By Justin Jarrett
LowcoSports.com
Battery Creek was one of eight schools across the state who were scheduled for official appeals of the S.C. High School League’s proposed realignment set to go into effect for the 2020-21 school year.
Battery Creek was slated to remain in Region 8-3A, but with May River moving up to Class 4A and Ridgeland-Hardeeville falling to Class 2A, the Dolphins would be an extreme geographic outlier in a region that would include Academic Magnet, Bishop England, Hanahan, North Charleston, and Oceanside Collegiate.
The school’s appeal, which was scheduled for Wednesday morning after press time, was to advocate for moving Battery Creek to Region 6-2A along with current region mates Lake Marion and Ridgeland-Hardeeville, as well as Burke, Philip Simmons, Timberland, and Woodland.
Battery Creek is the 119th-largest school according to the SCHSL’s updated enrollment figures, which puts it near the bottom of the proposed Class 3A cohort. Crescent (No. 124) is the largest school currently slated for Class 2A.
The other appeals are unlikely to affect any other local schools.
Beaufort High, Bluffton, Hilton Head High, and May River area all slated for Region 7-4A along with Colleton County, James Island, and the new Lucy Beckham High School in Mount Pleasant.
Ridgeland-Hardeeville will drop to Class 2A and compete in Region 6-2A, possibly along with Battery Creek.
Whale Branch drops to Class 1A and competes in Region 7-1A along with Baptist Hill, Charleston Math & Science, Cross, Lowcountry Leadership Charter, Military Magnet, Palmetto Scholars, and St. John’s.
The area’s three charter schools — Bridges Prep, Polaris Tech, and Royal Live Oaks — would compete in Region 6-1A along with Allendale-Fairfax, Bamberg-Ehrhardt, Bethune-Bowman, Branchville, and Estill.
