OSAA adopts four-year classification and districting plan that brings changes for Roseburg, South Umpqua and North Douglas

WILSONVILLE — The Oregon School Activities Association Executive Board voted to approve a new classification and districting plan during a meeting Monday. The new plan brings a few changes for Douglas County schools, including significant alterations for Roseburg High School, South Umpqua High School and North Douglas High School. 

Every four years, the OSAA — the governing body for high school sports and activities in Oregon — evaluates its current classification and districting plan for the nearly 300 high schools around the state. View the full plan here.

The OSAA’s Classification and Districting Committee has worked since August to reach a final recommendation for the OSAA Executive Board to approve. The Committee came up with eight drafts before sending a final recommendation to the Board on Dec. 2. 

There was significant discussion surrounding the configuration of large schools in Southern Oregon, including Roseburg High School. The final recommendation from the Districting and Classification Committee put Roseburg in a four-team Southern Oregon Conference along with Grants Pass, North Medford and South Medford. 

Roseburg Athletic Director Adam Blue was among numerous people to speak in opposition to the four-team setup during the public comment section of Monday’s meeting. 

“For us, we feel this proposal is not student-focused. It doesn’t seem to align with some of the values that we uphold as education-based athletics,” Blue said. “Under the proposed four-team league built in games are dramatically reduced, forcing us to secure a large number of non-league contests across the state and that impact is substantial.”

Blue added that a four-team league would cause “major increases in travel time, major increases in missed time in class, reduced competitive opportunities and greater mental and physical stress on student-athletes.”

Those speaking on behalf of southern Oregon schools made the case for a delay in the final vote to allow for new proposals to be recommended, but the Executive Board said any delay in the process would “not be feasible at this time.” 

Absent of a delay, Blue and others also suggested the Executive Board approve a previous recommendation by the Districting and Classification Committee that put Roseburg in a Class 6A/5A hybrid league along with Grants Pass, Crater, North Medford, South Medford, Eagle Point and Ashland. 

The Board took that suggestion to heart and made amendments to include the hybrid model. The recommendation was officially adopted by the Executive Board for the next four school years by a 13-1 vote.

Blue said the hybrid league is better than the final recommendation, but added “it’s not the greatest and we’re still trying to figure out how we’re going to make this hybrid work and what that looks like.”

He said that athletic directors in the new league have already started discussing league rules and scheduling plans and they’ve reached out to the OSAA for guidance on how teams from a mixed league qualify for their respective state playoffs. 

One thing Blue did say will remain the same is Roseburg football’s placement at the Class 5A level. The Indians will retain their play-down status and will stay in the same eight-team league they’ve been in the last two seasons. 

The approved plan also included adjustments to the enrollment cutoffs for Class 3A schools, which moved South Umpqua High School into Class 4A. The Lancers join the Sky-Em League with Cottage Grove, Elmira, Junction City, Marist, Marshfield and North Bend. 

South Umpqua superintendent Erika Bare made a plea to the Board prior to the vote to amend this classification change for the Lancers. 

“While our enrollment places us near the new 4A threshold, the reality on the ground tells a much different story. Our enrollment has dropped steadily over the last three years since 2022,” Bare explained. “Our participation rates are also down. In our ninth grade class only 14 of our boys participate and we are regularly struggling to field any JV teams due to limited numbers.” 

“Moving us to 4A places us against schools with significantly deeper rosters, creating a significant competitive imbalance,” Bare added. 

The Executive Board took time during an executive session to discuss the public input, but did not mention South Umpqua’s requests to remain in Class 3A after reconvening and voting on the final proposal.  

Other changes approved on Monday included North Douglas High School moving back to Class 2A. The Warriors last competed in Class 2A during the 2013-14 school year. North Douglas will play in the Sunset Conference along with Bandon, Gold Beach, Myrtle Point, Oakland and Reedsport. 

The rest of Douglas County’s high schools will remain in their current classifications and districts, although the Class 3A Far West League did have some additions that will bring some familiar faces back together. Glide, Douglas and Sutherlin will play in the league along with Brookings-Harbor, Coquille, Illinois Valley, Siuslaw and St. Mary’s (Medford). Brookings-Harbor and St. Mary’s are currently in the Class 3A Southern Oregon Conference, while Illinois Valley will be moving up from the Class 2A Sunset Conference.