Brookland-Cayce athletic director Rusty Charpia pulled no punches when talking about Gray Collegiate to the South Carolina High School League Executive Committee.
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Brookland-Cayce athletic director Rusty Charpia pulled no punches when talking about Gray Collegiate to the South Carolina High School League Executive Committee.
Charpia and Airport athletic director Shane Fidler spoke to the committee last week to address their school’s decision to not play Gray Collegiate in all junior varsity sports this year.
Tensions between Gray and the pair of Lexington District Two schools have been high in recent years as both schools accused Gray of recruiting their students.
“There are 300 students who should be going to Brookland-Cayce High School but made the decision to go to Gray,” Charpia said at the meeting. “There are 140 playing there now that used to play for us.”
About 100 students zoned for Airport currently attend Gray, Fidler said.
Both schools came into the meeting facing a $2,500 fine. Both were able to get those penalties reduced. Airport will now pay $500 and Brookland-Cayce will pay $2. The Eagles plan to appeal their fine.
The three teams are all in a region together for the first time. Brookland-Cayce and Gray jumped to 4A this year after the enrollment multiplier was installed to address the continuing competitive balance debate.
Being in the same region, Airport and Brookland-Cayce are required to play each other in all varsity sports to be eligible for the postseason and avoid other fines. Those requirements are not in place for JV sports.
The main issue addressed during last week’s meeting was when Airport and Brookland-Cayce notified Gray of their decisions to avoid playing JV sports in the fall. Both schools claimed they gave plenty of notice. Gray argues otherwise.
Charpia said Brookland-Cayce will never play Gray in sub-varsity sports to protect their players from potential recruitment.
“We don’t want to play them at sub-varsity level,” Charpia said to the committee “It’s not in our best interest to give them access to all our children.”
Charpia also said that as a traditional school, it has been increasingly difficult to retain students and that Gray runs on a different model.
Gray Collegiate has 80% of its student body living outside of its designated attendance zone. Most of those are not athletes.
Gray ranked highly in the state for many education statistics. It received an above-average score on its state report card and has above-average ELA and math scores, according to the state’s Department of Education.
The school released a statement standing by its support of school choice and stated its goals are to protect its students' and student-athletes’ education experience.
“GCA will continue to advocate for families and students who exercise their rights to attend a school of their choice,” Gray principal Brian Newsome said in a release. “Likewise, GCA will continue to advocate for our student-athletes and their right to participate in athletic contests at every competition level: varsity, sub-varsity, and middle school. We will not rest until all public school student-athletes competing in SCHSL sanctioned competitions are treated equally under the SCHSL constitution, SCHSL bylaws, and the laws of this state.”
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