Originally published May 31, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified May 31, 2007 at 2:01 AM

Opinion | Reunite Metro schools

Moving Ballard, Franklin, Garfield and Roosevelt to the Metro League and reuniting this historic district might be the best decision made...

By Samuel Francis Fisher

Special to the Seattle Times

Moving Ballard, Franklin, Garfield and Roosevelt to the Metro League and reuniting this historic district might be the best decision made by the Seattle Public Schools in years.

As a recent alumnus of a KingCo 4A school in the city limits (Roosevelt 2004), I can testify to the futility of the current situation.

Suburban schools on the Eastside have a number of major advantages in athletic competition. Their suburban location allows for larger, centralized training facilities. Football stadiums worthy of hosting games and tennis facilities where teams can hold full-squad practices are examples.

Furthermore, athletic programs in the years preceding high school give Eastside schools a secondary advantage. Seattle Public Schools do not offer football until the ninth grade. Students on the Eastside begin playing football at a much younger age. When I played football for Roosevelt, most of my teammates were strapping on pads for the first time as freshmen. Given this fact, it should come as no surprise that the four Seattle KingCo 4A schools have performed miserably against Eastside football teams.

The best reason for the league to reunite — which is also the hardest to convey — is the history and romance associated with having all 10 Seattle public high schools competing as equals in a single league. As a student at Roosevelt, I often wanted to compete against my friends at Nathan Hale or Ingraham, but never had the chance. Instead, we played our games against schools like Eastlake or Bothell, where none of us had friends or acquaintances. We always played our hardest and put the most emphasis on our games against city schools, when bragging rights were actually worth something.

I seriously encourage those in positions of power to fight for this change and return the Metro League to its former glory. The benefits of this shift far outweigh the costs.

Samuel Francis Fisher, a 2004 Roosevelt graduate, is a student at Dartmouth College.

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