The crowd at the Millbrook vs. Broughton football game on Friday night, October 31, 2008 at Millbrook High School in Raleigh.
Jan 22, 2009
RALEIGH — It's safe to say that many people at Millbrook High School in Raleigh aren't excited about becoming a magnet school.
Broughton High School was stripped of it's magnet status last year, and the Wake County Public School System announced that Millbrook would become a magnet school. In order to make room for the magnet students, however, several hundred students at Millbrook may be reassigned to a different school.
Some have voiced concerns that the school system won't be able to fill the large number of spots, and as a result, it could impact the school's classification status in the N.C. High School Athletic Association.
Currently, Millbrook is a 4-A school with and Average Daily Membership number of 2,386. The large number of students ranks Millbrook No. 10 in the state, and No. 4 in Wake County behind Wakefield (2,713), Enloe (2,623) and Leesville Road (2,480).
Like reassignment, the NCHSAA conducts a periodic realignment where they redo the classifications based on ADM numbers, and put schools into new conferences. Realignment occurs every four years in the NCHSAA, and the new realignment goes into place in August.
The new realignment lists Millbrook as a 4-A school in a conference with Broughton, Enloe, Leesville Road, Sanderson, Wakefield and Wake Forest-Rolesville.
Many people expressed concerns at a public hearing at Millbrook. Some of the concerns were about the impact on athletics, and the possibility that Millbrook could become the county's only school without a 4-A status. Those concerned believe losing several hundred students would drop Millbrook to the 3-A classification.
According to athletic officials, however, that will not happen.
"It has already been approved by the Board of Directors and there is always a domino effect," said Rick Strunk, the associate executive director of the NCHSAA. "You can't change just one school without effecting many others."
The realignment process takes into account every member school's ADM. They are adjusted by the NCHSAA to reflect academies and other special situations at specific schools. After that, the largest fourth of the schools are placed into the 4-A classification. The next largest fourth goes into 3-A, and the process continues until all schools are placed into either 4-A, 3-A, 2-A or 1-A classifications.
After the initial divisions are made, the Realignment Committee must put together a proposal for new conferences. The proposal is then discussed at regional meetings where schools and school systems can give their feedback.
Once the committee has finalized their proposal, the Board of Directors votes on the proposed realignment and it becomes final.
Changing one school means other schools have to be changed as well.
Wake County's senior director of athletics Bobby Guthrie agreed with Strunk that Millbrook would be a 4-A school next school year.
"I am not sure about the numbers for Millbrook, but Millbrook High School will be a 4-A school for the upcoming realignment," Guthrie said. "There may be some reduction of Millbrook at the beginning of the changeover to magnet status, but I expect that will be for a short period of time."
If a large number of magnet seats go unfilled, that would give Millbrook a severe disadvantage on the athletic playing field because they would have a smaller number of students to pull from to play sports.
If that is indeed a problem, there is something Millbrook can do.
"If a school has something that dramatically changes [it's ADM numbers] - usually it is opening a new school that takes students from an existing school but it could be like Millbrook - there is a chance to appeal at the midpoint of the four-year period," said Strunk. "So at the Board meeting in late November [or] early December of 2010 those could be presented. So Millbrook's change in status, if it does occur as you indicate, could happen then. It might drop."
Still, it is only a possibility that Millbrook's status could change from 4-A to 3-A, and the earliest that would happen would be the 2011-2012 school year.
Should Millbrook be dropped to the 3-A class, it is unclear what conference they would become a part of. Speculation provides two potential conferences, defined as "Conference 6" and "Conference 7" in the 2009-2010 realignment plan.
Conference 6 includes Cardinal Gibbons, Northern Vance, Southern Vance, Chapel Hill, Orange and J.F. Webb. Conference 7 is made up of Southern Lee, Western Harnett, Overhills, Union Pines, Douglas Byrd, Gray's Creek and Westover.
"There is lots of opportunity during the process itself to anticipate some of these changes, especially with new schools, but at this point the realignment has been set and the next avenue will be the appeal to the Board in 2010," said Strunk.
In an interview with HighSchoolOT.com last August, the executive director of the NCHSAA, Charlie Adams, said that he believes the days of four classifications are over in North Carolina.
Adams told HighSchoolOT.com that he expects a 5-A class to be added in the next realignment, which will take place in time for the 2013-2014 school year. This is likely to divide Wake County high schools among the 5-A class and 4-A class.
The addition of a 5-A class would have to be approved by the Board of Directors prior to the realignment process beginning.
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