ILWACO – Now that the dust has settled and Ilwaco sports teams will compete in class 1A for the next two sports years, the WIAA has passed an amendment to change the way schools are classified, effective 2006-07.

The executive board decided 28 percent of all high schools will be class B, and the 1A through 4A classes will each have 18 percent of all schools. The good thing is the percentages add up to 100 percent. Other than that uncertainty continues to reign.

Under the present method of classifying schools, a set cut-off is in place. Schools with less than 150 students in grades 10-12 will be class B, below 300 you’re in 1A, and so on. Some classifications have more schools than others, and the WIAA felt having a sliding scale of enrollment, but equal percentages of schools in each classification, would be better.

The classification system was created to level the playing field whereby schools with similar enrollment compete against each other.

Under the new amendment, Ilwaco would continue to be class 1A, and their District IV would expand to Stevenson and White Salmon as well as White Pass and Rainier – this could cause travel expense to increase considerably.

Naselle would continue to compete with dozens of private schools that can conceivably draw from extremely large populations in urban areas under the guise of being class B. The idea of a “Hoosier’s-like” small-school team “winning it all” continues to be more and more remote.

There was no explanation as to why the number of class B schools will be 155 percent larger than other classes.This could be solved by allowing the 100 or so private schools to compete in their own separate division like other states do. That change could allow going back to four classifications with approximately 75 public schools in each division.