The TSSAA was called for a special Legislative Council Meeting Thursday, July 16th. The assembly was held at Double Tree Hotel in Murfreesboro. Including press and media over 100 people were in attendance. The hot topic on the agenda was a proposal regarding a total split between public and private schools.
The proposal was made by Trousdale County and Lewis County high schools in March of 2014. The proposal read as follows: “All public schools shall play in Division I and all non-public schools shall play in Division II.”
During the discussion director of the TSSAA, Bernard Childress, stated some main concerns of a total split are student employment, tuition reduction of family members, employment of family, and the use of non-faculty coaches.
The Legislative Council turned down the proposal with a 4-5 vote.
Members who voted “no” on the split included Ron Woodard, McAdams, Greg McCullough, Black, and Michael Reynolds. The “yes” votes included Mike Tatum, Danny Gilbert, Jeff Luttrell, and Keith Turner.
After the vote, the Legislative Council approved to have 3 independent or private school representatives on the Board of Control and Legislative Council.
One member from a private school, Dr. Bill Thrasher of Columbia Academy, said, “It would be a real disadvantage if the proposal had of passed. We would had to scramble to find teams to play in our immediate area. It is very beneficial to us to play some of the smaller public schools in our geographical region since we are a small school ourselves”
The legislative council is made up of 9 members. The council represents the range of Tennessee’s geographical landscape consisting of 3 members from the three “Grand Divisions” (West, Middle, and East).
The TSSAA will meet again in September to discuss issues regarding public and private schools and possible policy changes to improve fair play.
