Leading off today: We'll see how long it lasts, but the issue of whether private schools should be able to continue competing against their NYSPHSAA public-school peers in the postseason is off the front burner for the moment following a Friday vote.
The New York State Public High School Athletic Association's ad hoc committee studying Schools Without Boundaries concluded its encore by recommending that the organization should stick with the classification process adopted last fall and evaluate its effectiveness for two years.
It was one of three options that the committee hed sent back to the 11 sections last month for consideration. Sections 5, 6, 7, 10 and 11 cast votes in favor.
Sections 1, 2 and 4 voted to consider complete separation of non-public/ charter schools for postseason competition. Sections 3, 8 and 9 voted to continue to examine potential revisions such as additional classifications or separation in select sports.
In a vote last fall that was presumed to conclude the ad hoc committee's work, the NYSPHSAA Executive Committee voted 20-2 to approve establishing consistent sectional criteria for classifying non-public and charter schools and an appeal procedure to the NYSPHSAA Classification Oversight Committee.
At the behest of the Lower Hudson Council of School Superintendents, Section 1 representatives on the Executive Committee called upon the NYSPHSAA to re-visit that decision, leading to the reactivation of the ad hoc committee last month, this time bolstered by additional school superintendents.
Though not as decisive as last October's vote, Friday's result was the same. This time, though, the ad hoc committee is likely to remain intact after formally acknowledging today's vote at the quarterly Executive Committee meeting in Saratoga Springs on May 6.
• One question that I've already seen mentioned today on social media is why Section 6, which does not allow private schools as members, voted in favor of sticking with the classification process that was adopted last fall.
I haven't spoken this week to anyone in the Buffalo area who's in an official capacity in high school sports, but a retired two-sport coach I correspond with once in awhile threw out an interesting theory last week about why Western New York might see it as the best option.
I'm paraphrasing here and have forgotten one or two of the sports he mentioned, but the possible motive is this:
The best WNY football team last season was from the Monsignor Martin Association (St. Francis). The best boys basketball team was from the MMA (Canisius). The best girls basketball team was from the MMA (St. Mary's). The best boys hockey team was from the MMA (Canisius).
Is it possible Section 6's public schools have seen what schools unfettered from NYSPHSAA rules can do and are nudging counterparts across the rest of the state away from motivating private schools to leave?
I don't think we were witnessing that level of figurative three-dimensional chess, but I just don't know. It's not the craziest idea I've heard in two years of listening to discussions about private vs. public schools.
More on Saturday
I've been working on an assessment of where we've been recently and where we might be going in the debate in light of the latest vote. I'll hopefully be posting on Saturday morning.
Albany CBA star transfers to Albany Academy
Albany CBA junior
JJ Osinski would have been on the short list of candidates for Class AAA basketball player of the year next season, but instead intends to transfer to Albany Academy, which plays in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council.
Osinski, CBA's career scoring leader, helped the Brothers to the NYSPHSAA Class AAA state championship last month in Binghamton. He averaged 21.7 points and 7.5 rebounds as a junior.
"I feel like I have done everything I wanted to accomplish at CBA," the 6-foot-5 forward told The Times Union. "This decision is based on trying to improve myself as a player against better competition."
Albany Academy made its NEPSAC debut last season and qualified as eighth seed in the Class AA playoffs, bowing to the eventual champion in the quarterfinals.
The buzz is already building for a game five months away
Gregg Sarra at Newsday wrote today that we're gonna need a bigger venue, and I believe he's right.
Garden City and Massapequa are scheduled to play a rare (by Nassau County standards) cross-divisional football game on Sept. 26. Already, the anticipation is such that playing it as scheduled on Massapequa's field feels like a missed opportunity.
Garden City is on a 66-game winning streak, the longest active run of success in the country. Massapequa has won 23 in a row. What's more, Garden City has won five straight Long Island Championships, and Massapequa is the first Class I school to win three consecutive LIC titles.
Sarra is pitching the idea of playing the game at Hofstra University's James R. Shuart Stadium, which can seat 13,000 fans, and believes a sellout is a realistic possibility.
Former Queensbury coach issued criminal summons
Adam Orr, Queensbury's successful former boys lacrosse coach, has been issued a criminal summons after being accused of twice grabbing a student as she tried to leave his classroom,
WNYT-TV reported.
Orr, whose teams compiled a 132-58 record over the past 11 seasons, recently resigned his coaching job and is on leave from his teaching position, the TV station reported.
The summons against Orr alleges he grabbed the arms and backpack of the student twice in a three-day span last months as she was trying to leave his classroom. Her father filed a complaint with the Warren County Sheriff's Office.
A good read
Credit to Syracuse.com, which will host a Unified basketball media day for the first time on Saturday at Liverpool High School. That puts the sport on the same footing for preseason coverage as the Section 3 varsity sports.
New York State has offered Unified Sports since 2012, and there are about 300 basketball and 250 bowling teams across the state. Teams are comprised of players with or without intellectual disabilities. The latter group is called "partners," and they help keep everyone involved in the participation-focused activities.
Todd Nelson, a former Section 3 AD who holds a master's degree in adapted physical education, has taken the lead in launching and expanding Unified Sports in his role as a NYSPHSAA assistant director.
