SAISD Filed its Appeal, Now What?

SAN ANGELO, TX—Earlier today, SAISD submitted an appeal to the University Interscholastic League to have Central High School removed from District 3-6A.

The appeal stems from a burden that will fall on the student-athletes, as well as staff members, who will be make frequent trips to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for sporting events. For every team that is not varsity football that will likely mean making a trip to the Metroplex on a weekday. When you factor in the 4-and-a-half hours of travel to and from those games, these kids will have missed most of a school day and won’t get back until roughly one or two in the morning.

Now that the appeal has been filed, what happens next?

First off, a lot of “hurry up and wait” as the UIL debates the formal appeal. Next, they will evaluate the data regarding travel to see whether or not there is a viable alternative for the Bobcats, SAISD will not be able to pick an alternative. Lastly, a final decision will be made by the UIL.

SAISD is confident that a decision will be delivered before the end of the month.

How likely is it that the decision will place the Bobcats back in to District 2-6A? There’s no telling where the UIL would put Central after their first year of using remapping technology. District 2-6A is the only other best fit for Central, but the UIL is confident their technology got things right.

They also used that same technology to consider placing Central in a San Antonio district or in south Texas with Del Rio and Laredo ISD schools. However, the Del Rio/Laredo district was already full and San Angelo to Austin or San Antonio, albeit closer than Fort Worth, is still a lengthy trip. San Angelo would also be the lone outlier in one of those districts.

Whereas, in District 3-6A, teams like Abilene and Weatherford make the distance somewhat even all around despite the close proximity of Euless Trinity, Haltom City, Hurst Bell and North Richland Hills.

Unless something has changed in the data used by the UIL, Central is likely to stay in District 3.