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Not so fast: VHSL’s number change may lead to different outlook for Jefferson District in 2013

A day after the Virginia High School League released the Initial Realignment Plan for 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, it appears that the movement that would’ve expanded the Jefferson District to nine teams may not be as clear as it appeared.

The new enrollment figures from the Department of Education (which were modified this morning after being declared erroneous yesterday by the VHSL) appear to designate Orange County as a Group AAA school and Goochland as a Group A school. Orange’s enrollment number shifted from a Group AA high of 1,430 students to the fourth lowest position in Group AAA with a number of 1,509. William Monroe still appears set to move back to Group AA.

Goochland now has an enrollment number of 722, which inched up from 719. But it was enough with all the other number changes to potentially place the Bulldogs below the Group A cutoff, or so the document from the VHSL pictured below indicates.

According to the VHSL release, the current Initial Proposed Alignment Plan will remain the same. However, schools will be given until January 9 to submit a request for modification to the original plan to the Redistricting and Reclassification Committee. On February 2, the committee will meet to consider modifications and present a revised plan to the Executive Committee on February 22 before it goes before membership on March 8 and 9. As the process continues to unfold, the R&R committee will meet April 17 to consider final appeals.

A VHSL representative indicated in response to a follow-up email that the new correct numbers from the Department of Education will trigger an “automatic modification because it was an error by the DOE for submitting the wrong figures.” That would likely mean that Orange County will be placed at the Group AAA level in the Commonwealth District and Goochland back in the Group A James River, the Bulldogs and Hornets’ current affiliations, a likelihood the representative confirmed.

Of course, the odds are good this situation is far from over with just the sheer number of meetings left on the docket.

 

 

 

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