CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The bill that would give Huntington Prep recognition by the WVSSAC, allowing the program to compete for national championships and national tournaments, passed through the state senate on Wednesday. The bill will now move on for approval in the state house.
An amendment to add The Linsly School out of Wheeling to the bill, however, was shot down.
“Some of (our state’s) private schools are members of the WVSSAC, but they abide by all of the rules of the SSAC,” said Wetzel County senator Larry Edgell. “Linsly was offered an opportunity to do that, but they refused to abide by the rules of the SSAC. We don’t want to open up the door and let everyone open up a school and play in the SSAC – I oppose this amendment.”
Putnam County Senator Chris Walters, a graduate of Linsly, proposed the amendment in an effort to allow the school to participate in SSAC tournaments.
“Because Linsly wants to bring in an international flavor to their classrooms, to expand cultural education, they’re unable to compete in the state tournament without those boarding students,” Walters said. “Because of the low number of students that participate in this school, we wouldn’t have enough people for a team to even compete (without the boarding students).”
The SSAC previously had given Linsly the option to play in SSAC state tournaments if those boarding students did not participate.
Huntington Prep, meanwhile, has no desire to play against instate competition – only to receive recognition from the SSAC so they can participate in national tournaments.
Amendments aside, the the Huntington Prep bill moves on to the House of Delegates as the current legislative session ends on March 8th.