For high school athletes and families in Scottsboro, as well as across Alabama, athletic classification isn’t just a number — it helps determine who teams compete against and the level of competition they face each season.
That backdrop is at the center of a dispute now unfolding between Scottsboro City Schools and the Alabama High School Athletic Association.
Scottsboro City Schools officials say they are considering legal and legislative action after the AHSAA declined to change the school’s athletic classification, despite what district leaders describe as a verified enrollment reporting error submitted before classifications were finalized.
Superintendent Jennifer Williams tells Yellowhammer News, the district identified an Average Daily Membership (ADM) discrepancy on January 16 after AHSAA asked schools statewide to review classification data and report any errors before final release.
“We first discovered the error on January 16th when Executive Director Heath Harmon emailed us to check our numbers,” Williams said. “When viewing the spreadsheet Mr. Harmon provided we discovered two errors — our fall girls flag football was declared and our ADM was overstated by 11 students.”
Williams said the district’s athletic director contacted AHSAA the same day and submitted supporting documentation, including a state summary data snapshot, to request corrections. She said the district did not receive an explanation at the time regarding how the ADM correction request would be handled.
The AHSAA email sent January 16 to principals and athletic directors invited schools to specifically review their ADM and sport declarations and report discrepancies before classifications were finalized.
Williams said the girls flag football declaration was corrected, but the ADM figure was not adjusted.
“It wasn’t until January 23 when all classifications and football regions were released publicly statewide that we discovered the correction was not made,” Williams said. “We were not given any rationale as to why other than being told once classifications are released no changes will be made. This however did not answer our question as to why it wasn’t corrected on January 16.”
District records show Scottsboro High School’s ADM as 511.4, according to documentation provided by the school system. Williams said using the higher figure placed Scottsboro in Class 5A rather than Class 4A.
Williams said she sought what she believed would be a formal appeal before the AHSAA Central Board of Control after receiving handbook language stating classifications are not changed during the classification period. She said the handbook citation was provided in writing, but she later learned by phone that classifications are not subject to appeal and that her appearance before the board was allowed as a courtesy.
“It is my understanding the central board never took a vote on Scottsboro because no recommendation was made,” Williams said. She emphasized that the district reported the discrepancy a week before classifications were released.
The district is now consulting with both attorneys and state legislators and expects to decide on its legal and legislative course of action by the end of the week.
“As a school system, we remain committed to advocating for our student-athletes to be placed in the appropriate classification,” Williams said. “This position aligns directly with the AHSAA mission to ensure fair and equitable competitive play for all student-athletes. When an error is identified and brought forward in a timely manner, fidelity to that mission requires that the issue be fully considered and corrected.”
Williams also pointed to an AHSAA report from the prior classification cycle showing four schools were reassigned after data reporting errors were identified. She said Scottsboro is asking AHSAA to apply the same precedent in this case.
“Our focus remains, as it has throughout this process, on what is fair, accurate, and in the best interest of the students we serve,” Williams said.
Sherri Blevins is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You may contact her at [email protected].
