According to OSSAA's recent statistics, Broken Arrow High School's 5038 average attendance makes it about the largest high school in the nation. They could create 3 separate high schools and have 3 times the athletic opportunities for their kids; But maybe with less chance of getting a shiny gold ball for their trophy case. Their school board appears to have the wrong priorities. Just 2 years ago, they announced the long-awaited plan to convert two additional existing campus facilities into free-standing high schools. But those plans are in an indefinite stall. Perhaps that elusive gold ball they acquired last Friday will give them pause to reassess who their real trophies are. | Read the Championship sports coverage in the Tulsa World. |
Archie Bradley was in the stands, last friday to watch his alma mater get their first state football championship in 100 years of trying. He was their quarterback in 2010. Bradley is just one of Broken Arrow's real trophies. He is a successful professional athlete. But more dreams get crushed in Broken Arrows sidelines than ever get a chance to blossom & continue to the college level. Coaches at BA will tell you that they have athletes on the sidelines who are good enough to earn college scholarships, but won't, because they never got playing time. You can't send a college scout a game film if you don't exist in them. It's time to put 33 kids on Broken Arrow's varsity teams, instead of just 11. If BAHS split into 3 separate schools, they would all still be 6A schools, with 9 other 6A schools still smaller than them. Moore Public Schools set a great example of putting kids first. It's time for BAHS to do the same. Or, the OSSAA schools can vote to cap their competitive divisions to schools of 3000 or less. That's what a "fair fight" would look like. Why should so much state-appropriated money go to a private sports club, yet not have some legislative oversight over that monopoly? | As it is, BAHS plays in a very small division with 15 other schools, and gets to declare themselves a state champion for simply being better than those 15 other schools. Texas, has 32 districts in any of their 5 varsity classes. |