The failure of Proposal No. 5 during the Arkansas Activities Association’s annual meeting with the state’s schools was the news Farmington athletic director Brad Blew wanted to hear.
The proposal, which would have combined all Class 5A and 6A schools in the state into a 48-team classification, was handily voted down during Wednesday’s meeting in Little Rock. It needed a two-thirds majority vote to pass, but it went down by a margin of 98 against it and 59 for it.
“I started hearing talk about it right around the end of school, and I didn’t know how strong it was going to be,” Blew said.
Farmington moves up to Class 5A for the AAA’s 2014-16 classification cycle, a change that will greatly increase the Cardinals’ travel budget for that two-year span. Its closest trip as a member of the new 5A-West Conference — 79.6 miles to Harrison — is still farther away than its longest trip in the 4A-1, which is 73 miles to Ozark.
Had Proposal No. 5 passed, Farmington would have been placed in the same conference with 6A schools Siloam Springs, Alma, Greenwood and Russellville. Russellville is the largest 6A school with a three-year average of 1,147.67 students in grades 9-11, more than double of Farmington’s three-year average of 501.33.
“We’re already going through a change that is going to be monumental for us,” Blew said. “But to put us with schools that size is throwing us into the fire. We’re already going to have our hands full as it is, and I think we’re more equipped to take on the schools we’ll face right now than those in the higher classes.”
The proposal’s failure means Siloam Springs is likely headed to the new 7A/6A-Central after a two-year tenure as the lone 6A school in the 7A/6A-West. It joins Greenwood, Alma and Russellville as the 6A schools in that league, while Van Buren, Conway, Little Rock Catholic (boys), Mount St. Mary (girls) and Bryant comprise the 7A schools. Alma is making the move up from 5A.
The only way that could change is if Bryant is successful with its appeal bid, which will be heard in the fall. Bryant wants to return to the 7A/6A-South, where it has been the past two years as the lone 7A school in that league.
“This will mean some more travel for our school,” Siloam Springs athletic director Kevin Downing said. “But it’s also going to be a better situation for us. It will still be tough having to play 7A schools, but this new conference will at least give us a better chance of being competitive since we’ll play other 6A schools.”
The state’s schools passed 11 of the 15 proposals by large margins during the meeting. Two of those that failed did so because a similar proposal was on the ballot and passed.
Proposal No. 4, which splits schools into two classifications for swimming and diving, passed by 143-11 margin, while Proposal No. 3 — which puts 7A schools in one class and remaining schools in the other — failed by a 129-20 margin. Schools also approved Proposal No. 14, which moves the two-week “dead period” to include the week of July 4, instead of Proposal No. 13, which would have extended the dead period to three weeks.
“I was excited to see No. 14 pass,” Bentonville athletic director Scott Passmore said. “In past years, you would have coaches trying to schedule practices and workouts during the week of July 4, then you have those who were going to be gone for that holiday.
“I think this is going to be a win-win situation for coaches, athletes and families. It’s nice to know that week will be open where they can plan vacations or travel during that time.”