This Sunday morning, a busload of football parents from Richardson High School will travel to Austin to speak to the Legislative Council of the University Interscholastic League. They intend to protest the lopsided methodology which pits their school of 2200 students against Plano, Plano East, and Allen High Schools, with between 4600 and 5700 students each. They will lobby for a "big school, small school" system, wherein mega-schools like these compete with other mega-schools in the state. Currently in District 9-5A, Richardson and Lake Highlands High (2500 students) must face Plano, Plano East, and Allen – three of the largest schools in Texas.
This meeting, and the decision of the board, have broad implications for LHHS. We too compete as David to multiple Goliaths. Luckily for us, we at least are in the fight. Richardson’s football team is on track for another winless season. As a magnet school, they draw lots of great students to their excellent programs. But their superior culinary arts, law, technology, and theater programs don’t draw many serious football players. Their numbers are big enough to place them in our district, but their athlete talent pools aren’t. Allen cuts kids every year who would start for Richardson’s varsity.
Why should LH care? Because our kids and our coaches are similarly discouraged by the unfair fight. Our boys play with heart, and they hang in there most of the time. But our enrollment isn’t much more than Richardson’s – we just don’t have the numbers. Imagine doubling LHHS (and then some). We’d still just have one varsity, but we would double our talent pool (and perhaps our win/loss record). And the competitive mismatch is true for other sports, too.
What should UIL do? The Richardson parents want to divide 5A into big and small schools. Short of that, they at least want us aligned the way we were before – in a district with Carrollton schools, which resemble our own in enrollment and diversity. As one RHS parent told me, "we don’t have a single player hiring private trainers and coaches, but many of the Plano and Allen students pay for specialized training three nights a week. If they don’t, they can’t compete with the hundreds of boys trying out for the team."
What can LHHS parents do? Bryan and Gayle McCrory, presidents of the Wildcat Club, invite interested parents to write opinion letters to the UIL. They will ensure that each letter is hand-delivered to Austin. Letters may be emailed to cactusdfw@sbcglobal.net.
The good news for residents of LH and Richardson? We may not win many football games, but a larger percentage of our kids get to take the field. And dance on the drill team, and serve as student council officers, and cheer on the sidelines. I’d like to see a more level playing field, and a few more victories would be nice, but I wouldn’t trade our neighborhood school for all the mega-schools in Texas. High student participation makes us winners in every contest.
