OSSAA regional meeting at Westmoore

   We attended the Oct. 31 regional OSSAA meeting at Westmoore, where the OSSAA's new "competitive equity" plan was to be discussed. OSSAA Executive Director David Jackson explained the plan is to advance four volleyball and tennis teams from class 5A to class 6A - if all Rule 14 criteria are met for the four schools. Rule 14 previously prevented any schools from advancing to class 6A by criteria. Jackson then asked if anyone in the room has concerns or questions about the proposal. Two members spoke up about the concern that a new "super" classification for volleyball will be created when four private schools are added to class 6A volleyball. David Jackson responded that 'we already have that in class 5A volleyball'. He seemed to imply that since we already have one "super" class (5A) for volleyball, we are justified in having two. Jackson went on to say that no other competitive equity plans were considered, other than 'enrollment based' plans. Both coaches that spoke out about the new "super" classification plan, agreed that a plan which separates private schools from public schools for state playoff competition is the only workable solution.
   As an example of a classification system that has gone awry is the case of the Victory Christian (VC) High School volleyball team. In 2017, enrollment classification would have placed the team in class 3A, but was inadvertently advanced to class 5A (should have been advanced to class 4A as per Rule 14) - where it won the 5A championship. The convoluted nature of the Rule 14 advancement requirements was the reason for the OSSAA 'mistake'. As a matter of fact, we are not even sure of the above stated fact due to the 'super convoluted' nature of the rule. After winning the 5A championship in 2017, VC won the class 4A championship in 2018 - where it belonged according to the OSSAA 'enrollment based' system. Since VC won the 4A title in 2018, the OSSAA advanced it to class 5A for the 2019 season, where it won the 5A championship the last week of October. No one, including OSSAA officials, can truly say what class VC should compete, but after it won the 5A state title two weeks ago - the team broke out into a chant "We want 6A! We want 6A!". The OSSAA executive director assured the class 6A coaches at the Westmoore meeting that a team may only be advanced one class upward, and since VC had already 'advanced' to class 5A - it would not be going to class 6A next year (where it would also dominate).
   The new and improved version of Rule 14 will affect volleyball by advancing the top four finishers in class 5A, to class 6A.. if all criteria are met for advancement. The new rule prohibits a team from advancing to 6A if it has already advanced to 5A previously. This would prevent VC from advancing to class 6A, since it had already advanced to 5A from 4A. So class 6A volleyball teams may be worried about something that won't happen. It appears Tulsa Bishop Kelly may be the only class 5A volleyball team to qualify for advancement to class 6A. If that is so, the smallest class 6A team, Yukon, would regress to class 5A, taking the place of Kelly. A class 4A team, Lincoln Christian, would likely be the only 4A team to advance to 5A. If this scenario happened, the smallest class 4A team would drop down to class 3A. The advancement of Lincoln Christian to class 5A would likely knock Bethany out of an earned play-off spot in 2019, resulting in the only class with all eight playoff teams being 'private'. Of course, this scenario is only conjecture, as Rule 14 becomes more convoluted with each revision.
   The OSSAA will undoubtedly vote to send this revision out to a vote of the membership, unlike what it's done in the past for other competitive equity plans. It may pass a vote of the membership because OSSAA officials have told the membership that 'it's the best we can do'. Many OSSAA member schools know better, however, so we'll see how it goes.