State’s small public schools are victims of CIAC’s old tricks again

N oteworthy development from the state's first foray with high school football over the weekend: St. Joseph upset four-time defending state champion New Canaan in New Canaan, a result that earned the Cadets a No. 2 ranking in The Day's first state poll of the season.

Now would you care to guess the state tournament division in which St. Joseph, a school of choice, participates? Class S. Yes. The state's smallest division with the smallest schools, many of which are public and rural. St. Joes ... Montville ... Plainfield ... Griswold. As the old Imus in the Morning skit with Cardinal O'Connor goes, "Which doesn't belong and why?"

So can someone explain what St. Joseph, a school of choice that can attract students from multiple towns, has in common with, say, Montville, that attracts kids from greater Old Colchester Road?

And so it's happening again under the blissful ignorance of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, the state's governing body of high school athletics. Another example of the member schools' abject refusal to confront an issue that ought to have public school athletic directors infuriated: state tournament inequity.

Lest we forget the difference between "equity" and "equality." Equity is a fair baseline. Equality is where everybody is the same and has an equal amount of achievement. Equity — the same opportunity to achieve — is the ultimate objective.

ty — everybody achieves the same — is impossible.

The CIAC's intelligentsia view the concept of equity through enrollment numbers. Translation: If St. Joseph and Montville have roughly the same number of boys, they should occupy the same division. Except the logic is flawed. Enrollment numbers aren't nearly as significant as how they are amassed.

If St. Joseph draws kids from 30 different towns and Montville draws from one, St. Joe's has the perpetual competitive advantage. They do not belong in the same division because they do not play by the same rules.

From the St. Joseph website: "Drawing from over 30 towns in Fairfield and New Haven counties in CT, the school is one of the most socio-economically and racially diverse schools in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport."

Aside from its grammatical offense (it's "more than" 30 towns not "over") the premise alone is a knee slapper. What would, say, Montville's website say? "Drawing from one town, including the notable athletic havens of Leitao Drive and Azalea Lane, Montville is one of the smallest schools in Connecticut with an inability to attract anyone else from the County of New London."

And yet — once again — a school of choice playing in the state's most competitive league will dine on smaller, rural, public schools from less competitive conferences come state tournament time. It's just not right.

And what's the rationale to have dropped St. Joe's — an 11-time-state football champion — from Class M to Class S in the offseason? St. Joe's was the Class M runner-up in 2016, losing to Hillhouse in the state championship game. A program with history and the means to get players from multiple towns — its quarterback is a transfer from Fairfield Warde — suddenly gets to compete against Griswold? Stop. It's a pox on all sports under CIAC auspices. And it makes me wonder whether there are some enterprising school officials out there with the time, interest and guts to start exploring a separate governing body for high school sports in Connecticut that understands the concept of equity. What, I can't ask? The small, public schools aren't fed up enough to kick the tires on, for example, the CHSAA (Connecticut High School Athletic Association?)

State tournament inequity has been manifested mostly through basketball. The most egregious, if not hilarious, example: Sacred Heart, a choice school with Auburn-bound Mustapha Heron, competed in Class S a few years ago. Sacred Heart beat Valley Regional in the finals. Valley, ironically, was eliminated by St. Joseph in last year's football playoffs.

There's a movement afoot in boys' basketball this year to expand to five divisions, thus liberating Class S (or Division 5 as it would be known) from most choice schools. It's a noble gesture. Except that the plan still has its flaws. Example: The latest proposal places Southington (about 1,000 boys) in Division 3 with Killingly (about 400 boys). That's equity?

I'm not sure why CIAC officials, both from central office and from member schools, are so afraid of dispatching choice schools to a separate division. Choice school poohbahs can do everything but pull a Khrushchev and start banging their shoes on the table. But to deny their perpetual competitive advantage because of their ability to attract students from multiple towns is disingenuous. And a big lie.

So let me be the first to congratulate 2017 Class S football champion St. Joseph. I figure if the Cadets can win at New Canaan, what would they do to Stonington? This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro