Junction City to return to 2A competition

By Jason Avery

News-Times Staff

EL DORADO - Junction City's stay as a 3A school will be a brief one.

When the Arkansas Activities Association released the original classification enrollment numbers in May, Junction City was listed with 209.33, which placed them as a 3A school for a second straight two-year cycle, but a miscalculation led to an appeal by Junction City.

Earlier this month, Junction City won their appeal, and the school will drop from 3A to 2A starting with the 2018-19 school year.

"When the AAA pulled the numbers, they pulled the numbers for enrollment, which included our total student enrollment which would include the Louisiana kids that are attending Junction City," said Junction City School District Superintendent Robby Lowe.

"They didn't realize that they had already counted those kids, and we submitted a roster of Louisiana kids, and they added them to that number, which then threw us up 36 more than what we actually had. We realized the mistake and got in touch with Lance Taylor at the AAA. After explaining it to him, he recommended that we file a form of appeal and appear before the executive council, which we did. They agreed there was a mistake, so they put us where we were supposed to be according to our numbers."

The meeting before the executive council was rather brief.

"We already had the information. It became fairly apparent to everybody involved that there had been a mistake made," Lowe said. "The actual appeal before the executive board was maybe five minutes or less with only Lance Taylor explaining everything to them. We really didn't say anything."

Although Junction City enjoyed a successful year in their 3A debut, the Dragons will be returning to more familiar ground, although the conference landscape could be rather different if the combined class conferences stay for a second cycle.

"It's not that we weren't competitive in 3A, because we were," Lowe said. "It's just the fact that we were supposed to be in 2A, and so I think everybody would rather compete in 2A where we have the numbers to support a 2A team rather than play in 3A."

Lowe also believes that the issue shouldn't arise again.

"It happened out of a misunderstanding," Lowe said. "They now understand that when they pull our enrollment number, they're going to get all of our kids. They have access to the correct number. I think they've come to an understanding, and we don't foresee it being a problem again."

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