As he continues to push for the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) to reconsider its recent decision to separate public and private school playoff competition, Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth questioned the scheduling balance and the travel difficulties that would accompany the separate divisions.
In a Thursday interview on "RightSide Radio," Ainsworth argued that the controversial move separated kids and would allow the bigger private schools like McGill Toolen and Briarwood to dominate their divisions.
“I think private school parents are really upset, very frustrated, they're mad," Ainsworth outlined. "Your larger schools are, you know, I think most of your larger public schools are, some of them are upset. Your kind of medium-sized public schools, you know, go both ways. Some are upset, some are happy. And then your small public schools are, you know, 1A, 2A, 3A, rural, small public schools, they're the ones that are super happy, ecstatic. You know, so it just depends on who I'm talking to, you know, on, you know, the feedback. You know, the smaller public schools feel like, you know, their arguments, oh, private schools are out there trying to, you know, buy championships, recruit kids. I mean, y'all have heard all the arguments, right?"
"And, you know, I just hate it," he continued. "I mean, I don't think it's a good idea to separate kids. I think public and private should pay together. I think everybody's life is important. You know, I think when you look at, look back on this, it's going to be a mistake. And so we're trying to just make the best of a bad situation and see if there's some room for, you know, getting some of these problems fixed, everything from travel to area play that doesn't make sense to, you know, I mean, you know, McGill Toolen and Briarwood, I mean, like what in the world? They don't need to be, I mean, they're huge private schools, right? I mean, they need to be playing other big schools. You know, they're going to dominate in this new private league. And so I think, you know, the idea of having fair and balanced competition is good, but I don't think this was, like I said the other day, properly thought out. So we're trying to get it fixed.”
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