A proposed high school region realignment is drawing cheers from at least two Davis County high school officials who say proposed changes will make their high schools more competitive in athletic programs.
Wally Hawkins, principal at Woods Cross High School, said, "We are very happy about the changes. It will make us so we can compete better. We haven't had a winning season in basketball for seven years and in football we have had only three winning seasons in 11 years."Under the proposed realignment, Woods Cross and Bountiful High School would change from 4A to a smaller 3A classification and move from Region 4 to Region 5. They would then compete with Granite, Jordan, Judge Memorial, Murray, Tooele and West high schools.
"Woods Cross and Bountiful have got 3A enrollments, and that is where they should be," said Paul Smith, Layton High School principal and realignment study committee member.
Rulon Homer, Bountiful High principal, sees the move to 3A as a good one.
"At Bountiful we have been competitive in the 4A ranks in certain sports. However, overall we haven't been competitive in the total picture such as in tennis, track and field, and wrestling," Homer said.
"With our declining enrollments, rather than go into a totally negative situation and start getting beat up, why not make a move now? We win in region, but in state when we go up against big schools and big numbers it is difficult to do . . . Football is a numbers game and we don't have the numbers."
Other Davis high schools - Clearfield, Davis and Layton - would continue to compete against Roy, Bonneville and Weber. Box Elder would be dropped to a 3A region and Viewmont would be added.
Viewmont Assistant Principal Richard Siddoway said his school isn't as excited about the changes as the other two south Davis schools.
"No one likes change. I guess we are set in our ways. That is a livable situation with Davis County schools," said Siddoway, who hopes that the Woods Cross-Bountiful-Viewmont sports rivalry can be maintained in pre-season play.
The new proposal, drafted by a Utah High School Activities Association study committee, will be forwarded to the UHSAA Legislative Council, which will vote on the realignment issue during its Jan. 11 meeting. The council, which includes five Davis School Board members, can adopt, revise or reject the proposal.
"In most of the decisions Davis County has just floated along. This time we have a little bit more to say," Hawkins said.
He said the change to 3A competition will have a direct impact on the attitude and spirit of the school. Instead of being a "kicking stone," there will be more chance to be competitive.
If acceptance by the study committee of the proposed alignment plan, drafted by Smith, is any indication of how the legislative council will vote, it should pass.
"This plan had more acceptance and more uniform support than anything that we have dealt with," Smith said.