This post was inspired by mike salem's post about how many teams will qualify for the football playoffs in Region D.
When I first read that under the latest round of realignment, Region D would have only eight schools while the other regions all would have fourteen or more, my initial reaction was, "That's crazy and unfair." However, if we can look at things geographically, we'll see that the VHSL really didn't have much choice.
Back in 2013, when the VHSL did its reclassifying and restructuring with the emphasis on fairly classifying schools according to enrollment numbers, I created markers in Google Earth for every single public high school. I grouped them according to regions, and color-coded the markers by region. Each region or classification can be displayed on its own. This makes it very easy to see things graphically on the state map. With each new round of R&R since 2013, I've kept the whole thing up-to-date.
The updated Region D will consist of:
Amherst County
Blacksburg
E.C. Glass
Halifax County
Jefferson Forest
Pulaski County
Salem
George Washington
As I alluded to above, looking on my Google Earth map at the new alignment scheme that will be in effect as of August, it seems the VHSL had very few options. Those eight schools really are split off in a group by themselves, with a large distance to the nearest school in any other region. Amherst to Powhatan, and Amherst to Louisa Co. are both roughly ninety minutes. In contrast, the other three regions do somewhat flow together, although there is a bit of a gap between Warhill and the Region B schools. Regions B and C mesh quite nicely, with three Fauquier Co. (Region C) schools being just up the road from both Eastern View and Culpeper in Region B.
If the VHSL had been dead set on solving this numerical imbalance between the regions, how might they have done so? I can see three possible solutions, none of them really good, which I've listed from best to worst.
Solution 1
Add the following schools, which would be the four closest geographically to Amherst in the northeastly direction:
Culpeper Co. (from Region C)
Louisa Co., Orange Co., and Spotsylvania (all from Region B)
Note: We could substitute Eastern View for Spotsylvania, as it might actually be a bit closer, and that would keep the two Culpeper Co. schools together.
This would result in fourteen Region A schools, thirteen in Region B, fourteen in Region C, and twelve in Region D.
Pros: Numerical balance among all four regions.
Cons: Big distance between the four schools I added and the other eight. Very little shared history with the traditional Region D schools.
Solution 2
Add the following schools, which would be the three closest geographically to Amherst Co.and E.C. Glass in the easterly direction:
Powhatan, Monacan, and Dinwiddie (all from Region B)
This would result in fourteen Region A schools, thirteen in Region B, fifteen in Region C, and eleven in Region D.
Pros: Better numerical balance among all four regions than currently proposed, though not as balanced as Solution 1.
Cons: Again, big distance between the three schools I added and the other eight. And again, very little shared history with the traditional Region D schools.
Solution 3
Have Bassett, William Byrd, and Charlottesville - or whichever are the three largest of the schools dropping to Class 3 - stay put in Class 4.
This would result in fourteen Region A schools, sixteen in Region B, fifteen in Region C, and eleven in Region D.
Pros: Region D would have eleven schools instead of eight.
Cons: The entire concept of keeping everyone grouped according to enrollment would be blown, just to avoid having a small Region D.
It's intriguing to think about some of the playoff match-ups that would have resulted, in all sports, had the VHSL gone with either of my first two solutions. Add Dinwiddie and Monacan to what Region D already has in football? Holy cow! Ultimately, with the geographical challenges faced by the VHSL, I think they did the best they could.
I'd be interested in hearing what others think of these hypotheticals, or any other possible solutions to the undersized Region D problem. Or, is any solution even required?
When I first read that under the latest round of realignment, Region D would have only eight schools while the other regions all would have fourteen or more, my initial reaction was, "That's crazy and unfair." However, if we can look at things geographically, we'll see that the VHSL really didn't have much choice.
Back in 2013, when the VHSL did its reclassifying and restructuring with the emphasis on fairly classifying schools according to enrollment numbers, I created markers in Google Earth for every single public high school. I grouped them according to regions, and color-coded the markers by region. Each region or classification can be displayed on its own. This makes it very easy to see things graphically on the state map. With each new round of R&R since 2013, I've kept the whole thing up-to-date.
The updated Region D will consist of:
Amherst County
Blacksburg
E.C. Glass
Halifax County
Jefferson Forest
Pulaski County
Salem
George Washington
As I alluded to above, looking on my Google Earth map at the new alignment scheme that will be in effect as of August, it seems the VHSL had very few options. Those eight schools really are split off in a group by themselves, with a large distance to the nearest school in any other region. Amherst to Powhatan, and Amherst to Louisa Co. are both roughly ninety minutes. In contrast, the other three regions do somewhat flow together, although there is a bit of a gap between Warhill and the Region B schools. Regions B and C mesh quite nicely, with three Fauquier Co. (Region C) schools being just up the road from both Eastern View and Culpeper in Region B.
If the VHSL had been dead set on solving this numerical imbalance between the regions, how might they have done so? I can see three possible solutions, none of them really good, which I've listed from best to worst.
Solution 1
Add the following schools, which would be the four closest geographically to Amherst in the northeastly direction:
Culpeper Co. (from Region C)
Louisa Co., Orange Co., and Spotsylvania (all from Region B)
Note: We could substitute Eastern View for Spotsylvania, as it might actually be a bit closer, and that would keep the two Culpeper Co. schools together.
This would result in fourteen Region A schools, thirteen in Region B, fourteen in Region C, and twelve in Region D.
Pros: Numerical balance among all four regions.
Cons: Big distance between the four schools I added and the other eight. Very little shared history with the traditional Region D schools.
Solution 2
Add the following schools, which would be the three closest geographically to Amherst Co.and E.C. Glass in the easterly direction:
Powhatan, Monacan, and Dinwiddie (all from Region B)
This would result in fourteen Region A schools, thirteen in Region B, fifteen in Region C, and eleven in Region D.
Pros: Better numerical balance among all four regions than currently proposed, though not as balanced as Solution 1.
Cons: Again, big distance between the three schools I added and the other eight. And again, very little shared history with the traditional Region D schools.
Solution 3
Have Bassett, William Byrd, and Charlottesville - or whichever are the three largest of the schools dropping to Class 3 - stay put in Class 4.
This would result in fourteen Region A schools, sixteen in Region B, fifteen in Region C, and eleven in Region D.
Pros: Region D would have eleven schools instead of eight.
Cons: The entire concept of keeping everyone grouped according to enrollment would be blown, just to avoid having a small Region D.
It's intriguing to think about some of the playoff match-ups that would have resulted, in all sports, had the VHSL gone with either of my first two solutions. Add Dinwiddie and Monacan to what Region D already has in football? Holy cow! Ultimately, with the geographical challenges faced by the VHSL, I think they did the best they could.
I'd be interested in hearing what others think of these hypotheticals, or any other possible solutions to the undersized Region D problem. Or, is any solution even required?
