News

Catholic schools pleased to stay in championships

Published: August 15, 2009   

By Armando Rios
Associate Editor

Armando Rios

Catholic High School principal Steve Straessle holds a banner for an award the school's track athletes received Aug. 4 during the AAA meeting.

Armando Rios

Catholic High School principal Steve Straessle holds a banner for an award the school's track athletes received Aug. 4 during the AAA meeting.

A proposal that would have placed all Catholic schools and other private schools that provide financial aid for students in a separate category for post-season competition was defeated Aug. 4 by a vote of 114 to 93 by members of the Arkansas Activities Association.

The AAA governs junior high and high school sports in the state. The AAA board had recommended against the proposal.

Some public school officials wanted the separation because they believe schools providing tuition assistance have an unfair advantage.

A compromise proposal passed, requiring students enrolling at nonpublic schools to do so by July 1 before entering seventh grade in order to be immediately eligible for interscholastic athletic participation. If the private school does not offer grades seven or eight, the student may immediately become eligible by enrolling by July 1 prior to the lowest grade offered by that school. The proposal was approved by a vote of 247 to 25.

The new rule will reduce the appearance that Catholic and private schools are recruiting athletes away from public schools.

If Proposal 7 had passed, it would have been unfair to Catholic school student athletes. Catholic school officials have been working with and will continue to work with public school officials, according to diocesan and Catholic school officials.

"I was very pleased that Proposal 7 did not pass," said Catholic schools superintendent Vernell Bowen. "The Catholic school principals have worked very hard to build relationships with the public school administrators and athletic directors in their divisions over the past two years trying to resolve issues at their district meetings."

Bowen said she expected the proposal to be defeated this year but believes it will be on the agenda again next year.

But it will not deter Catholic schools from helping its students.

"Throughout the discussions we have had with AAA regarding Proposal 7, the Catholic schools have stated they want to continue to be a part of AAA," she said. "However, we will not move away from our philosophy regarding giving financial aid to needy students who want to receive a Catholic education. This is part of our mission."

If the proposal had passed, it would have meant any Catholic schools making the state playoffs would not have been able to play in the championships, she said.

The Diocese of Little Rock has six high schools, five of which play in AAA-sanctioned sports.

"This would have meant that the Catholic and private schools would have had to play each other for a championship," Bowen continued. "This would have been unjust for some schools because they would be playing private and Catholic schools with such differentiating enrollments."

Bowen said Catholic schools were willing to make the concession and accept Proposal 8, which was proposed as an alternative to Proposal 7 by the AAA board of directors.

"The Catholic schools were willing to make this concession in order to stay with AAA," she said.

It will have little effect on Catholic schools. So, what is the solution?

"To continue to build relationships with the public school sector and follow all the rules and regulations set forth by AAA," Bowen said. "It would be very difficult to form a private school league like many of the surrounding states have done because of the differences in enrollments and the small number of private high schools."

Lance Taylor, AAA executive director, said the AAA member schools are always trying to level the playing field for all schools.

From his point of view, the solution is to continue improving communications between private and public schools.

"The membership needs to learn to treat their neighbors as they want to be treated," Taylor said.

"(Proposal 8) was developed in collaboration with the non-public schools to help level the playing field," he said. "I hope it is the answer. I do believe it is the best solution to level the playing field that has ever passed the governing body."

Taylor hopes the issue will not come up again.

"The ball has been placed in the hands of the non-public schools, and I hope with the leadership of those schools we hold everyone responsible for their actions," he said.

Sportsmanship and winning can go together. St. Joseph School in Conway won the boys 2A basketball championship and their girls were runner-ups, but with the leadership of their administration and coaches they also won the 2A State Sportsmanship Award, which was voted on by the schools in their classification.

Catholic High School won a similar award in its 7A classification.

During the AAA meeting, it was mentioned Proposal 7 was based on a Tennessee rule.

"Tennessee has far more private schools than Arkansas, so we don't know how we would have even made it work," said Steve Straessle, Catholic High principal, shortly after the vote.

"I am very pleased at the outcome, very pleased that cooler heads prevailed, and I think this is all fodder for continued discussion between private and public schools about their differences and the issues that they hold so dear to their hearts," he said.

Greg Timmerman, Subiaco Academy's dean of men, who sat next to Straessle after the vote, echoed Straessle.

"The vote went well, and I am glad the administrators understand that there are two sides to every story," Timmerman said. "It is not over. We will have to continue to work and make things better between private and public schools."

Another reason Timmerman was glad the proposal failed was because of the travel headaches it would have caused. Subiaco would have had to travel to Little Rock or northwest Arkansas for games, surpassing nearby schools with which Subiaco has great relationships and friendly rivalries.

"We didn't want to lose that either and now it is up to us to make sure that we are good stewards, and we continue to be good friends with them and try to work through this problem," he added.

Contacted later, Joe Mallett, principal of St. Joseph School in Conway, and Brian Bailey, principal of Sacred Heart School in Morrilton, were both pleased with the vote on Proposal 7.

"I was very happy it was defeated," Mallett said. "Obviously, the closeness of the vote concerns me. It seems like there is a lack of trust or failure to work together, especially in a few parts of the state between some private and public schools. I think as members of AAA we have to abide by the rules and the intent of the rules."

Mallett said people he spoke with were complimentary of Catholic schools and how they adhere to rules.

"It should not be to this point," he said. "I try to tell people that all schools, public and non-public, are members and chose to be in the association, therefore we should abide by the rules. I am very pleased that we did have enough support to beat that. It will be an ongoing process. We have to earn that trust back. I just want to keep moving in a positive direction, moving forward and not moving backwards."

Bailey saluted all those who had the interest of the student athletes at heart when they voted.

"We are proud and will continue to be members of the AAA and participate," he said. "The vote, every year, it seems to be getting closer to something punitive happening to private schools in Arkansas. This was scary going in, but we prevailed and are thankful for those who believe in the same thing we do."

Bailey said he expects it to be brought up again next year with the "same buzz word that it will level the playing field."

Discussions prior to the vote reached into the area of philosophical differences between public and private education, he said.

"It would be nicer if we could hammer out what the real issues truly are and cooler heads prevailed to take the emotion out of it, just look at the bare facts and see if anything needs to be done. Catholic schools have been charter members of the AAA, and there has never been an incident in which we were named in any illegal, illicit or immoral things," Bailey said.

A representative from Mount St. Mary Academy, which is also an AAA member, could not be reached.