Meeting in Boise Tuesday, the Idaho High School Activities Association Board of Directors was expected to approve the request of Sun Valley's The Community School to remain in the 1A Division 2 ranks for the 2008-10 classification cycle.
The Community School, with an expected enrollment of 118 for the 2008-10 cycle, had to petition the IHSAA to move down from 1A Division 1 (100-159 students) to Division 2 (99-and-under for grades 9-12).
At issue was 1A athletic competition in boys' and girls' basketball and volleyball.
The Community School petitioned for relief at the Sept. 25 IHSAA board meeting, but the Sun Valley application was delayed for a final reading until Tuesday's meeting until a vote from school superintendents was taken on the matter.
Both Community School athletic director John Remington and Carey School athletic director Lee Cook confirmed that the superintendent's vote was 11-9 in favor of The Community School dropping down from Division 1 to Division 2.
Besides closer travel, The Community School wanted to maintain its historical rivalries within the current 1A Northside Conference, which will be called the Sawtooth Conference for basketball and volleyball starting in the fall of 2008.
Tentatively, the new nine-school Sawtooth Conference of nine Division 2 schools will include Carey, The Community School, Camas County of Fairfield, Dietrich, Richfield, Bliss, ISDB of Gooding, Magic Valley Christian and Murtaugh, Carey's Cook explained.
If The Community School had remained in Division 1, the Sun Valley teams would have been required to travel to Division 1 schools located south of the Snake River—Castleford, Raft River of Malta, Oakley, Hansen, Hagerman and Lighthouse Christian Academy.
Shoshone, formerly a Northside Conference school, will now join the Division 1 ranks starting in the fall of 2008.
Still undecided by the IHSAA, athletic director Cook said, was the issue of whether the 1A tournaments in basketball and volleyball will remain four days for 16 teams, or return to three days for eight teams like the 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A classes in the Gem State.
