The principal of Gray Collegiate Academy, the West Columbia public charter school that has become a lightning rod amid continuing debate over competitive fairness in S.C. high school athletics, spoke before the state House Education and Public Works Ad Hoc High School Athletic Committee meeting Sept. 20. 

The committee previously met for the first time to discuss proposed legislation and potential solutions to the South Carolina High School Sports League’s issue with competitive balance, specifically when it comes to public charter schools like Gray Collegiate participating in 2A athletics, on Sept. 11. 

At the start of the Sept. 20 meeting, State Rep. Russell Ott — who represents District 93 covering Calhoun, Lexington and Orangeburg counties — spoke about the issues at length, recounting stories from those he knows and from within his district about the ways rural schools in lower classifications can’t compete with public charter schools, emphasizing that the problem has blossomed to the point where meetings like this were needed. 

Many people came to speak at the hearing. According to committee Chair Shannon Erickson, she had over three pages of names of people who signed up to speak..

“Gray Collegiate is operating from within their charter,” Erickson said, introducing Gray Collegiate Principal Brian Newsome. “They are operating within the charter that we as a state have allowed them to operate under. So there is no disparaging from anyone in this room that they are not following the law and the procedures that they can legally follow.”

When Newsome got up to speak, he first addressed public perceptions about Gray that he said aren’t factual, directly tackling allegations that his school actively recruits.

“We play in the 2A classification in the high school league and we’re a proud member there with zero violations with recruiting,” Newsome said. “But if you read around, you’d think we recruited everybody. But we have zero recruiting violations.”

Newsome said that since 2017, Gray Collegiate has competed in 23% of state championship games and with their nine state titles in athletics, only won 15% of available 2A championships.

“Out there, you’d think that we win them all,” Newsome said. “I like it that they think we win them all but we don’t win them all. We’d like to win them all and we do the best we can. But that just means three out of every four state championships, Gray Collegiate does not compete in.” 

The principal of the school of 873 students also emphasized that Gray Collegiate is zoned for Brookland-Cayce High School’s attendance area and 94% of its students are in dual-enrollment classes with that public high school. He also highlighted that only about half of his students participate in athletics.

The last thing Newsome addressed in his opening statement was what he deemed to be bad actors spreading falsehoods about their school to create division.

“What’s true is that those who are spreading misinformation are only doing so to create divisiveness and, unfortunately, controversy,” the principal added. “This is hurting athletics in South Carolina and is certainly not in the best interests of students that we have in South Carolina.”

Erickson asked Newsom how he has personally addressed the competitive balance issue. 

According to Newsome, in one of the committees he sits on in the High School Sports League, a vote to implement a multiplier system failed. Such a system would move certain teams up in classification if they are succeeding at a significantly higher rate than other schools in that classification when it comes to state championships. 

The House Education and Public Works Ad Hoc High School Athletic Committee plans to meet again in the second or third week in October to continue the discussion and consider possible next steps to address the competitive balance issue.