PIAA committee turns down `non-boundary’ plans

A Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association committee has rejected proposals that had addressed growing concern over non-boundary schools.

So, PIAA classifications won’t change. In basketball, that means schools will remain divided into four groups, from A to AAAA.

The proposals were in response to increasing debate in recent years — especially in basketball — over whether competition was out of balance between public boundary schools and non-boundary schools, such as a Catholic or charter school.

One proposal turned down would have re-ordered boundary and non-boundary schools separately into four groups by size, then merging each set of schools again into the four classes.

PIAA assistant executive director Melissa Mertz says a strategic planning committee last night voted down all three plans, and no action was needed by the full board.