| Editorial KHSAA Propositon 20 Passes What Now??? By Coach Dave Schabell |
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| Today at the delegate assembly of the KHSAA, the public schools of the state told the private schools of the state that"we don't love you anymore" and have filed for divorce. The "If You Can't Beat 'Em Ban 'Em" proposition passed the assembly by a 195-78 margain with a few abstenions and absentees. If approved by the Kentucky Board of Education, this will result in the Private Schools and the Public Schools conducting separate "State Tournaments" to determine separate "State Champions." In a state where unclassified basketball has been a cherished tradition, our public schools in one felt swoop, have just created a two-class basketball system. If the Board of Education intervenes and upholds the one-class system of post-season play as we now know it, lines will still have been drawn, bad-blood and hard feelings will remain stirred into the mix of the animosity between groups which currently exists. In my opinion this is a very dark day in the history of Kentucky athletics. Shame on the private schools who have taken advantage of their private status to gain an unfair athletic advantage with disregard to the fallout. Shame on the public schools for their unwillingness to work out a compromise and for using their majority status to gain for them a "level playing field by decree", which they will never be happy or fulfilled competing on and in effect taking their ball and going home, and lastly SHAME ON THE KHSAA for looking the other way, failing to be the good policemen that they are paid to be and for allowing things to arrive at this place and time. As I watched some of our freshmen practicing this evening, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of high school basketball environment that they will compete in for the duration of their high school careers. There is already talk of boycotting the public schools and forming a super-league made up of all of the private schools of the state. Problem is, the private schools who take advantage of their private status to gain athletic advantage just got carte blanche to get richer, stronger, and more dominant by stacking the deck, while those of us who play by the rules and build our teams out of home-grown talent will be taken advantage of by those who don't, and the myriad of Christian Schools and academies of the state who truly do teach Christian doctrine and values have no possible chance to ever become competitive if all of the rest of us start "shaking the bushes.". The public schools will find that they will actually miss the private schools since there aren't enough public schools to form four-four team districts in each region and the realignment going into effect this coming season will be for naught after this year. This may be the one instance where we will come to appreciate lawyers and the the litigation process. Lawsuits are certain to be spawned as a result of this ruling and it may take years until the whole thing is completely resolved. Let's hope that the Kentucky Board of Education in its infinite wisdom says ix-nay to the whims of the public schools of the state and either disbands the KHSAA and takes athletics of the state unto its own, or demands that the KHSAA achieve a resolution to this problem and allows for all of us to play on that "level playing field." |
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