VHSL Approves Northwestern District Expansion

Posted: September 22, 2016
Star staff report

As expected, Sherando High School will stay in Group 4 instead of being moved to Group 5 beginning in the 2017-18 school year, and the Northwestern District will expand from five to 13 schools starting in 2017-18 as a result of action taken by the Virginia School High League Executive Committee on Wednesday.

On Aug. 4, the VHSL Alignment Committee unanimously supported Sherando’s presentation that showed it should be in Group 4, and it also unanimously voted to approve the Northwestern District’s request to increase its membership. Sherando, Handley, James Wood and Millbrook are current Northwestern members. District competition no longer has any bearing on the postseason, but they have been maintained for regular-season scheduling purposes.

The executive committee needed to approve both measures to make them official, and it did so at its meeting in Charlottesville on Wednesday.

In August, Sherando presented data that showed that the March 31 ADM (average daily membership) number provided to the VHSL by the Virginia Department of Education was incorrect.

On June 23, it was announced that Sherando’s March 31 ADM number was 1,533 — seven higher than the cutoff of 1,526 required to remain in Group 4 — and that the school would move to Group 5 for at least two years. But an investigation by the school and Frederick County Public Schools revealed that Sherando’s ADM should be 1,522.

As for the Northwestern District, current Northwestern schools Sherando, Handley, James Wood, Millbrook (all Group 4) and Skyline (Group 3) will be joined by six schools from the Evergreen District (Group 4 schools Fauquier, Kettle Run and Liberty and Group 3 schools Brentsville, Culpeper and Manassas Park) and two Group 3 schools from the Bull Run District (Warren County and William Monroe).

The Bull Run District will not add any schools and will see its membership reduced from eight to six. The new Bull Run will feature current members Clarke County, Central, George Mason, Madison County, Rappahannock County and Strasburg.

The VHSL has 316 schools divided into six groups for postseason purposes, with Group 6 featuring schools with the largest enrollments. The VHSL is eliminating conferences beginning in 2017-18 and will instead open the postseason at the region level.

Handley, James Wood, Millbrook and Sherando will compete in Group 4, Region C (14 schools) with Dominion, Fauquier, Heritage-Leesburg, Kettle Run, Liberty-Bealeton, Loudoun County, Loudoun Valley, Park View-Sterling, Riverside and Woodgrove.

Clarke County will compete in Group 2, Region B (12 schools) with Buffalo Gap, Central-Woodstock, East Rockingham, R.E. Lee-Staunton, Luray, Madison County, George Mason, Page County, Strasburg, Stuarts Draft and Wilson Memorial.