PORT ANGELES — Potentially switching to a Class 2A/3A membership model — with Port Angeles moving up to 3A — and the possible combination of Port Townsend and Chimacum athletic programs for all sports may be in store for the Olympic League in the near future.
Changes in the makeup and membership of the league’s existing Class 1A/2A status would take effect beginning in the 2020-2021 school year — and area athletic directors are eyeing all of their options in advance.
Vote on amendments
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s 53-member Representative Assembly will meet Jan. 28 to vote on a pair of amendments that would alter the methods used to form state classifications (Class 1B-4A).
Port Angeles Athletic Director Dwayne Johnson, the lone North Olympic Peninsula representative on the Assembly, said Olympic League athletic directors have had “multiple discussions on potential scenarios” in the event Assembly members adopt the two proposals.
The first amendment would change how high schools are grouped in each of the state’s six classifications.
It aims to create a cap on numbers for each class with the enrollment parameters for each classification set at: 1,300 or more students (in grades 9-11) for 4A; 900 to 1,299 for 3A; 450-899 for 2A; 225-449 for 1A; 105-224 for 1A; and 1-104 for 1B.
The current WIAA system attempts to group an equal amount of schools in each classification (between 60 to 66 schools per class).
An adjusted enrollment total counting ninth through 11th grade students will be utilized to achieve the final number for each school. Final numbers and classifications will be released late this year or in January 2020.
The second amendment would impact the makeup of those classifications with the WIAA given the ability to adjust enrollment figures down based on schools’ free and reduced lunch counts.
The WIAA says the state average for students receiving free or reduced lunch is 43 percent, citing information obtained from the state Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction. A school with a rate of 53 percent on free or reduced lunch would receive a 10-percent reduction in student enrollment.
If the amendments pass, the makeup of leagues around the state could be significantly altered starting with the 2020-21 school year.
The Olympic League currently consists of a seven-team 2A division, which includes Bremerton, Kingston, Olympic, North Kitsap, North Mason, Port Angeles and Sequim; and a three-team 1A division of Chimacum, Klahowya and Port Townsend.
During the current enrollment cycle, Port Angeles (876 students), Olympic (863), Bremerton (860) and North Kitsap (810) are four of the largest 2A teams in the state. They could all be among the smaller 3A schools in the next cycle.
Johnson said the feeling is similar to the 2014 classification cycle.
“A similar worry as in 2014, when we went down to a district executive board meeting on a Monday to find out we were 3A and by the league administrators meeting on Thursday we were back at 2A because schools were opting up,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s most recent student counts include a smaller-than-usual eighth-grade class projected to enter the high school next school year.
“Stevens middle school will send us 40 less students next year,” Johnson said. “Normally, they send us 300-plus students each year.”
Johnson provided numbers that show 258 eighth graders and a total of around 851 students in the three grade levels that will comprise the count.
That figure would put Port Angeles safely amongst 2A schools in the next count, but Johnson isn’t entirely comfortable with that number because it remains close to 3A.
“We have to be flexible and mindful of our student athletes,” Johnson said. “As a 2A school it’s a pretty direct path and that’s the comfort zone that we are in now in accessing postseason play. And we do fairly well when we reach the playoffs.”
The percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch at Port Angeles High School is 39.1 percent, lower than the state average of 43 percent, and lagging behind the 51.1 percent of Stevens Middle School students receiving those benefits.
Johnson is working to find those under served students and get them signed up to receive meals — and lopping off a 10-percent enrollment chunk if Port Angeles’ free or reduced lunch level exceeds 53 percent.
“Part of my conversation has been with administrators, coaches and parents to get them to sign up for that free or reduced lunch program,” Johnson said.
“You’ve hit a nerve. We’ve shared this gap with our administration in hopes of closing it.”
Johnson said some Port Angeles student-athletes are falling through the cracks nutritionally.
“We’ve been able to access individuals in our community that can help in this regard to make sure that our kids are fed on away trips,” Johnson said. “Some supporters have been able to give us gift cards that allow us to make sure that our student athletes go with, rather than go without.”
Johnson praised Port Angeles School District food service supervisor Kathy Crowley for the work she has done in feeding students.
“Kathy Crowley has done a wonderful job with the challenges we have been faced with here in the district,” Johnson said.
Rivals united?
Changes are almost certain for the Olympic 1A Division with Chimacum set to drop to 2B and Klahowya, a larger 1A school, likely leaping to 2A either by enrollment total or by opting up.
The Cowboys, currently a 1A school saddled with declining enrollment, are likely to come in as a 2B school in the next count, regardless of whether or not the amendments are approved, Chimacum athletic director Tony Haddenham said.
Options include joining an existing 2B league in a different district, playing an independent schedule or combining enrollment numbers with Port Townsend and fielding teams at the 2A level.
“I want our kids to be competitive and have the ability and opportunity to succeed in said sport, but yeah, there are significant disadvantages and advantages that come with each possibility,” Haddenham said.
These include increased classroom absences for athletes and significantly higher travel costs associated with joining a 2B league after factoring in the need for more ferry trips or longer road trips.
Class 2B options are unappealing geographically — limited to the Class 1B/2B Northwest League which has teams in the San Juan Islands and as far away as Concrete, or playing in the Pacific League, which stretches from Tacoma to Ilwaco on the state’s far southern coast.
“It may be a matter of sucking up some pride because our goal is doing what’s best for our kids,” Chimacum athletic director Tony Haddenham said of a potential athletics merger between traditional rivals Chimacum and Port Townsend.
The Redhawks will likely remain a 1A school in the coming count, but have faced low turnout in a number of boys and girls sports in recent years.
With Chimacum and Klahowya likely gone to different classifications, Port Townsend could find itself as the lone 1A school in the area. Forks is a 1A school, but plays in the Evergreen 1A League, which is mostly schools along the Highway 12 corridor.
Port Townsend has played in the Nisqually League in 1A and 2A iterations in the past, and currently competes, along with Chimacum and Klahowya, in a combined Nisqually-Olympic League for football.
Chimacum intends to discuss its options, including a potential all-sport merger with Port Townsend today in a meeting with the superintendents, principals and athletic directors of each district.
Port Townsend and Chimacum currently combine for boys and girls tennis (hosted by Chimacum); boys and girls wrestling (Port Townsend), girls swimming (Port Townsend) and will team up on the softball diamond for the first time this spring (Chimacum).
“It would be a drastic change for us to move leagues,” Haddenham said. “We’ve been loving the league we are in. We have a great rapport with the Olympic League ADs. The kids have been playing these schools for years and building relationships and rivalries.
“That’s exactly what our meeting is about. To check out all the options and figure out what we can do.”
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
Rivalry game trophies like the Widge Black Memorial Trophy given to the winner of the Port Townsend-Chimacum boys basketball season series, could become a thing of the past for the Redhawks (pictured earlier this month) and Cowboys during the WIAA’s 2020 enrollment reclassification cycle.
