Soddy-Daisy’s Mallory Wade (45) tries to drive through Baylor’s Julia McMahan (33) during the Hoops for Hope breast-cancer-awareness benefit at Signal Mountain High School on Saturday.The biggest issue facing high school sports in more than a decade is still months from being decided, but if the Chattanooga area is any indication there is a clear consensus on the public-school/private-school debate.
The Times Free Press conducted a poll of 41 administrators from area schools and found that 33 of those favored a complete public-private split. Each of those administrators said they would recommend that to the area’s TSSAA Legislative Council member, Soddy-Daisy principal Danny Gilbert.
“I’m actually not that surprised by those results,” Gilbert said. “I expect there to be a pretty good majority of schools, in our area and around the state, who want the split. I would’ve voted for it back when we discussed it at our last meeting, but it would’ve been irresponsible for me to have voted that way before talking with the schools I represent.
“My job is not to force my opinion on anyone, but to educate the schools I represent and let them tell me what they want. That’s what we’ll do over these next few months. But do I think there will be a split? Yes.”
The decades-old issue was renewed when administrators from Trousdale County and Lewis County high schools submitted a proposal last winter to completely split all schools that charge for tuition into a separate division from the public schools. Last March, just before the start of the boys’ state basketball tournament, the nine-member Legislative Council discussed the issue for more than an hour before voting 7-2 to table the proposal.