Haywood Board of Education sends follow-up letter to NCHSAA
By Mike Schoeffel mschoeffel@themountaineer.com Apr 27, 2019
Patrick Smathers, attorney for the Haywood County Board of Education, sent a follow-up letter to NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker in mid-April requesting documents proving the NCHSAA’s legitimacy as the governing body of North Carolina high school athletics.
The letter, which is addressed directly to Tucker, asks for four types of documentation in particular: an application by the NCHSAA to enforce the state board’s rules governing high school athletics, an acceptance of said application, any “guidance, rules, regulations, directives and evaluations” involving the NCHSAA’s governing activities and, lastly, any reports compiled by the NCHSAA within the past five years in regards to its enforcement of the state board’s rules.
The letter was a sequel to one that was sent to Eric Davis, chairman of the North Carolina Board of Education, and Mark Johnson, the superintendent of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, last month. Commissioner Tucker was copied in that letter — as were state politicians, various media outlets and others — which called for “an investigation and examination of the procedures and policies of the NCHSAA.”
The main thrust of the first letter was that the NCHSAA has cultivated an unfair playing field for numerous schools across the state, including Tuscola, which is currently competing in the Class 3A WMAC, despite having enrollment numbers much smaller than other schools in the conference. The largest institution in the WMAC is T.C. Roberson, with 1,644 students. Tuscola, meanwhile, currently has 974, according to the initial letter.
The original letter declared numerous NCHSAA policies unjust, including two in particular which have disadvantaged Tuscola: the implementation of a rule that requires a school’s enrollment to drop at least 10 percent to be considered as criteria for reclassification, and the newly-implemented 20-30-30-20 classification standard that, in some instances, has pitted schools with vastly different enrollment sizes against one another.
Tuscola had been fighting within the confines of the NCHSAA bylaws to be reclassified with schools similar in size through appeal processes: the first came when the 2017-21 classifications were announced in 2016, the second at last November’s winter board meeting. Both requests were denied, as were requests for a grievance hearing and a face-to-face meeting with Tucker, according to the first letter.
The Mountaineer reached out to Commissioner Tucker via email about whether or not the NCHSAA would provide the requested documentation.
“It is inappropriate for us to comment at this time,” she responded.
Commissioner Tucker, however, did issue an official statement after the first letter was sent, citing regulations adopted in 1952 by the State Board of Education that recognize “the NCHSAA as one of the governing bodies to oversee this endeavor [governing interscholastic athletics in public schools].”
The NCHSAA was founded in 1913 by University of North Carolina professor Dr. Louis Round Wilson. The association was affiliated with UNC until 2010, when it became an independent, non-profit corporation.
The original letter maintained that the NCHSAA should be held to the same standards as other state entities — despite the fact that it’s technically a private entity — and that it should “not permit decisions to be made in an arbitrary and capricious manner without due process.”
The NCHSAA didn’t necessarily agree.
“It is disappointing when a...member school does not understand the history of the Association and its close working relationship with the State Board of Education,” Tucker said in her response.
Chairman Davis said via email that the matter of a potential investigation has been referred to North Carolina Board of Education’s counsel, Eric Snider. The Mountaineer has reached out to Snider, and if a response is given, and a follow-up article is warranted, one will be published.
For a deeper dive into the history of the saga between the NCHSAA and Tuscola, check out the following articles on The Mountaineer’s website: “Little Fish in a Big Pond” and “Haywood County Board of Education requests investigation of NCHSAA.”