The first domino has fallen from last week's TSSAA ruling on public and private schools.
Chattanooga Christian School is the first private school currently playing against public schools in Division I to announce it intends to move to Division II when the rule goes into effect beginning with the 2017-18 school year.
TSSAA executive director Bernard Childress said all member schools have until October 2016, when the state's governing body begins working on classification changes, to give notice of intention to compete in Divisions I or II.
"The reality is when the TSSAA made those changes, some of our parents saw it and knew it would affect them," CCS president Chad Dirkse said. "The new by-laws really don't give us a choice, so our board and administration felt it's better to go ahead and let our current and future families know our intention."
Last Tuesday, the TSSAA's nine-member Legislative Council voted in five new proposals directed at resolving the decades-old debate about public schools and private schools competing against one another. Among the new rules that were passed was an addition to the TSSAA by-laws definition of "financial assistance program" to include all part-time employment currently used to offset the cost of tuition for students.
Also passed was a ruling that if tuition is charged, it must be paid by the parent, bona fide guardian or other family member. Additionally, any part-time employment that involves the sibling of a student-athlete would also be considered financial aid and would force a school offering that assistance to move to D-II.
The new rules put the onus on individual schools to determine whether they will discontinue financial assistance and work-study programs to remain in D-I or continue those programs and switch to D-II. For now, the area's other private schools that currently play in D-I - Boyd-Buchanan, Grace Academy, Notre Dame and Silverdale Baptist - have not made a public decision on the matter.
Dirkse said CCS has 134 part-time employees who are paid for working as either custodians, substitute teachers or part-time instructors, as well as middle school coaches who are paid as part-time employees.
"We have families that do custodial work as part of how they can afford to send their children to CCS," Dirkse said. "Our parents have cleaned CCS since the school opened, so I couldn't, in good conscience, tell them their children would no longer be eligible for high school athletics beginning in 2017.
"For anyone that didn't think this will force many private schools out, or to make significant changes, they haven't really looked closely at the new rules. We value our relationship with the public schools and don't want to come across as being a victim. This decision is bigger than athletics for us, and we're just doing what we feel is right and best to serve the families who choose to send their children to CCS."
CCS has 1,150 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. By moving to D-II, the school's athletic teams may have to travel more for league games, because many of the other D-II schools are located in Knoxville and Nashville. However, Dirkse added that travel should not be a concern, noting the Chargers already have to travel outside of Hamilton County for many games.
Currently 46 private schools compete against each other in D-II, while 24 other private schools, mostly in the smaller classifications, still compete in the public school division and must tolerate having their enrollment multiplied for classification's sake by 1.8 - the highest rate in the nation among athletic association using a multiplier for private schools - to do so.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.