Proposed new league quashed

BY JOBY FAWCETT
Times-Shamrock Writer

There will not be a new Lackawanna County scholastic sports league.

Superintendents of schools that are members of the Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association voted unanimously Wednesday to reject a proposal that 13 schools from Lackawanna County form their own league.

“The statement from the body of superintendents is that they are very happy the way the leagues are set up and there will be no further discussion of any changes,” said Jim Tallarico, superintendent at Mid Valley and former president of the LIAA. Tallarico formerly served as the high school principal at Montrose Area.

The decision comes three weeks after an idea was first presented for discussion by Scranton athletic director Ted Anderson at a meeting of LIAA athletic directors in August. Its basis came from a desire to keep students in the classroom, while also cutting down on travel expenses for schools that are continuing to endure budget cuts.

“I am disappointed that the superintendents voted this down based on where the idea came from, and I still strongly feel that the students academically and the athletes, parents and fans would have benefited greatly,” Anderson said. “The majority of parents and coaches and fans who I have talked to supported the idea. Who wouldn’t like their kids being home earlier and having less travel?”

The 13 schools included in the proposal were Scranton, West Scranton, Scranton Prep, Abington Heights, North Pocono and Valley View as the Class AAAA and Class AAA teams. Dunmore, Carbondale Area, Lakeland, Old Forge, Riverside, Mid Valley and Holy Cross as the small schools.

Those schools would have competed as their own entity in all interscholastic athletic competitions, except volleyball and football.

“I just feel like we had some valid points that made sense,” Scranton Prep athletic director Scott Gower said. “I feel that a smaller league would be easier to administer. I think we could put more of an emphasis on winning a league title and we could have done some neat things with league championship games.
“I just think that you lose some of the local rivalries in a very large league.”

There are 11 schools from outside of Lackawanna County that included longtime LIAA members Wallenpaupack and Honesdale and also the former members of the Northeast Athletic Conference and District 12. They are Elk Lake, Susquehanna, Montrose, Blue Ridge, Forest City, Mountain View, Lackawanna Trail, Delaware Valley and Western Wayne, which became members of the LIAA in the 1997-98 school year.

Those relationships will continue as the action taken by the school superintendents quashed any further discussion on the issue of change.

“I think the league we have is a great thing,” said Montrose athletic director Joe Gilhool, who is president of the athletic director’s association and secretary of the LIAA. “We all want to work together. It’s unfortunate that those schools thought that was the route they had to take. The bottom line is everything will be professional and we have to move on.

Gilhool cited successes that LIAA teams have had at the state level recently as a credit to the current league structure.

“We will continue together to keep this league going and continue to achieve that success,” Gilhool said.

Any change to the LIAA would have to be approved by school principals and superintendents. Anderson had planned an informational meeting outlining the idea for them before an Oct. 1 meeting of LIAA principals and athletic directors.

“In a time when school budgets are tight and classroom time is at a premium, having a league where students didn’t leave the county for the vast majority of sports seemed to make sense,” West Scranton athletic director Rick Bresser said. “I only wish we could have had an opportunity to make a presentation to the superintendents before a vote was taken.”