Public schools want private schools out of Section V
Call current playoff structure in area high school sports an unlevel playing field
Superintendents of 18 school districts in the Rochester suburbs have signed a letter to ask the state governing body for high school sports to discuss the removal of private schools from future Section V postseason competition.
The Monroe County Council of School Superintendents represent schools which are members of the Monroe County Public School Athletic Conference; it includes Pittsford, Fairport, Gates Chili, Rush-Henrietta, Brockport and others.
The group has asked the New York State Public High School Athletic Association if Section V can change the structure of its postseason competition, which includes sports teams at Aquinas, Batavia Notre Dame, Bishop Kearney, Our Lady of Mercy, McQuaid Jesuit and other non-public schools in the region.
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"Is it fair, is it equal for non-public schools to participate in sectionals and states?'' Pittsford school district superintendent Michael Pero said.
Pero explained that athletes who are on teams or participate in NYSPHSAA-sanctioned sports at public schools must live in that school district's boundaries.
"Private and parochial schools don't have that limitation,'' Pero said.
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The NYSPHSAA sanctions high school sports in 11 sections around the state. NYSPHSAA executive director Robert Zayas has received the letter from the superintendents.
"There is no pre-determined timetable, but if not (discussed) now, then when?'' Brockport Superintendent Lesli Myers said.
Myers also emphasized that the proposal is not "a pre-conceived notion, it's not adversarial.''
Section V executive director Ed Stores said he received a copy of the letter Nov. 4.
Whether sports teams from private schools should be included in sectional play has been a topic for decades, complicated by the fact that private schools are members of NYSPHSAA, Section V and other section sanctioning bodies. Zayas said that of the 783 members of the NYSPHSAA, about 10 percent are non-public schools.
"The conversation has really been limited to Section V,'' Zayas said.
Section V, the Rochester region; Section III, the Syracuse region; and Section II, the Albany region, include the most non-public schools. Participation of private schools in sectional play varies around the state.
Private schools in Buffalo are not a part of Section VI postseason play, and have a separate postseason structure, but charter schools do participate. The other 10 sections do allow teams from non-public schools into the organization's tournaments and championship events.
"It's always going to be an issue if they are together,'' Gates Chili physical education teacher and football coach Jason Benham said. "Make them separate. It's a simple solution.
"We have to rely on the dynamics of our towns and communities.''
Benham said "it's nothing against those schools'' but it's "a different ballgame'' between public and non-public schools.
"I don't see the drawback to having a private school championship,'' Benham said. "They do recruit, it's a business, they have to recruit students, I don't look at it as a negative. If I worked at (a private school) I would do the same thing. It's a realistic part of their business.''
Lakiescha Titus-Jones and Matthew Jones Sr. have five children who did or still attend Aquinas. Jarron Jones is a defensive lineman at the University of Notre Dame and Aquinas senior Jamir Jones will follow one of his older brothers to South Bend, Indiana.
"My husband and I have worked 60 to 70 hours a week since 2004,'' Titus-Jones said. "If anyone were to receive anything for sports, don't you think Jarron would have?
"Our kids are not on scholarship. There is aid, but it's based on financial need, just like with everyone else. If Aquinas wasn't winning games, this would be a moot point. I think the real issue are these superintendents. Why is it OK to sit in judgement of and generalize about our program?''
The discussion seems to heat up during high school postseasons, in football and basketball in particular.
Aquinas won a Section V football title for the ninth time in 10 years on Sunday. Chris Battaglia, the Aquinas football coach, said he heard someone say that players should play for teams in their school districts.
"Our school and students have an equal right to participate in sectionals and states,'' Aquinas President Mike Daley said. "Our parents pay a school tax in the communities they live in and have chosen to send their children here and pay a tuition.
"They are paying double.''
Zayas said he was an associate director of a high school athletics sanctioning body in New Mexico and that sports teams from public and non-public schools participate in the same playoff and postseason systems. He also said he worked as a teacher and coach at a public school in Texas.
"This is a topic of conversation in every state in the country,'' Zayas said. "It depends on on where you are.''
Stores said he believes the issue is "going to come to a head'' locally, one way or another.
"In my time in this position and my years as a league chair, I've done this for almost 30 years,'' Stores said. "I've never seen us closer to making a move than we are right now.
"Some people would say that's a good thing, some people would say it's a bad thing.''
Pero said the letter does mention the creation of parallel tournaments or postseason play as an alteration to the current sectional and state formats.
"That does not mean that's the end result,'' Pero said. "It's where we'd like to begin the discussion.''
It seems this region of the state is where the question is asked the most often.
"If any changes are going to take place, they are going to be initiated by the membership of the association, and that's the entire membership of 11 sections,'' Zayas said. "At this point, I've only received a request for any change of this type from Section V.''
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