Yeah- no reason, except a million. Starting with convincing all the private schools in those states agreeing to split off and create this league you describe.

Oh yeah- travel should be fun too.

But what the heck- all those private schools need to do is open up that little trapdoor that leads to all the money they hoard.

 

I can only speak for Trinity, but we keep ours in single massive vault like Scrooge McDuck. Right next to the science labs where our players are improved through genetic experi- uh, sports medicine.

 

:lol2:

I got no problem with private and public playing together...I do have a problem with out of district/county/state players allowed to play on a public team. I think boundaries should be honored. If you wanna play for a certain team, move into the school district.

EDISON – It was billed as a referendum on the state of public versus non-public schools in New Jersey high school sports.

 

And in little more than 90 minutes Monday, the membership of the state athletics governing body spoke, changing the athletic landscape as we know it – at least for the time being.

 

In a landmark vote, the members of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association approved historic proposals separating public and non-public schools in football and splitting non-public wrestlers into their own districts and region.

 

“I think a lot of people are realizing how huge the disparity has grown,” said Denis Nelson, athletic director at River Dell. “If there were an ability for level competition, we wouldn’t be having these problems.”

 

In one of the most highly attended NJSIAA membership meetings in recent history, officials from 345 of the association’s 433 member schools cast votes and approved the separation proposals by nearly identical margins.

 

The football proposal, which passed 215-128 with two abstentions, would remove all non-public schools from their current conference for football only and force them to create a statewide conference of their own, with full schedules.

 

It’s the third time in the past decade that some type of football separation proposal has reached the membership of the NJSIAA – but the first time one was approved.

 

The wrestling proposal passed, 216-121 with eight abstentions. It would pool all non-public wrestlers into their own four districts and one region while realigning the public schools into 28 districts and seven regions before all qualifiers would meet in Atlantic City for the state individual championships.

 

A similar proposal passed the association’s full membership in December 2008, only to be overturned a month later by the commissioner of education at the time, Lucille Davy. She said the proposal was “inconsistent with the principles articulated [by a previous commissioner of education] and upheld by the courts in previous legal decisions.”

 

All NJSIAA bylaws are subject to review by the state commissioner of education before they can be implemented for the 2016-17 high school season. But it’s not out of the question that one or both issues will end up in state Superior Court as well.

 

“We’ll be sending this to the commissioner [David C. Hespe],” said Steve Goodell, attorney for the NJSIAA. “Then I’m sure anybody who has interest will be trying to contact the commissioner to let them know their position on it. I’m not going to speculate on legal process in the future.”

 

“I just see this as business from one year to business the next year,” said Steve Timko, the executive director of the NJSIAA. “Was this a significant piece of legislation? No doubt. I think all our legislation is important, and it gives our membership a chance to talk.”

 

And talk they did.

 

Many public school football coaches supported the decision, having claimed for years that there is a profound competitive imbalance between non-publics and publics. It stems from non-public schools’ ability to draw students from an undefined geographic area, unlike public schools.

 

“I’m all for the separation of parochials and public schools. It’s a longtime overdue,” said Ridgewood football coach Chuck Johnson. “I felt we were separated completely already.

 

“I don’t think it’s been an even playing field for 20 years. I just don’t. They’re apples. We’re oranges.”

 

The emotions among non-public officials, however, ranged from disappointment to anger.

 

One athletic director from a non-public school, speaking before the membership against the football proposal, pointed out that there are only 37 non-public schools playing football.

 

Monsignor Michael Kelly, the president of Seton Hall Prep and a vehement critic of both separation proposals, argued they are in response to the dominance of the large non-public schools in North Jersey.

 

“Why disrupt the entire state because of one region?” he said in reference to the dominance of Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco and St. Joseph in wrestling’s Region 2.

 

“I feel bad that they had to fix a North Jersey problem by disrupting the entire state,” said Tony Karcich, the St. Joseph athletic director and former football coach. “I still have a problem with the better public schools that can beat up on other public schools not being willing to play the non-publics. You’re never going to make it fair across the board.”

 

St. Mary football coach Mike Sheridan might be able to relate to that.

 

Unlike programs such as Don Bosco and Bergen Catholic that can find nearby programs of comparable size to play them – like Delbarton and Seton Hall Prep – small programs like St. Mary and Queen of Peace wonder how far they will have to travel to find comparable competition.

 

“The obvious ones are teams like Queen of Peace and then Hudson Catholic and St. Anthony and Marist as you get down into Hudson County,” Sheridan said. “But then you go out to teams like Montclair-Kimberley and Morristown-Beard. And in some cases you’re getting into the question of just how long they will have a program.”

 

Sheridan echoed the arguments of many non-public officials who spoke out against both separation proposals at the Pines Manor in Edison, many of whom said they were being forced to pay for the dominance of North Jersey’s big non-public schools in football and wrestling like Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco and St. Peter’s.

 

“The unfortunate thing is that I believe our league [the NJIC] was OK with St. Mary,” he said. “We don’t have the problems those bigger schools have.”

 

Staff Writer Mark J. Czerwinski contributed to this article. Email: [email protected]

 

Landmark vote splits N.J. H.S. football along public/non-public lines - High School Sports - NorthJersey.com

Makes you wonder if it will stick. On here recently there was discussion about how few private schools there were in this state to the number of public schools & New Jersey has an even greater disparity & still went forward with this plan.

 

Wonder what the tipping point was?

 

Also very interesting that they are doing this for only football & wrestling. My question would be why are they picking and choosing sports or are these the only two that are being predominantly won by the private schools?

Stupid is a s stupid does

I talked to a co-worker whose son is in HS wrestling in NJ. It sounds like there are 3 big privates who are drivers to this.

 

He said in wrestling it could have / should have been fixed at region level as all 3 are in the same Region. He said - other than those 3 the rest of the privates are not that good in wrestling and the other 7 regions have no issues.

 

For what its worth.

Horrible decision. Separation of publics and privates is never the answer. This is more about everyone getting a trophy than leveling the playing field.

 

I think Hardin County Preps is the BGPer who said a national schedule should be played by the dominant schools. This decision right here is a step in that direction. The established football programs at private schools aren't going to play a bunch of private schools the equivalent of Burgin for very long.

KY needs to separate the privates, it is just too hard for the public schools to compete. Privates have all the advantages of wealthy donors, no boundaries, admin that care, ect... This is especially true in the smaller school classifications.

KY needs to separate the privates, it is just too hard for the public schools to compete. Privates have all the advantages of wealthy donors, no boundaries, admin that care, ect... This is especially true in the smaller school classifications.

 

Do you really think people will fall for it a second time? Shoot, I'm surprised they bought it the first time.

G posted twice so I figured I might as well go fishing twice

There is no reason there cannot be a mid-west private league (KY, IN, TN, OH). Hell these teams are already playing private schools outside Ky.

 

The difference is the fact that they are currently playing one, maybe two schools from any significant distance outside of Kentucky each season. Cleveland, OH and Memphis, TN are almost 11 hours apart. Even if you tried to make districts for teams to play in within a state, making a season-long scedule and proposing a realistic playoff schedule for teams spread out like that is crazy talk.

KY needs to separate the privates, it is just too hard for the public schools to compete. Privates have all the advantages of wealthy donors, no boundaries, admin that care, ect... This is especially true in the smaller school classifications.

 

And just how many private schools knocked out little ole Mayfield from the playoffs? Let's say since 2000?

http://bluegrasspreps.com/ky-football-high/new-jersey-separate-318117.html

And just how many private schools knocked out little ole Mayfield from the playoffs? Let's say since 2000?

 

That would be a very rare thing, in 2005 we got taken to see the Bishop by NCC and in 2009 LCA beat us all the way into church. I can't recall any others but I choose to not recall the few dark days we have had. Off the top of my head I believe we are all time 0-1 vs LCA, 3-1 vs NCC, 10-1 vs OC, 2-0 vs DeSales. I cant recall having ever played CAL but could be wrong. There are a couple of 1A privates, Bethlehem and Louisville CA that we have never lost to. We have generally been very hard on the small class privates. We have also played X and maybe T once or twice but this was well before 2000, in fact it was more like early 1960's and before. I only know this because years ago I recall seeing their names in our all time records book years ago when I had a chance to glance through it.