Private school reps leave Friday meeting unified, ready to negotiate with AHSAA officials

By TIM GAYLE

Representatives from virtually all of the state’s Alabama High School Athletic Association-member private schools gathered on Friday for two and a half hours in a second-floor conference room in Faulkner University’s Harris College of Business to discuss the future of private schools as AHSAA members,

The meeting was planned in advance of the Jan. 23 decision by the Alabama High School Athletic Association to separate public and private schools from postseason competition, but that decision certainly fueled the conversation on Friday.  

“I felt like a lot got accomplished,” said Alabama Christian Academy head of school Josh Roberts. “Frankly, I thought it was rather historic to have that number of schools have a conversation about the future of athletics and everybody be on the same page about the values they want to guide those conversations.

“There was a very clear desire that we fight for ways to be stronger participants in our current (AHSAA) system but there was also an acknowledgment that we’re going to have to explore other systems in case we’re not successful at finding true cooperation with the AHSAA.”   

The group discussed putting the major issues raised at the meeting into a presentation at the next AHSAA Central Board meeting on Thursday.

Alabama Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth was present at the meeting and was lauded by private school administrators and athletic directors for his progressive stance on the issue. Ainsworth plans to meet in private with AHSAA executive director Heath Harmon next week and will address the Central Board at its meeting on Thursday.

 “He’s not an advocate for the private schools, he’s an advocate for fair play,” Catholic athletic director Daniel Veres said. “He doesn’t believe this is fair for the students and the student-athletes of Alabama. And I’m in agreement with him on that, for sure.”

The Central Board’s decision placed the top 16 schools into two eight-team regions (Indian Springs was also included but does not play football) to play in AA Private and the remaining 28 schools in four seven-team regions in A Private, setting off concerns about the disparity of size among the AA Private teams and the amount of travel for all of the teams. At least three of the AA Private teams consider the current classification system as untenable.

“I think we have both a desire and a plan to have more conversations,” Roberts said, “and I think those conversations are truly welcomed by and desired by the AHSAA. It’s very clear that Heath Harmon has a strong desire to create more collaboration. It is not clear how much support there is on the Central Board but I am hopeful. And I do think there is enough interest from the Central Board to examine what is best for students, that the time is right for some conversations that we’ve never been able to have before.”

Alabama Independent School Association executive director Michael McLendon attended the meeting on behalf of the 26 AISA-member schools that participate in the Alabama High School Athletic Association. 

“We exist to support the needs of independent schools and that’s what we’ll do by whatever means we’re asked to do it,” he said. “Our role there was simply to listen and provide support and that’s what we did and will continue to do.”

Catholic president Justin Castanza drafted a statement for the media concerning the meeting.

“Independent schools remain grateful for leadership throughout the state that continues to help support our students, particularly in the Lieutenant Governor’s office and the AISA,” Castanza said. “We remain committed to working with the AHSAA to build a safe and supportive competition system for our athletes. This cooperative approach remains paramount.”

While the major issues will be presented by Ainsworth next week, there are plenty of indicators that will be on the table as well. For example, representatives of the AA Private classification drew up a playoff proposal for 2026-28. Whether that proposal is ignored or accepted by a Central Board comprised almost entirely of public school representatives will go a long way toward telling private school representatives how much authority they have in making up the rules for their classification.

“We’re going to find out in the next few weeks how agreeable the Central Board is to meaningful conversations,” Roberts said. “We all expect that they are agreeable. I think everybody believes those conversations can be successful, but we also did agree to create a task force to examine an independent association in the event those conversations are not entered into in good faith.”

Private schools (as well as public schools) are quickly building football schedules for the 2026 season, but are waiting to see whether more changes will come with the next Central Board meeting on Thursday. In any case, private school representatives feel they are more unified as they prepare for the next step in the ongoing dispute between public and private schools.  

“This might be our fifth meeting since April with the private schools,” Veres said. “There is more unity than there has ever been in the history of the private schools. There were people at that (Friday) meeting that didn’t know other people.

“I think there’s a good plan. In the next week, we’ll know more. Then we’ll take a step back after we get that information before we take the next step. We are unified in what we want, going forward, and the first part is having the lieutenant governor advocating for us.”