Sports programs at Bear River High are likely to have a lot more competition at the state level beginning next fall under a plan set to be approved this month by the governing body for prep sports and other interscholastic activities in Utah.
The Utah High School Activities Association is in the middle of a realignment process it goes through every two years in an attempt to level the playing field for high school athletic programs across the state, and the 4A classification appears set to add up to 13 new schools.
At a Nov. 17 meeting, the UHSAA Board of Trustees approved a first draft of classifications for 2023-25 based on the schools’ enrollment sizes. The board compiled a list of “bubble” schools — those that can move up or down a classification based on their enrollment size relative to other schools.
Under new rules that give schools more flexibility to switch classifications, there are currently 53 statewide that qualify as bubble schools — more than in any previous realignment.
The plan keeps Bear River firmly in the 4A classification, but also proposes significant changes that would nearly double the number of schools in 4A while moving one of the Bears’ longtime rivals to 3A.
4A currently consists of the six northern schools in Region 11 and the seven southern schools that make up Region 10. The early draft of the new plan keeps all of those in 4A except for Logan, which would move to 3A.
The proposal expands 4A to 25 schools that have comparable enrollment numbers, including several Wasatch Front schools and a few from outlying areas. Most of the new 4A member schools would be coming from 5A, including Bonneville, Bountiful, East, Murray, Park City, Timpanogos, Tooele, Uintah, Jordan, Orem and Provo. Two 3A schools — Ben Lomond and Ogden — are currently slated to move up to 4A.
The November meeting was the first of three board meetings dedicated to realignment, and the first draft is likely to be revised as the process continues in the coming weeks.
The board will meet on Thursday, Dec. 8 to determine the final consideration of classifications and place schools into a first consideration for regions. A public hearing will be held virtually on Wednesday, Dec. 14 in an attempt to get feedback from the various districts, schools and communities on the placement of schools into regions.
Schools will be assigned to regions at a meeting Thursday, Dec. 15, allowing time for them to organize and schedule for the two-year alignment period. After that, schools that want to move to a higher classification will still have an opportunity to apply to do so at a UHSAA board meeting in January.
The first contests under the new alignment will take place the fall of 2023. At that time the enrollment data upon which the alignment is based will be less than one year old.
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