By Justin Hawkins
justin@talkwilliamsport.com
It seems like where ever I go, as soon as someone overhears what I do for a living, somebody wants to bring up the Public vs Private debate that is going on across the state. And do I blame them? Absolutely not. This is a topic that needs to be discussed. Is it fair to the public schools to allow the private schools to continue to “steal talent” away from them and dominate the postseason? Is it fair to the private schools to force them into their own tournament? There’s valid points to be made on both sides. Frankly, it’s a decision to be made on a level that is way above my pay grade. And to be fair, that decision, and my feelings on what such a decision should be made, are beyond what I hope to accomplish here. My personal views are what Twitter is for, and you are more than welcome to reach out to me there if you want to discuss that.
The WPIAL, or PIAA District VII, became the first district in Pennsylvania to put numbers to the debate of public vs private, sending a survey to all of their member schools, and “strongly suggesting” that they complete the survey. This was followed up by another survey being issues to schools, this time by PIAA District X, covering the Erie region. Both surveys showed the same results, schools overwhelmingly support creating separate tournaments for public and private to restore a competitive balance and that the Transfer Rule is… well a farce is the best way to describe it. You can find information on exact results from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by clicking here, and from the Erie Times-News by clicking here.
With the WPIAL survey and the PIAA District X survey, we have a good feeling of the Northwest and the Southwest of the state, but if you feel this is an issue that is worth fighting, that’s not good enough. Here in District IV, we have a ton of differing views from the western half of the state. So, the question on one very late night became, how exactly does District IV feel? Well, why not create a survey, send it out, and find out for myself? So that’s what I did. Using the WPIAL survey as a model, I distributed a survey to all of District IV’s athletic directors and asked that it be distributed to coaches, principals, superintendents, and school board members to attempt to get a complete picture. At this point, I need to thank all of the athletic directors that helped out, and the 162 individuals who took the time to respond.
Before we get to the results, it is important to note that the way I setup the survey, I have no way of knowing who said what. I felt that was the best way to give everyone a chance to be honest about how they feel on these issues. With the raw data, I can determine a specific person only as far as their position at the school and the classification of their school, but I can not determine which school they are representing. For that reason, I also ended up grouping Williamsport, our only Class AAAAAA school, in with the Class AAAA schools. Now, let’s get to the results.
Question 1: Which position best describes you?
Coach – 128 (79%)
Athletic Director – 14 (8.6%)
Principal – 11 (6.8%)
School Board Member – 5 (3.1%)
Superintendent – 4 (2.5%)
Question 2: What classification is the school you represent?
Class A – 34 (21%)
Class AA – 71 (43.8%)
Class AAA – 39 (24.1%)
Class AAAA or Class AAAAAA – 18 (11.1%)
Question 3: Is the school you represent a Public (Boundary) School or a Private (Non-Boundary) School?
Public (Boundary) School – 159 (98.1%)
Private (Non-Boundary) School – 3 (1.9%)
Question 4: Do you believe schools without geographical boundaries have a competitive advantage over schools with established geographical boundaries?
Yes – 158 (97.5%)
No – 4 (2.5%)
Question 5: Do you feel the existing PIAA Transfer Rule, PIAA By-Law Article VI, Transfer, Residence, and Recruiting, is functionally effective in controlling transfers that might result in a competitive advantage?
Yes – 18 (11.1%)
No – 127 (78.4%)
I Am Not Familiar With The PIAA Transfer Rule – 17 (10.5%)
Question 6: Do you feel the competitive advantage is related to both team and individual sports, or simply to team sports?
Only Team Sports – 39 (24.1%)
Both Team and Individual Sports – 122 (75.3%)
There Is No Competitive Advantage – 1 (0.6%)
Question 7: Attempting to create competitive balance, would you be in favor of separate tournaments for schools that have established geographical boundaries and for schools without geographical boundaries?
In Favor – 155 (95.7%)
Not In Favor – 7 (4.3%)
Question 8: Would you favor a separated tournament for only team sports or both team and individual sports offerings?
Only Team Sports – 49 (30.2%)
Both Team and Individual Sports – 105 (64.8%)
Not In Favor Of Separate Tournaments – 8 (4.9%)
As you can see, the results fall right in line with what was already determined by the WPIAL and District X surveys. The question becomes, where do we go from here? First, I hope that either the PIAA or the Districts on their own run their own surveys, “strongly recommending” that all schools complete the survey. Whether you want to see a change or you don’t want to see a change, something this big should only be changed after seeing the entire picture, and not just what is out a window of a board room in Mechanicsburg. My survey is obviously missing input from schools, but still I believe gives a good indication of the feelings of the entire district. But that is District IV, not District II, not the Philadelphia schools, not the Harrisburg schools. We need to hear from everyone.
I may like the wait for everyone to answer approach, but that doesn’t mean that you, on an individual or school level, should be sitting on your hands waiting if you want to see something done either. Talk to your representatives and senators about the issue. Make it known how you feel, and show them many others feel the same way. Put pressure on the PIAA to resolve the issue. I’m sure they will bring up some reason why they can’t and it has to be done by the House and Senate, but if enough noise is made, they will have to respond.
Like I said at the start of this, this isn’t about my personal views. Again, that’s what Twitter is for. Contact me there. This is about making sure decisions are made that are informed on the views of all involved. If you feel something needs to be done, you now have numbers to back your views in our own area. I did the leg-work in making sure accurate numbers for District IV are available to all, now take those numbers and make your voice and the voice of others known. This isn’t an issue that just affected a specific team or a specific season, this is a continuing issue. And a decision, one way or another, needs to be reached and reached soon to better the sports, the districts, and the PIAA as a whole for the current student-athletes and all of the future student athletes.
Justin Hawkins is the Operations Director and an On-Air Personality for Talk Williamsport. You can contact Justin by email at justin@talkwilliamsport.com or on Twitter by tweeting to @JHawkWLYC.
