THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 22, 1995 TAG: 9507220383
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
The Eastern District is expected to grow from five to nine schools in the fall of 1996 when Hampton's four public high schools - Bethel, Kecoughtan, Phoebus and Hampton - split from the Peninsula District to join the Norfolk-based district.
An Eastern Region redistricting committee, empowered by regional chairman Raymond Hale of Churchland High to offer solutions for the Eastern District's scheduling problems, forwarded its proposal Friday to Virginia High School League executive director Ken Tilley.
Tilley and Hale are both vacationing and could not be reached for comment.
Included in its proposal, which would affect the 1996-97 school year:
Suffolk high schools Nansemond River and Lakeland will join the Peninsula District if they move up in enrollment to Group AAA reclassification. Both schools are now members of the Group AA Bay Rivers District.
The city of Newport News is closing Ferguson High and opening two new high schools, Woodside and Heritage. They will also join existing Peninsula District members Denbigh, Warwick, Menchville, Lafayette, Gloucester and Tabb to form a 10-member district.
The 10-member Beach District and eight-member Southeastern District will remain intact. The Southeastern will grow to nine schools with the opening of Hickory High in Chesapeake in 1996.
``Our main concern was to keep the municipalities intact,'' Kempsville principal Lou Tonelson said.
In that, the nine-member committee - two principals from each district and at-large member Nat Hardee of Deep Creek High - succeeded.
It also creates what could be an outstanding basketball district.
Of the nine schools that will comprise the new Eastern District, Booker T. Washington, Hampton and Bethel have won state titles in the last 10 years, Kecoughtan has been to three of the last four state tournaments and Maury produced recent NBA No. 1 draft pick Joe Smith.
Eastern District teams had struggled for years to fill out their schedules with non-district opponents. There was talk of going to a triple round-robin format in basketball and double round-robin in football to alleviate the problems. There was also talk of approaching the state's redistricting and realignment committee for help.
The VHSL's 13-member Redistricting and Realignment Committee will meet Wednesday and Thursday next week in Charlottesville and a number of proposals that could affect the entire state are expected to be discussed.
Principals at every school in the state were asked to fill out questionnaires last month rating the importance of geography, travel, district size and facilities. Those questionnaires have been forwarded to the redistricting and realignment committee.
``They asked us our district preference,'' Lakeland principal William Hill said. ``And I put the Bay Rivers, if we could remain Group AA, and the Southeastern and Peninsula districts, in that order. The Peninsula was one of our choices, even if it was our third choice. From playing in the Bay Rivers, we're used to that kind of travel and Tabb was in the Bay Rivers before they moved to the Peninsula District.''
The redistricting and realignment committee can place any school in a district, region and classification it feels will benefit the VHSL's overall structure.
There are also concerns over the dwindling number of Group AA and A schools. Hardee is the Eastern Region's Group AAA representative and will officially forward the region's proposal at that time. by CNB