High school sports: Highland's move to 3A highlights realignment debate

MIDVALE — The new realignment procedure might have reduced the number of debates, but not the intensity of the decisions.

With six teams on the bubble of 4A and 5A — Lehi, Mountain Crest, Sky View, West, Murray, Cyprus — none of the schools wanted to be in the larger classification. Conversely, of the four schools on the bubble of 4A and 3A, three of the four wanted to be in the larger classification. While Uintah agreed to go to 3A, Highland, Orem and Springville wanted to stay in 4A. After finding all other factors equal — including geographical and time out of school concerns — the Board of Trustees voted to put Springville in 4A and Highland in 3A.

That means the Salt Lake School District will have a 5A school in West, a 4A school in East and a 3A school in Highland. Meanwhile, Orem will have three high schools — Mountain View, Orem and Timpanogos — in three different regions and two different classifications.

Highland principal Paul Schulte argued that the 4A principals voted to keep Highland in 4A while moving Springville to 3A. But the 3A principals wanted Highland and argued that the mileage travelled to and from the two schools was essentially the same when aligned in their respective 3A regions.

Despite his disappointment with being moved to 3A, Highland principal Paul Schulte, who is one of the architects of the new system, said he still believes this new system is superior to the old.

"I'm not a happy camper right now, but I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bath water," said Schulte. "I will live with it because I believe in the process."

Lehi and West will be the two schools moving to 5A next year, while Mountain Crest, Sky View, Murray and Cyprus move to 4A regions.

The 5A regions approved are:

Region 1: Davis, Fremont, Layton, Northridge, Syracuse, Weber

Region 2: Granger, Hunter, Kearns, Taylorsville, Viewmont, West

Region 3: Alta, Brighton, Copper Hills, Cottonwood, Jordan, West Jordan

Region 4: American Fork, Bingham, Lone Peak, Pleasant Grove, Riverton, Lehi

When it came to deciding which schools two schools to put in 5A, principals agreed that only two had geographical issues, which is one of the tie-break criteria.