GHSA places high schools into classifications

The Georgia High School Association split teams into seven classifications Wednesday.

The GHSA goes through a reclassification process every four years. Teams are placed in a classification of like-sized schools in order to make competition as fair as possible.

The GHSA decided to add a seventh classification for the start of the 2016-17 school year.

The 48 largest schools will be placed in Class 7A. The rest of the schools were split up for the other six classes.

Harris County is the largest school placed in 5A. The school has 1,673 students. River Ridge is the smallest in 6A with 1,679.

Northside is the fifth smallest in 5A with 1,357. Pickens is the largest in 4A with 1,341.

Hardaway (1,276), Columbus (1,269), Shaw (1,225) and Carver (1,191) were placed in 4A.

Kendrick (945) was placed in 3A, while Spencer (838) and Jordan (787) were placed in 2A.

For the current two-year cycle, the Muscogee County School District, citing financial reasons, forced Hardaway, Columbus, Shaw and Carver to play up with Northside in 5A. It also forced Spencer and Jordan to play up in 3A with Kendrick.

Meanwhile, Chattahoochee County (458) and Manchester (475) were both dropped down to 1A, where Brookstone (327), Pacelli (186) and Marion County (432) remain.

Schools have until Nov. 30 to request to play up. The MCSD is expected to force those schools to do so again.

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 9:15 PM with the headline "GHSA places high schools into classifications ."