P'burg
challenge first step in possible move to
LVC
Thursday, September 30, 2004 • By CORKY
BLAKE • The Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG -- The Phillipsburg School District plans
to take the first step in possibly leaving the Skyland
Athletic Conference when it challenges the New Jersey State
Interscholastic Athletic Association's "70-percent rule"
Wednesday.
The school district will be represented by attorney
David B. Rubin of Metuchen when it squares off against the
NJSIAA in front of a panel of athletic directors, principals
and administrators selected by the state's scholastic sports
ruling body at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the NJSIAA
headquarters in Robbinsville.
The NJSIAA's 70-percent rule was instituted in 1999. It
requires teams play at least 70 percent of their schedule
against New Jersey schools in order to be eligible for
NJSIAA state championships.
Phillipsburg's case, as presented by Rubin, will argue
that participating in the all-New Jersey Skyland Conference
has presented a hardship on the school district's
student-athletes because of the amount of time they spend
traveling to distant member schools.
"We're talking about the effect on students and the time
they are missing in classroom instruction because they are
on the road," said Phillipsburg superintendent Gordon
Pethick. "This is truly a high-level discussion, especially
in a time when there's pressure to raise test scores and
improve performance in the classroom."
Moreover, Rubin plans to address concerns regarding high
transportation costs, declining gate revenues and even
longer bus trips as the conference expands.
To remedy these issues, the school district is looking
west and considering applying for membership to the
all-Pennsylvania schools Lehigh Valley Conference.
Phillipsburg only will make this move if it can successfully
defeat or receive a special waiver from the 70-percent
rule.
Phillipsburg has enjoyed long-standing ties with
Pennsylvania schools. The Stateliners joined the East Penn
Conference for all sports in 1976 before leaving for the
Skyland Conference in the fall of 1995.
"We're going to lay all the facts out on the table,"
Rubin said. "This hearing is only about the 70 percent rule
and being eligible for state competitions."
Rubin said the intent of the 70-percent rule was to stop
certain high-profile New Jersey basketball teams from
playing a national schedule during the regular season.
"The 70-percent rule was never intended to our situation
as a border school," Rubin said.
Phillipsburg initially filed a petition against the
NJSIAA on Oct. 6, 2003. Following a lengthy disagreement on
proper procedures for resolving the dispute, Rubin and
NJSIAA solicitor Michael J. Herbert set up parameters for
Wednesday's hearing which will be conducted before the
NJSIAA's Special Committee on Leagues and Conferences.
Since Phillipsburg's first petition, Rubin said the
NJSIAA responded with a list of 30-to-40 "border" schools
who have not expressed hardships resulting from the
70-percent rule.
"We didn't accept their list at face value," Rubin said.
"We sent a questionnaire to those border schools
listed."
Rubin said about 30 schools responded, and the
information revealed Phillipsburg is in a unique
situation.
"It's clear to us that many of the schools listed
weren't border schools at all. Some were a half-hour away
from the border," Rubin said. "You could take the whole
array of Lehigh Valley Conference schools and fit them into
that space.
"Some of the (border) schools had no hardships at all,
and some have little hardships on one score or another. What
we found is Phillipsburg is in the middle of the perfect
storm of all these hardships."
Rubin said the NJSIAA has issued one waiver since 1999
when it allowed the Quaker-run Moorestown Friends School to
remain in the Philadelphia area-based Friends League and
still be eligible for state playoffs. He said the waiver
wasn't granted on religious purposes but because of
Moorestown Friends' 80-year history with the league
schools.
The committee's decision could take up to a month or
more, said Rubin. The decision will then be passed on to the
state's Commissioner of Education for review.
"We feel confident we're right; I guarantee we're
right," Rubin said. "I just don't know if the panel will be
receptive. I hope they're open-minded. We're up against
stiff odds, but I'm confident in our case."
Copyright 2004 The
Express-Times. Used with permission.
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