Lawrence County school consolidation could change sports landscape for local teams

Published: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 3:14 PM CDT

Scot Beard

sbeard@franklincountytimes.com

The 2009-10 school year could see record numbers of teams from Franklin County earning playoff berths as the proposed consolidation of Lawrence County High Schools will shrink the number of schools in Class 1A. Suffering from budget issues, the Lawrence County Board of Education is proposing to combine Hazlewood with R.A. Hubbard, Mount Hope with Hatton and Speake with Lawrence County. The result would be a loss of three teams from Class 1A, Region 8 for the upcoming football season and a loss of two teams in Class 1A, Area 15 for basketball, baseball and softball. “In the past if a school closed in the middle of a classification period, they would be removed from other schedules and the region would retain the new number of schools,” said Ron Ingram, director of communications for the Alabama High School Athletic Association. He said when two schools combine the school that becomes the new campus retains its schedule. This means R.A. Hubbard, Hatton and Lawrence County will keep their schedules. Consolidation has not been made official, and opposition to the plan is strong, so there is still a chance Hazlewood, Mount Hope and Speake will still be competing next season. “Teams in Region 8 will lose (three) games and have to make them up somehow,” Ingram said. Darit Riddle, Tharptown’s principal, said the region’s coaches have gotten together and decided to make up the lost games by playing region opponents twice. “The first game is for the region standings,” Riddle said. “The second game will be for the gate.” In the solution, Tharptown will play Vina, Phillips and Shoals Christian twice. Attempts to find out which other schools Vina would play twice were unsuccessful. The consolidation, from an athletic standpoint, has its advantages and disadvantages for the upcoming season. The biggest advantage would be less competition for playoff spots. The biggest disadvantage would be schools growing in size competing against schools with smaller enrollment. In the latest reclassification, the AHSAA released the following numbers as the enrollments for the schools. Lawrence County has 395.1 students; Hatton has 180.55 students; Speake has 117.65 students; Hazlewood has 105.2 students; Mount Hope has 69.25 students and R.A. Hubbard has 62 students. The new enrollments, according to these numbers would be Lawrence County with 512.75 students, Hatton with 249.8 and R.A. Hubbard with 167.2 students. This would move all three schools to a higher class, but since it is in the middle of a classification period, the schools will retain their current classes. In Class 1A, the class R.A. Hubbard will remain in, Belgreen is listed as having 113.65 students, Vina is listed with 76.6 students and Tharptown is listed as having 70.55. In Class 2A, the class Hatton will be in, Phil Campbell is listed with 205.05 students and Red Bay is listed with 191.15 students. Russellville, in Class 5A, is listed with 479.4 students. Ingram concedes there will be an advantage in numbers, but that might not translate to success on the field. “There is a disadvantage in the kids that have not played together before,” Ingram said. Ingram did say after the 2009-10 school year the state would reclassify schools to take make the regions and areas more competitive. For now, however, the new Class 1A, Region 8 in football will have R.A. Hubbard, Phillips, Shoals Christian, Tharptown, Vina and Waterloo while Class 1A, Area 15 for basketball, baseball and softball will consist of Belgreen, Phillips, Tharptown and Vina. Area 15 will guarantee Franklin County will have one team reach the playoffs in baseball and softball while one team will make the sub-regional round of the basketball playoffs. Copyright © 2009 – Franklin County Times

Tharptown school could get Mt. Hope students

Published: Friday, March 20, 2009 7:51 PM CDT

Melissa Cason

mcason@franklincountytimes.com

THARPTOWN – The consolidation in the Lawrence County school system could have a position affect on the Franklin County school system as some Mt. Hope students plan to transfer next fall.

Tharptown High School Principal Darrit Riddle said his has received numerous calls from parents from Mt. Hope students inquiring about transferring to Tharptown once the Lawrence County consolidation is completed and Mt. Hope is not longer a K through 12 school.

“We’ve received a lot of phone calls asking us question about our policy about Mt. Hope students coming here,” Riddle said. “Of course, we can accept students from Mt. Hope.”

Riddle said there are two draw backs for the Mt. Hope students.

“We don’t have bus routes that go to Mt. Hope so the parents would have to get their children to the county line where our bus can pick them up or they will have to drive them to school,” Riddle said. “The other concern is that those students who play sports will have to sit out for one year.”

Riddle said Tharptown is already a full school, and more students will require more resources.

“Even if we get 20 to 30 students, we’ll be busting at the seams,” Riddle said. “We are already considering adding more classrooms.”

Riddle said the extra students would be beneficial to the county system.

“The state allows us so much money per enrolled student,” Riddle said. “We’d actually end up with more teaching units, which means more teachers.”

Riddle said there is no way to know how many students Tharptown could gain until the consolidation is complete and the students begin to move.

Agatha Garcia is one Mt. Hope parent who is preparing to transfer her son to Tharptown once the consolidation is complete.

“This is home,” Garcia said. “But, I will send my son to Tharptown instead of Hatton. My two younger daughters will stay at Mt. Hope through the eighth grade.”

Garcia’s son, Chase Robledo, will be a ninth grader next year. He will likely begin his freshman year at Tharptown.

“I feel like he will get a better quality education at Tharptown because of the class size,” Garcia said.

While his mother is predominately worried about being accepted wherever he attends next year.

“I’ve always went to school here, and I want to continue to go to school here, but if they consolidate our school with Hatton, I will go to Tharptown instead,” Robledo said. “I feel like we’ll be accepted better at Tharptown than Hatton.”

Robledo said everybody in his class is saying the same thing: They will attend Tharptown instead of Hatton. If the parents follow through with what is being said, Tharptown will grow tremendously over the next year or so.

Copyright © 2009 – Franklin County Times