Perrin School discusses Class 1A reclassification

PERRIN – Dropping to Class A, which would mean six-man football, was a topic of discussion during Tuesday night’s school board meeting.

Superintendent Cliff Gilmore said the high school is at 106 students right now with the Class A limit set at 104.9. He said for districts that play 11-man football, the only way to count enrollment is students in grades 9-12. After a conversation with UIL Executive Director Charles Breithaupt recently, six-man districts have more leeway of figuring enrollment.

“You can figure enrollment four ways: grades 7-10, in which we have 100 students right now, grades 8-11, 9-12 or grades 9 and 10 times two,” Gilmore explained. “It makes a huge difference.”

Seeing the district struggle in competitions right now in both the academic and athletic areas was one of the reason for considering the move. If approved, the drop would be for all sports and academic endeavors, including One-Act Play and UIL academics.

Dropping down is very common in recent years, Gorman is one of the area schools to have done it with good success lately. Doing so would also mean less travel with area schools like Bryson, Gordon and Strawn already playing six-man.

Board President Chris Keeney said if the board wants to do what’s best for the kids, dropping down would be it.

There are 220 schools competing on the Class 2A level presently with that number only expected to go up, Gilmore said.

To read the complete article, see the Sept. 22 edtion of the Herald-Gazette.