Divorce proceedings have officially been finalized when it comes to area high school athletic leagues for the 2017-18 school year.

The 24-school Kensington Lakes Activities Association will shrink to 14 after nine high schools from four different Oakland County school districts will be forming its own conference, while another from Livingston County, Pinckney, has been accepted into the 12-member Southeastern Conference.

The new nine-school league will feature schools from Huron Valley’s Milford and Lakeland; South Lyon and South Lyon East (the smallest school with 923); Waterford Kettering and Mott; and Walled Lake Central, Northern and Western.

Milford and Pinckney are current members of the KLAA West; South Lyon and East are members of the KLAA Central; Lakeland, Northern, Western, Central, Kettering and Mott are all part of the KLAA North.

“We have very much appreciated our involvement within the KLAA, but we are excited about this new league and the possibilities that are there for our students and our communities,” said Huron Valley Superintendent Jim Baker in a press release. “With confidence, our collective boards of education, superintendents and building administrators from the participating districts feel our students would benefit from the new arrangement.”

Among the schools remaining in the KLAA include six from the South Division – Canton, Plymouth, Livonia Churchill, Livonia Franklin, Westland John Glenn and Wayne Memorial; four from the Central – Livonia Stevenson, Salem, Novi and Northville; and four from the West – Brighton, Hartland, Howell and Grand Blanc (the largest enrollment with 2,727 students).

A press release sent out late Tuesday afternoon by Maureen E. Altermatt, assistant superintendent for Administrative Services for the South Lyon Community Schools, cited concerns about enrollment discrepancies and competitive equity across multiple sports between the 24 schools in the KLAA since the association was formed in 2008.

The statement also alluded to the fact that schools were interested in improving geographical proximity to assist in reducing transportation costs and minimizing student travel time that could impact academic responsibilities.

During the past few months, athletic directors and principals from the KLAA came up with several different realignment proposals to keep the four-division, two-conference association intact, including a proposal to address concerns regarding competitive balance in football alone.

But in the end, the departing 10 schools decided to go in a different direction.

Meanwhile, future plans for the existing 14 schools in the KLAA remains up for debate.

With Howell A.D. Dan Hutcheson leaving to take an administration position this summer with the Michigan High School Athletic Association, Churchill’s Marc Hage has assumed the lead role again as president of the KLAA.

“We meet last week and we knew this was going to happen,” Hage said. “I think right now we’re probably going in the direction that we tentatively decided on was the remaining 14 schools to open up invitations to the outside and see what kind of interest there is. And depending on the interest we draw from outside schools – and it could be from an existing league or anybody – we’ll kind of determine in the next few months where we’re going. If we don’t get schools that are geographically close enough for the remaining 14 schools we might have to go in a different direction.”

The biggest concern with the existing 14 KLAA schools will be travel. It’s currently a 140-mile round trip from Wayne to Grand Blanc. And from Northville to Grand Blanc it’s 53 miles each way.

Also, scheduling is now a concern as well. The KLAA could include two divisions of seven, or possibly one six-school division and another with eight.

“When you have even numbers in a division that works much better when you do double round-robins, otherwise one school has a bye,” Hage said. “If we have 14 right now that would put seven in a division, we’d be looking for two maybe and that would make 16, or we’d go to possibly 10, which would make 20 (10 in each division). That just works better, but we’ll make anything work if the teams and the schools are right.”

Whether there’s any interest in the KLAA from members of the OAA, Southeastern or Western Wayne remains to be seen.

“We’re also looking for schools that are the same size,” Hage said. “A Class C or D school is just not going to work because of the enrollments. We’re going to look for like communities, like districts, like size, like enrollments, those type of things. Programs are important, too. We’re going to make sure everybody has freshman sports and all the offerings we have as well.”

Per KLAA bylaws, schools are required to submit notice of intent to leave one year in advance. And with the announcement, the nine schools breaking from the KLAA can begin preparations for the establishment of the new league, which will include the involvement of student leadership groups at all schools to help name the league, create logos and plan future league wide events such as charity fundraisers and community service opportunities.

Brian Swinehart, director of athletics for the Walled Lake Consolidated Schools, has been named acting league formation coordinator for the new nine-school league.

While he was the A.D. for the three Farmington high schools (Harrison, North Farmington and Farmington), Swinehart led a departure from the Western Lakes Activities Association (WLAA) to the Oakland Activities Association (OAA).

Swinehart was also the athletic director at John Glenn before going to Walled Lake.

“We are looking forward to the new opportunities a smaller league will provide us,” Swinehart said in the press release. “These include improved communication, collaboration and efficient decision making on topics ranging from conferences, coaching education training, contest scheduling and tournament logistics to expanded middle school opportunities and student leadership programming.”

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Churchill Athletics will again be operating under a “Pay to Participate” plan during the 2015-16 school year. The amount required to participate on a high school athletic team during the school year is:

- $300.00 total, as a one-time fee, for the entire school year (up to three sports included in the one-time yearly fee)

- $150.00 for those receiving a Reduced Lunch Plan

- $75.00 for those receiving a Free Lunch Plan

- NOTE: Facility Usage Fee = $500 for Hockey

PAYMENT IS NOT REQUIRED UNTIL AFTER THE STUDENT-ATHLETE IS NOTIFIED OF TEAM SELECTION (FIRST WEEK OF PRACTICE). Athletes will NOT be able to complete in scheduled games until their fee has been paid. NO REFUNDS will be issued after two weeks from the start of practice, unless a documented medical condition has been presented and verified.

Pay to Participate payments are to be made online through the School District Website via PaySchools or by going direct to the Churchill website:

USING PAYSCHOOLS

1. Go to www.livoniapublicschools.org
2. Click “Schools”
3. Click “High Schools”
4. Click “Churchill High School”
5. Click “Athletics”
6. Click “PaySchools Online”

USING CHURCHILL WEBSITE

1. Link directly to: www.livoniapublicschools.org/Churchill.cfm?subpage=39395

Scroll down and select one of the three available options: Standard, Reduced, or Free. You will then select your child’s sport of involvement.

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Athletic Department. The number for Livonia Churchill Athletics is 734-744-2650, ext. 46117.  Thank you!

Livonia Churchill High School will be holding its Varsity Hockey tryouts on the following dates:

Monday, November 2nd (3:30-5pm @ Devonaire Arena)

Tuesday, November 3rd (3:30-5pm @ Devonaire Arena)

Wednesday, November 4th (8-10pm @ Eddie Edgar Arena)

All players MUST submit a completed physical form to the Head Coach, prior to participating in tryouts. NO EXCEPTIONS!

Please contact Head Coach Jason Reynolds at jayrey48152@gmail.com with questions or inquiries.