and 3A boys and girls’ soccer combined, private schools won 35 of the last 44 championships (80 percent). In 2A and 3A boys and girls’ tennis combined, private schools won 73 of the last 80 championships (91 percent). In A/AA and 3A volleyball combined, private schools won 26 of the last 29 championships (90 percent).
During 2012–14, in 2A, 3A and 4A boys and girls’ soccer combined, there were 207 playoff games in which private schools played public or city schools. Private schools outscored public and city schools by a combined total of 793 to 65.
I encourage those interested in competitive balance in GHSA sports to go to the GHSA website at www.ghsa.net/champions and look at the various sports that have been dominated by private schools for decades. Send an email to the GHSA and let them know that public and private schools do not need to be competing in regional play, nor do they need to be competing against each other in the state playoffs. Contact information for the GHSA executive director and associate directors can be found at www.ghsa.net/office-staff.

-Alan Henderson
Parent of a public school athlete

Writer opposes mayoral candidate

Editor,
So Allen Brown wants to try it again. I don’t think we need a re-run of Mr. Brown’s Administration.
As I recall the high (correction: the low point) of the Brown Administration was the multi (dollar amount sealed by federal court) discrimination suit filed by city employees that cost the city untold amounts of money. Additionally, the court saddled the city with ten years of costly Total Quality Management training for all employees and affirmative actions with regards to promotions and hiring. Some of these actions are still felt today.
Police station: He seems to want to take credit for the construction, while blaming the over-capacity on some unnamed council member. Fifteen years later, 25 percent of the building is heated and cooled but not used. And there has been police building criticism included with other gaudy construction such as the Board of Education building, courthouse No. 3, city hall and the arts center.
Oh, we are going to take another look at the empty-bus company? Where has his voice been as that dead horse has been talked to death?
Taxes: Lower the millage rate to protect the fat cats who own multi-millions of dollars worth of real-estate and saddle the low income citizens with a regressive sales tax? That is the SPLOST specialty; transfer the tax from the wealthy to the lower incomes. Period!
Travel: No travel to China, Korea and Africa. That is a marvelous grasp of the obvious. I would suggest also adding Washington, D.C., to the list. The mayor of Hinesville is never going to have any influence on military personnel disbursement and budget decisions made by the Pentagon. I noted that the annual boondoggle to St. Simons Island was not on his list. Guess that is rated as OK.
But this old taxpayer and public servant does agree strongly with one point. Hinesville does need a new vision and champion. I just don’t think that Mr. Brown is the guy.

-Joe Gillam
Hinesville

If union opposes school plan, it must be good

Editor,
If the Georgia House approves a Senate bill and the voters approve it, the state would be allowed to temporarily take control of failing schools. The proposal would form an Opportunity School District.
Normally, I would object to the state government taking over from a local government, but in this case I am totally for this plan. It appears that the Georgia Federation of Teachers opposes the plan. Anytime that a union opposes something, it usually means that the proposal is a good one — one that would eliminate or reduce the union’s power.
This proposal would allow the state to change the local rules and regulations, including the right to retain or fire teachers and school staff. This would take control away from the union, which I truly like. Unions are passé and should be limited in scope. Unions have become too powerful and have hurt our economy. If you don’t believe me, visit Detroit. Educational unions have such manipulation of the educational system that boards of education can’t even fire poor-performing teachers.
The union says that this will reward some schools and punish others by creating charter schools. Rightly so — if a school is failing our children, then something needs to be done. Charter schools are independent schools that are publicly funded. These schools often are more innovative than traditional public schools, and they offer students many benefits over traditional public schools.
Charter schools usually have smaller classes than regular public schools. This ensures that the child is getting all of the help that the student needs to succeed because the child gets more one-on-one time with teachers, which is needed to help the student.
By turning the management of these schools over to an education-service provider, the union will lose power. Pity the poor union. If the union was more concerned about the education of our children rather than the union’s domination and, of course, its financial interests, maybe these worsening schools would not be failing.
We need to place our children’s future foremost, and I do not believe that the union cares one iota for our children.

-Len Calderon
Midway

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