It’s no secret that the population of the Pottsville Area School District is declining.
For the first time, however, Pottsville doesn’t have the biggest male enrollment in Schuylkill County.
Blue Mountain sports the Schuylkill League’s largest male enrollment in grades 9-11 in figures released Monday by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. The Eagles have 357 boys, while the Crimson Tide have 349.
The PIAA unveiled its classification reports Monday, slotting schools into classes in each sport for the 2016-18 cycle. The reports were highly anticipated after the PIAA voted in October to increase the number of classes to six for football, girls’ and boys’ basketball, baseball and softball, and add a class each in girls’ and boys’ soccer and volleyball.
A complete chart listing which classes each local school will be in for each sport is on Page 17.
Pottsville still has the highest total enrollment among Schuylkill League schools with 711 students (349 boys, 362 girls), while Blue Mountain was second (357 boys, 310 girls) at 667.
The PIAA’s enrollment numbers for the next two-year cycle were calculated using a recently-passed 10-percent rule, meaning that schools only have to count 10 percent of its male and female students in grades 9-11 that are home-schooled or attend cyber, charter, magnet, alternative education or technical schools full-time. The complete enrollment numbers prior to the 10-percent rule being applied were not available.
Pottsville’s enrollment figure of 711 is down from 831 in the 2014-16 cycle. In the 2012-14 cycle, Pottsville had an enrollment figure of 870.
Blue Mountain’s, on the other hand, is up slightly from 660. The Eagles are the only Schuylkill League school that will be in the new Class 5A in baseball, while Pottsville and Blue Mountain will both Class 5A in boys’ basketball. The Pottsville girls will be in Class 5A in girls’ basketball and softball.
Other Schuylkill League schools to see an increase in enrollment were Col-Mon Vo-Tech (483 to 496), Shenandoah Valley (236 to 267), Nativity (132 to 151) and Lourdes (57 to 104).
Every sport is affected in some
fashion by the change in enrollment numbers and the expansion of classes. Here are some highlights:
Football
The PIAA’s move to go from four to six classes was originally only supposed to happen in football before a late movement to add basketball, baseball and softball passed.
Here’s a breakdown of which District 11 schools will be in which class for football, with the number of schools in that class in parentheses:
Class 6A (13) — Allen, Parkland, Bethlehem Liberty, Easton, Emmaus, Dieruff, Bethlehem Freedom, Northampton, Stroudsburg, Pleasant Valley, Pocono Mountain West, Nazareth, Pocono Mountain East
Class 5A (4) — East Stroudsburg South, Whitehall, Southern Lehigh, East Stroudsburg North
Class 4A (7) — Bangor, Blue Mountain, Pottsville, Allentown Central Catholic, Northwestern Lehigh, Saucon Valley, Bethlehem Catholic
Class 3A (11) — Notre Dame-Green Pond, Jim Thorpe, Wilson, Lehighton, Palisades, Tamaqua, North Schuylkill, Pen Argyl, Salisbury, Northern Lehigh, Pine Grove
Class 2A (6) — Catasauqua, Palmerton, Minersville, Mahanoy Area, Panther Valley, Schuylkill Haven
Class A (5) — Shenandoah Valley, Marian, Williams Valley, Tri-Valley, Nativity
Local schools Hamburg and Shamokin will be in Class 4A, while Mount Carmel and Upper Dauphin will compete in Class AA.
Basketball
Among local schools, only Nativity and Weatherly are left in girls’ Class A, while Tri-Valley, Nativity, Weatherly and Gillingham Charter are the local schools in boys’ Class A.
Softball
While the PIAA hasn’t yet released its playoff brackets for each sport, there’s some separation of the Class A schools in the Schuylkill League.
Minersville and Marian move up to Class AA, while Tri-Valley and Williams Valley remain in Class A. Over the past several years, those four schools have had to battle for one PIAA playoff berth.
Baseball
Like basketball and softball, the Class A ranks were thinned out in baseball.
Schuylkill League schools Mahanoy Area, Marian, Minersville, Panther Valley, Schuylkill Haven, Shenandoah Valley and Williams Valley all jumped to Class AA (along with Moravian Academy), leaving Tri-Valley, Nativity and Weatherly in Class A. The other District 11 Class A schools in baseball are Lincoln Leadership, Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg, Salem Christian and Lehigh Valley Christian.
Swimming
All of the Schuylkill League’s schools fall into Class AA for the first time, as the Pottsville girls make the Class AA cutoff by 10 girls.
Schuylkill League
enrollment numbers
School Male Female Total
Pottsville 349 362 711
Blue Mountain 357 310 667
Lehighton 261 258 519
CMVT 268 228 496
Jim Thorpe 276 214 490
Tamaqua 237 239 476
North Schuylkill 235 196 431
Pine Grove 202 179 381
Upper Dauphin 173 131 304
Panther Valley 146 153 299
Minersville 153 143 296
Schuylkill Haven 145 148 293
Marian 133 134 267
Shen. Valley 139 128 267
Mahanoy Area 148 102 250
Williams Valley 120 99 219
Halifax 127 86 213
Millersburg 104 95 199
Tri-Valley 88 105 193
Weatherly 79 95 174
Nativity 84 67 151
Lourdes 45 59 104
Totals 3,869 3,531 7,400