4A Seattle schools returning to Metro?

The four public high schools in Seattle now in the KingCo 4A Conference appear headed back to the Metro League beginning in the fall of 2008.

Principals of Seattle's public high schools are scheduled to vote Thursday morning on a proposal that would add Ballard, Franklin, Garfield and Roosevelt to the Metro League. The vote was rescheduled after three of the 10 principals didn't show up for a vote Tuesday morning.

Ammon McWashington, director of school services for the Seattle School District, and Al Hairston, district coordinator of athletics, were optimistic about passage after attending Tuesday's meeting.

If approved, the proposal then must be endorsed by Superintendent Raj Manhas to take effect. Earlier, it appeared the measure would require school-board approval. However, McWashington said Tuesday that a school-board committee indicated that the superintendent's OK will be sufficient.

Under the proposal, the six private and parochial schools in the league plus Bainbridge can remain Metro League members. With the addition of the four schools that are Class 4A, the state's largest enrollment classification, Metro will become a 3A-4A league.

Roosevelt, Garfield and Franklin joined the KingCo Conference in the fall of 1997, and Ballard joined in 2002 after its enrollment reached 4A size.

Three reasons are cited by McWashington and Hairston for wanting to bring the 4A city schools back to the Metro League:

• Transportation costs.

"The driving force is transportation," said Hairston. Some of the longest road trips in Greater Seattle's heavy traffic are to Woodinville, Redmond and Eastlake on the Sammamish Plateau.

Revenue from vending machines in schools previously helped offset transportation costs but the removal of pop and junk food from vending machines has cut revenue.

Hairston said he didn't have an estimate of how much transportation costs would be reduced by Metro membership but said "it's a big number."

• Loss of classroom time because athletes need to be excused early to get to Eastside schools for afternoon games.

• The feeling that all Seattle public high schools should be competing against each other.

"There's a sentiment that they are all Seattle school kids and they should all be in the same league," Hairston said. "Bringing these schools back to the Metro League sort of reunifies the Seattle School District."

The plan has critics.

"This makes me angry," said Dan Jurdy, Rainier Beach athletic director. "The school district caters to the 4A programs whether it's academics or athletics."

Jurdy said Beach, with only 457 students in grades 9 through 12, will have trouble competing against Ballard with 1,674, Roosevelt with 1,714, Garfield with 1,607 and Franklin with 1,438.

"It's going to kill my programs in the minor sports," said Jurdy, who said his participants will be overmatched.

Hairston said the biggest complaint he has heard from some city 4A coaches is that the level of competition will drop from the highly competitive KingCo Conference.

Some city public 3A schools have trouble fielding varsity teams in some sports.

Jurdy said city 4A schools that are accustomed to having junior-varsity and C-team opponents will be surprised.

"A lot of us don't have JV or C teams in many sports because not enough kids turn out," he said.

Hairston said one of the major concerns will be football scheduling to avoid mismatches. He envisions 4A schools playing each other and only competitive 3A teams.

City 4A schools have generally struggled in football. They have a combined overall record of 27-214 against 4A KingCo suburban schools and went 3-17 against them last season.

Hairston said the tentative plan for all sports is to have a separate 4A division and keep the present structure of having the private 3A schools plus Bainbridge in one division for all sports and the six 3A public schools in another division.

The Metro League began as a public-school conference in 1914 and accepted private schools as members in the 1970s.

Hairston said a proposal for an all-public league doesn't have support.

"We're good for each other," he said, referring to public and private schools.

The change would occur for the 2008-09 school year, which is when the next two-year cycle begins in state high-school athletics.

Under Metro League guidelines, the four city 4A schools have to apply for membership and be accepted by a two-thirds majority.

Hairston and McWashington don't anticipate problems but one private-school administrator said it "could be interesting."

Bainbridge and Lakeside may be in new leagues when the change takes place in the fall of 2008. Bainbridge is studying whether to move to the expanded 2A-3A Olympic League, which would include North Kitsap and Sequim.

Lakeside, which is 1A in size, is studying whether to join the 1A-2A Cascade Conference with teams such as King's of Shoreline and Archbishop Murphy of Mill Creek.

If the Metro becomes a 3A-4A league, the KingCo Conference might do the same. However, there would be eight 4A schools and eight 3A if Skyline of Sammamish moves from 3A to 4A and the other schools don't change classifications. Mixed-classification leagues, such as the WesCo South and North divisions, are becoming more common in the state.

Craig Smith: 206-464-8279 or csmith@seattletimes.com