The first stage of the next Georgia High School Association reclassification cycle took place last week, and while the process isn’t expected to be nearly as drawn out and combative as the last one, there could still be significant change.
The GHSA reclassification committee voted to retain the current 3.0 out-of-school-zone enrollment multiplier for the next cycle. The multiplier was put in place to help even the playing field between public and private schools, with private schools — and several city schools — moving up in classification for the current cycle.
While the multiplier will stay, there is a new rule that could affect the impact on city schools such as Calhoun, Dalton and Gordon Lee. Beginning with the next cycle, any student who has attended a feeder school for a high school since at least the fifth grade will no longer be counted as out of zone.
At Gordon Lee, for example, the new rule could have a significant impact because the city covers so little land and nearly half the student population lives just outside the school zone. The great majority of those students have been in the Chickamauga City School District and feeder schools for Gordon Lee High School.
“Our city limit is so small, so many of our students are considered out of school zone right now,” Gordon Lee softball coach Dana Mull said. “The 3.0 is fair, but I do like the new rule that won’t count those kids. I mean, we can’t control the fact that our city limits are only 3.1 miles, and so many of those kids who live outside the zone have been in school here the whole time.”