The Georgia High School Association released proposed classifications for the 2014-16 cycle Monday, and four northwest Georgia area schools will be affected.
Dalton, with a student enrollment number of 1,640, will move up to Class AAAAA and will be the only area school in Georgia’s second-highest class. Also moving up are Calhoun and Murray County to Class AAA and Gordon Lee to Class AA.
Dalton athletic director Jeff McKinney said the move will increase travel costs but could have been worse.
“I’m still very curious how the GHSA will select regions,” McKinney said. “We’ve had rivalries with schools such as Rome, Cass and Woodland that are also going to be in Five-A. We hope to be able to keep as many of our local rivals as we can, but that depends on how many schools wind up in our region and the other area regions.”
Schools have until Dec. 2 to request to play in a higher classification, and the GHSA will meet Dec. 3 to form region alignments. A school may appeal to transfer to a lateral region by Dec. 13, and on Jan. 14 the ruling body will ratify its classification plan.