Staff report

After learning in June that the football team would drop from Division II to D-III, and the boys basketball team from D-I to D-II, Sidney coaches and athletes learned Thursday that they will be back in the same divisions they were in last year.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association board of directors approved new divisional assignments Thursday based on updated school enrollment figures that do not include charter school, community school and STEM school students in the public schools where they reside.

Divisional assignments for the next two-year cycle had originally been approved in June, but at its meeting last Thursday, the board reversed an earlier decision to include those students in public school enrollment counts, resulting in recalculation of divisional dividing lines based on the updated enrollment figures.

The change was brought about after complaints from some public schools who questioned the fairness of enrollment figures that included charter schools, community schools and STEM school students.

Sidney is the only county school affected by the recalculation. The football team will again be in D-II this season, and the basketball team is back up to D-I.

“I kinda had an inclination that we would move back up,” said Sidney High head boys basketball coach Andy Slaughter. “It is what it is and there’s nothing we can do about it. We were happy to drop down a division, but we’ll still give it everything we have. On the positive side, we’ll be more familiar with our tournament opponents.”

In basketball Sidney goes from being one of the biggest schools in terms of male enrollment in D-II to among the smallest in D-I. Prior to the lastest refiguring, Sidney’s 370 boys in the upper three grades put them among the largest in D-II, which was 257-to-360 boys. In D-I, the numbers are 340-and-more.

“It’s where we’ve lived in the past,” said Slaughter. “Hopefully, in the future, the OHSAA will figure out a way to remedy the big gap in D-I. But all we can do is lace them up and give it our best shot.”

Following are the new divisional assignments for county/area schools:

Football

Division I — 581-and-more

D-II — 361-580, Sidney

D-III — 257-to-360

D-IV — 186-to-256

D-V — 144-to-185, Anna, Versailles

D-VI — 100-to-143, Marion Local

D-VII — 99-and-less, Fort Loramie, Lehman, Minster, New Bremen, Riverside

Boys basketball

D-I — 340-and-more, Sidney

D-II — 185-to-339

D-III — 109-to-184, Anna, Versailles

D-IV — 108-and-less — Botkins, Fairlawn, Fort Loramie, Houston, Jackson Center, Russia, Minster, New Bremen, New Knoxville

Girls basketball

D-I — 328-and-more, Sidney

D-II — 181-to-327

D-III — 105-to-180, Anna, Versailles

D-IV — 104-and-less, Botkins, Fairlawn, Fort Loramie, Houston, Jackson Center, Russia, Minster, New Bremen, New Knoxville

Volleyball

D-I — 327-and-more, Sidney

D-II — 181-to-326

D-III — 105-to-180, Anna, Versailles

D-IV — 104-and-less, Botkins, Fairlawn, Fort Loramie, Houston, Jackson Center, Russia, Minster, New Bremen, New Knoxville

Enrollment figures

(Upper three grades 2015-16 school year)

(Alphabetically)

Boys — Anna 152, Botkins 75, Fairlawn 76, Fort Loramie 75, Houston 98, Jackson Center 37, Lehman 69, Minster 90, New Bremen 72, New Knoxville 52, Riverside 99, Russia 47, Sidney 370, Versailles 159.

Girls — Anna 135, Botkins 67, Fairlawn 56, Fort Loramie 82, Houston 100, Jackson Center 50, Lehman 71, Minster 99, New Bremen 102, New Knoxville 67, Riverside 77, Russia 47, Sidney 386, Versailles 172.