LHSAA makes big announcement affecting high school sports in Caddo Parish

BATON ROUGE, La. (KSLA) - Area coaches, school administration and parents of student-athletes are in for a surprise. On Friday, June 3, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) voted 16-5 to redefine select and non-select schools based on how much enrollment is “outside” of a school’s district.

On June 6, LHSAA issued its list of select and non-select schools. Almost every school in Caddo Parish was deemed as select except for Northwood High School, which is still considered non-select.

This change of rules will mean the number of select schools will go up from 106 (26%) to a staggering 200 (49.4%), dropping the number of non-select schools from 299 (73%) to just 205 (50.6%).

What does this mean for your student who goes to any of these schools?

Any school that has any component of a magnet school is deemed select, meaning they are now listed to compete in playoffs with private schools like Evangel Christian Academy and Calvary.

How will this affect sports in our schools?

The new schools deemed select will have to compete against private school powerhouses, which arguably have an advantage in sports. Private schools which charge tuition fees can recruit students from abroad by offering them sports scholarships to help them with their tuition costs. This puts public schools which have district limits and no tuition at a distinct disadvantage.

Caddo Public Schools Athletic Director Anthony Tisdale is speaking out after the announcement was made.

“The issue is that the LHSAA made a decision without input from the body. Now our coaches are going to do a great job to prepare the athletes, the question is how it is done,” he said.

Calvary Baptist Football Coach Rodney Guin said he’s in favor of the decision.

“I mean it’s fair. I’ve been in favor of the split we voted for the split when I was at Haughton. I’ll be honest, if we voted today I’d vote for it again. I think in the smaller classes like we play, there is a definite difference in select and non-select schools.”

The rule goes into effect July 1; schools will have the option to change their enrollment policies before then.

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