The votes have been counted. The message is clear.
Administrators in this corner of the state are united in their desire to implement a postseason tournament system that separates public and private schools. The propsal to amend the Section 1 constitution and effectively ban non-public schools from traditional sectional and state tournament play has passed by an eye-popping 69-4 margin.
The votes were tabulated on Tuesday, June 16, by Clarkstown School District superintendent and Section 1 President Marc Baiocco.
“So beginning with the 2027-28 school year, teams from non-public schools will be ineligible to participate in postseason championships alongside the public schools,” he said. “The non-public schools will retain the option to compete in a separate non-public contest and then the wonky thing will be the winners of those separate non-public regional contests will not advance to the (state) tournament unless NYSPHSAA acts on this within that time period.”
The four private schools impacted by this decision are Albertus Magnus, Keio, Leffell and Ursuline.
According to Baiocco, all four voted against the amendment, meaning the public schools were unanimous in their desire for a separate postseason tournament.
The section has been in conversation with the schools about the next steps, encouraging them to push NYSPHSAA executive director Robert Zayas for a statewide change of direction.
“Obviously, they were concerned,” Baiocco added. “I had encouraged them at the time to reach out to Dr. Zayas and make sure that they noted their concerns so that the NYSPHSAA organization could hopefully move in a direction that’s going to be more equitable for them, as well.”
For nearly two years, administrators statewide have been actively debating a system that allows private schools to compete for sectional and state championships alongside public schools where talent pools are restricted by district boundaries. NYSPHSAA rules prohibit a private school from actively recruiting, but successful programs might draw athletes from a 60-mile radius.
Section 1 has been lobbying the state association to adopt parallel tournaments for non-public schools, but each attempt to convince NYSPHSAA’s other 10 sections to adopt changes has been rebuffed.
Representatives from each section voted this spring to establish a Competition Oversight Committee that has the power to move private schools up or down in classification based on level of success. The impact of that plan will be studied over the next two years.
That system has no way to deal with programs like CBA-Syracuse football or Albertus Magnus girls basketball who have accumulated multiple state championships while competing in the highest classifications.
“I couldn’t be any more disheartened by the lack of action taken by NYSPHSAA,’ Baiocco said. “I’m really disappointed, personally, and I believe they should be doing more to lead these efforts because I think we could do a lot with the Catholic High School Athletic Association. I played in that league. I attended Fordham Prep. There’s a lot of partnership that could happen there and we could easily create a nice system, almost like a New Jersey model, but NYSPHSAA has its heels dug in and it seems they want to prove a point to Section 1.”
This story is developing. Check back later for updates.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Section 1 amends constitution, bans private schools from postseason
Reporting by Mike Dougherty, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mike Dougherty, Rockland/Westchester Journal News | USA TODAY Network
