American Leadership Academy and Abbeville won their appeals Friday before the S.C. High School League’s appellate panel and will move down in classification.
The panel voted 7-0 for ALA to go from Class 3A to 2A and 4-3 for Abbeville to drop from Class 2A to A for the 2024-26 realignment. It will be the first time since 2010-11 that Abbeville will be in Class A, the state’s smallest classification.
Friday’s decisions wrapped up a week’s worth of appeals and locked in the five new-look classifications for S.C. high school athletics for the 2024-26 school years. Teams will next be group into regions by early February.
“We were happy with the decision obviously,” ALA athletic director Ray Canady told The State. “Considering the facts, we are brand new with limited number of athletes and limited number of facilities. We wanted to be judged on what we are right now not on what are in two years. In two years, we will have a track record and will be based on that.”
American Leadership Academy, a charter school in Lexington that’s in its first year of existence, is an at-large league member playing a junior varsity schedule this year. Their plea to stay in 2A was denied 10-5 on Wednesday by the SCHSL executive committee. Those committee members in favor of denying ALA cited the school’s ability to have success quicker because they can draw students from a larger area in Lexington County.
But ALA executive director Gordon Smith and Canady cited various reasons for the appeal, disputing the notion they would be able to win quickly.
“Right now, we aren’t there,” Canady said during the meeting.
Canady and Smith also pushed back on the suggestions that the success of ALA schools in other states and the high quality coaches the school hired would make students want to transfer in.
“Yes, we have quality coaches but we have high-character coaches,” Canady said.
Smith added that coaches go through the same hiring process they have for other teachers in the building.
Appellate panel chairman Bob Davis on Friday said ALA wasn’t given the same leniency that other new traditional public schools are given.
“If we do it with new public schools, we should do it with new charter schools,” Davis said.
The decision to move Abbeville to Class A was a bit surprising given the school’s success in football. The Panthers have won 12 state championships, with nine coming in Class 2A.
But Abbeville officials pointed out in their appeal they aren’t having success in other sports and they’ve declined in attendance.
Appellate panel member Andy Tweito felt like Abbeville was being punished for their success in football, which made up 35% of the school’s points in Carlisle Cup standings. The Carlisle Cup is a year-long competition in which schools earn points for athletic success in their classification.
Abbeville and ALA were two of six schools to make a second appeal Friday. All were denied originally by the SCHSL executive committee on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Those losing appeals on Friday were St. Joseph’s, Southside Christian, Bishop England and James Island. All are private schools except James Island, which is a charter school in the Charleston area.
Under this year’s SCHSL realignment guidelines, there were supposed to be no fewer than 38 schools in 3A and no more than 44 in 2A. After this week’s appeals there are 54 schools in 5A (no change), 41 schools in 4A (down from 46), 32 schools in 3A (down from 38), 46 schools in 2A (up from 40) and 50 schools in A (up from 45).
But that number was before appeals were made and no further changes are likely, an SCHSL official told The State.
With classifications now set, the process to assign schools into regions can begin. There will be a classification organizational meeting in late January or early February, followed by region placements. The executive committee will hear appeals regarding region placement on Feb. 6-8.
Any other appeals will be heard by the SCHSL executive committee on Feb. 13. The appellate panel will hear any final appeals on Feb. 20.
Abbeville: Approved appeal (4-3 vote) to move from Class 2A to Class A.
American Leadership Academy: Approved appeal (7-0 vote) to move from Class 4A to Class 3A.
Bishop England: Denied appeal (4-3 vote) to move from Class 4A to Class 3A.
Southside Christian: Denied appeal (7-0) to move from Class 3A to Class 2A.
St. Joseph’s: Denied appeal (7-0) to move from Class 3A to Class 2A.
James Island: Denied appeal (7-0) to move from Class 5A to Class 4A.
? Class 5A (54)
? Class 4A (41)
? Class 3A (33)
Class 2A (45)
? Class A (50)
This story was originally published January 19, 2024, 1:57 PM.
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