Earlier this year, Oregon Secretary of Education Susan Castillo put the brakes on the Oregon Student Athletics Association’s plan to redivide the high school athletics in Oregon into six districts, a move intended to even the playing field for a lot of schools that found themselves facing opponents with student bodies much larger than theirs.
Some larger Eugene schools have complained, since the redistricting plan was approved last fall by the OSAA board, that they would have to send students three hours south to Medford to compete in various sports. Some Medford schools were unhappy with the plan as well, and some Salem-area schools also didn’t like it.
So the protesting schools found a loophole. Turns out the OSAA failed to abide by the law in not getting the OK from Castillo before putting this plan together. The deal isn’t off yet for sure.
But mediation between the three protesting school districts and OSAA broke off last week and attorneys for those districts appeared early this week before hearings official Bill Young, during which athletic directors, principals and coaches aired their complaints. Young will make a recommendation to Castillo, but unless everybody’s happy with it, it looks like we’re looking at years of legal wrangling.
It’s not too surprising that these complaining parents went to the mat on this one. In Eugene protesting is an art form that is exercised almost daily somewhere in the city. In Salem, our capital, well, people know how to get things done politically.
When things look bleak, threaten a lawsuit.
The aggrieved parties complain that students’ academics may be affected by the hours they will spend on the bus traveling to and from games. Parents complain that it will be difficult to attend games consistently, now that they have to travel from Eugene to Medford.
There is no question that life is about to get a little rougher for some students and their families under this plan, particularly for the members of what is currently the Midwestern League in the Eugene area, who are finally going to have to face more opponents with student bodies their own size and that aren’t a comfortable 15-minute bus ride across town. The school-size equalization issue was one of the main purposes behind the OSAA plan and, while extending travel time wasn’t intentional, it does make things fairer for many other schools that do have to travel significant distances.
Schools like Sweet Home. Schools like Sisters. Schools like those in Eastern Oregon that have to really travel to play ball. These kids know how to get things done on the bus.
It’s not that we really like the plan. But that’s the problem with many of these types of arrangements, which are supposed to serve almost everyone. They don’t.
Sweet Home really isn’t winning with this plan. The Huskies have ended up in a five-team league, which screws up sports like basketball, baseball and softball by forcing the administration to find non-league opponents to fill out the schedule. Our travel time won’t be shortened by the new alignment. We’re traveling west now, instead of north, for most of our games – although our teams won’t be forced to travel over the pass to Sisters quite as regularly.
A big question for the entire state is why we need six classifications for Oregon schools. While dividing a state the size of Oregon into six districts might generate a little more money for OSAA at playoff time, isn’t the level of competition in those playoffs going to be watered down? What kind of championship is it when everybody who can stand up qualifies for the playoffs? Though a few schools that might actually benefit from a 6A division, it’s doesn’t have a solid ring to it.
The travel issues that the Salem, Eugene and Medford schools complain about are not hogwash. Three hours – the time it takes for a quick bus trip from Eugene to Medford – is a long time. Same for Salem to Redmond. But some schools do it all the time.
The point is that we live in a society in which some members can’t abide difficult circumstances. The Comfort Crowd had better see things going their way or they’ll call their lawyer, or their therapist.
This whole thing is about kids, kids who are supposed to be learning, through athletics as well as other schooling, how to live life.
Oregon school officials, including Superintendent Castillo, should recognize that Oregon’s geography requires that teams travel to play sports. When weighing this alignment plan, they need to think about the needs of schools at large around the state, not a select few in the bigger urban areas that have louder voices than the rest of us.
No matter what Castillo ultimately decides, someone’s going to be unhappy.
The lesson, which Oregonians as a whole and kids in particular, should take from these developments is this: When life throws you a curve ball, show a little gumption and take a swing.