I have to give the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association a "well done" for trying to bring parity to our varsity athletic programs. Every two years, a reclassification committee at the MPSSAA sits down to see if the system has to be further tweaked for parity based on the population of the 10th, 11th and 12th graders. Teams are classified from Class 1A to 4A and then placed in regions based on location so that schools don't have to travel inordinate distances to play one another.
While some coaches might look at the reclassifications with a wary eye, I personally don't think that it will change the landscape that much. Sure, some schools might find that they have a new challenger in their region, however the job of the reclassification committee is not to punish a school but only to level things out.
I talked to Jack Davis, the new Howard County Coordinator of Athletics, on Friday about the reclassification. He characterized the reclassification merely as "the leveling of the playing field." The system in fact has had a mild effect on Howard County schools. Howard High, the county's largest school, becomes the county's first school to become 4A, moving from 3A East to 4A North. Glenelg moves from 2A South to 3A East, while Hammond drops from 3A East to 2A South. So as it currently breaks out, Howard is 4A, River Hill, Centennial, Atholton, Mt. Hebron, Long Reach, Glenelg, Reservoir and Wilde Lake are 3A, and Marriotts Ridge, Oakland Mills and Hammond are 2A.