4A meeting to discuss tough issues

Carson High principal Glen Adair knows there's a fine line between being a maverick and a visionary.

During these tough economic times, Adair hopes that he and the rest of the state's athletic directors and principals will be considered visionaries when it comes to high school sports.

Adair and the rest of the Northern 4A principals and athletic directors will discuss a full agenda of items that will affect the future of the state's high school sports during a meeting on Monday at Hug High.

Among the issues to be discussed will be realignment. Adair will also address the Northern 4A principals and athletic directors on several issues. The one issue of particular interest that Adair will address is the possibility of Southern 4A schools forming their own 5A division.

Adair said he knows he can be considered a maverick when he brings up issues such as the Southern 5A proposal. But Adair said educators need to take a leadership role when dealing with the possible changes that have to be made. Adair said educators can't stick their heads in the sand.

"Change is hard to deal with," Adair said. "With these economic times, more sensible approaches maybe need to be heard.

"If we are the educational leaders, then we need to act like it and I think we do that. All I'm hoping to do is stay ahead of the curve. We need to look a little deeper and a little further and we need to have some vision."

The idea of the Southern 4A schools forming their own 5A division has been discussed in the past, in effect creating two state divisions in which only Northern schools would compete for the 4A title and Southern schools would play for the 5A crown.

But Adair said there's no reason why there couldn't be a scenario in which the Northern 4A champion would play the Southern 5A champion for what would amount to be a "Super" state title.

"You could still do that," Adair said. "I'm certainly not advocating that the North not play the South."

Adair said he doesn't know what kind of response the 5A issue will receive or if Northern 4A administrators would take a position on the matter.

"I don't know if it will ever happen, but we need to still look at it," said Adair about Southern schools forming their own 5A division.

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association is already considering a proposal which would do away with the state tournament in favor of a format in which the winner of the Northern playoffs would play the winner of the Southern playoffs for the state title. The NIAA board should consider that proposal at its meeting next month and it could go into effect as soon as 2003-2004.

The NIAA board will also consider two proposals for realignment to take effect in 2004-2005. One proposal is to stay with the status quo.

One name for the other is the "geography" proposal designed to cut down on travel. The four divisions would stay in effect for football, but in other sports, there would be only three divisions, creating matchups in which schools smaller than 250 students would play schools with more than 1,000 students.

Under the format, the 1A, 2A and 3A divisions would be merged into two divisions and the 4A division would be left relatively in tact.

Adair said he doesn't know if the Northern 4A administrators will take a position on realignment. "The witching hour is getting very, very close," said Adair about Northern 4A administrators taking a position.

Northern 4A administrators could hold another meeting before the NIAA board's March meeting, but Adair said that's unlikely.

Travel costs, another isssue to be discussed at Monday's meeting, is a major reason why the 5A issue, geographical realignment and a North-South state title format are being discussed.

Another issue that Adair will address is scheduling. Adair noted there are events scheduled on Fridays that could be scheduled on Saturdays to prevent students from missing class and put less of a strain on transportation.

With all these issues, Adair said the question is, "How do we change to make ourselves more effecient and more productive?"