Will Emerald High Become a 9th Grade Academy??

[Damefan]

Just got a call from a great source that Greenwood is attempting to hedge their bets to stay in AAAAA by converting Emerald into a 9th grade Academy and sending 10th, 11th, and 12th over too Greenwood High. This would fulfill what I had said in an earlier post about Greenwood only needing one High School and merging students would get them to almost 2500 plus putting major talent back into one school. According to my sources there has been on going discussions for several months about this possibly taking place. Look forward to the Greenwood comments on this since this was a well connected source.

[GwoodEagle2k1]

Just got a call from a great source that Greenwood is attempting to hedge their bets to stay in AAAAA by converting Emerald into a 9th grade Academy and sending 10th, 11th, and 12th over too Greenwood High. This would fulfill what I had said in an earlier post about Greenwood only needing one High School and merging students would get them to almost 2500 plus putting major talent back into one school. According to my sources there has been on going discussions for several months about this possibly taking place. Look forward to the Greenwood comments on this since this was a well connected source.

Explain to me what a 9th grade academy is. Does it mean that every student from the three middle schools that are up coming 9th graders will go to Emerald then transfer to Greenwood when sophomores? How will this work?

[Damefan]

Just got a call from a great source that Greenwood is attempting to hedge their bets to stay in AAAAA by converting Emerald into a 9th grade Academy and sending 10th, 11th, and 12th over too Greenwood High. This would fulfill what I had said in an earlier post about Greenwood only needing one High School and merging students would get them to almost 2500 plus putting major talent back into one school. According to my sources there has been on going discussions for several months about this possibly taking place. Look forward to the Greenwood comments on this since this was a well connected source.

Explain to me what a 9th grade academy is. Does it mean that every student from the three middle schools that are up coming 9th graders will go to Emerald then transfer to Greenwood when sophomores? How will this work?

In previous schools that I have been at they have had either separate campuses or areas for the 9th graders that only they can be in. This is to allow them to slowly integrate into High School life without being preyed upon by upper class men that are much older and more mature. They attend classes with 9th graders only but in most cases attend the same activities as their High School peers but are monitored more closely. It is a great system that has worked well since the old junior high system 7-9 was dumped years ago. They have found it reduced a lot of peer pressure for kids 13-15 yer of age entering 9th grade dealing with kids 16-19 years of age.

[Onion Rings]

Essentially it means to eliminate Emerald high along with most of their teachers and coaches. To consolidate the 2 schools into 1

This is a major move, and one that would not be done without a LOT of public discussion and certainly could not be done by the next realignment

Would be a great move for football, doubt it could happen unless they are out of money as a district

[No Fly Zone]

This would not happen anytime soon.

It would take at least two or three years to pass.

[Damefan]

Essentially it means to eliminate Emerald high along with most of their teachers and coaches. To consolidate the 2 schools into 1

This is a major move, and one that would not be done without a LOT of public discussion and certainly could not be done by the next realignment

Would be a great move for football, doubt it could happen unless they are out of money as a district

As far as the teachers, there will still be a need for more 9th grade teachers at Emerald, remember you are not closing a school but redistributing the assets (i.e. teachers/students) between the two schools. Coaching could be affected in some ways both positive and negative, but if they decided this route it could give them an argument for staying in AAAAA. It would not only help them in football but all sports, and increase the educational opportunities they could offer since they wouldn't have to split their resources between two high schools. Paying once is better than paying twice. Plus it might improve their ability to pay a coach at the levels of Westside, Hanna, and others.

[No Fly Zone]

This doesn't benefit anyone but Greenwood High School's athletic programs.

Switching to one high school in Greenwood takes away so many opportunities for the kids that play sports at Emerald (and even Greenwood). Less playing time, less roster spots, etc.

This is not a good option for that town. It puts even more kids out of sports and creates even more risk for the rising crime.

Emerald becoming a junior high helps the streets, not the community.

[Damefan]

This doesn't benefit anyone but Greenwood High School's athletic programs.

Switching to one high school in Greenwood takes away so many opportunities for the kids that play sports at Emerald (and even Greenwood). Less playing time, less roster spots, etc.

This is not a good option for that town. It puts even more kids out of sports and creates even more risk for the rising crime.

Emerald becoming a junior high helps the streets, not the community.

I don't necessarily agree, it could actually improve and increase the opportunities by improving the roster sizes. This allows for competition to improve and the ability to have more players share time on the field keeping them fresh and not as tired. As a coach I would much rather platoon my kids than have to play them both ways or 100% of the time during the offense or defensive plays. This is where teams like Dutch Fork who has a roster of almost 100 players wear teams down and beat them. This also allows for the JV and B-Teams to have a better development program for the upper programs. In other sports it enables teams to be more selective yes, but some schools offer an intra school inter-mural program that also includes those kids who didn't make the team and allows for development and participation. Remember Michael Jordon didn't make his varsity team in the 10th grade it must be earned.

With that thought, I saw a kid recently earn a letter after participating on his schools fall team sport (a AAAAA school) for 2 weeks. That is not how we gave out letters when I coached.
You started the season, came to all the practices, and had to participate in a certain amount of playing time during the season. Coaches now hand out letters for just being on the team. Like Jim Baxter said in a recent post a letter means nothing anymore! Sorry if this offends anyone and your kid falls into this group but life is not free and the sooner these kids learn that the better off they will be.

Before you condemn what a 9th grade Academy can't do for the community as a whole maybe you should check out what it CAN do as a positive for the community and not worry about what it will do for just athletics which we are talking about on this site. There are a whole lot more positives than negatives I promise you.

By the way it may never happen, who knows!!

[bigdog2003]

This doesn't benefit anyone but Greenwood High School's athletic programs.

Switching to one high school in Greenwood takes away so many opportunities for the kids that play sports at Emerald (and even Greenwood). Less playing time, less roster spots, etc.

This is not a good option for that town. It puts even more kids out of sports and creates even more risk for the rising crime.

Emerald becoming a junior high helps the streets, not the community.

This is a huge part that they have to look at. This is more than a simple budget decision or a sports decision, this is a change the community decision.

[Deputy]

That would be a great move for Greenwood High varsity sports. Especially football. But I dont see that happening. For one you have the educators in the decision making that are more concerned with the educational end than a football teams success. Then come the parents who have kids who's opportunity to play would be greatly reduced when you go to one high school. Not saying it wont happen, but I would be surprised.