After discussing the question of high school athletes transferring from school to school, I decided to check with the Mississippi High School Activities Association to find out what the actual rule is which covers those transfers. A talk with Larry Thomas, associate director of the MHSAA, revealed the following information:

High schools are assiged a home territory which may be defined by geographical lines or even by population density, and historical boundaries may even be considered. For instance, Cathedral, though the school lies wholly within the area assigned to Natchez High School, may enroll and play athletes who reside within a 20-mile radius of the school. That does include students who live in certain areas of Louisiana.

While Natchez High’s area is all of Adams County, Warren County is divided equally by population, with one half attending Warren Central and the other half Vicksburg High. St. Aloysius operates under much the same guidelines as Cathedral.

Jackson city schools each have their own assigned geographical area, as do the Madison County schools, though Canton’s schools have their own district with a school board and superintendent.

The controlling factor in an athlete’s eligibility is the school he or she entered in the ninth grade. Thereafter, in order to transfer to another school, an application to transfer must be approved by the MHSAA.

Generally speaking, if a kid’s parents have moved to another school district when necessary to find employment or as a result of work transfer, the application will be approved and the athlete may become eligible.

When there might be a suggestion that a school’s supporters might have found a job for a parent, the application to transfer will draw a deeper investigation. Simply moving across town, or moving back and forth between a mother and father, will almost always result in an athlete sitting out one year.

In the case of the students who were allowed to transfer from Madison St. Joseph to Madison Central High School, cases where parents had extreme difficulty meeting the tuition expense at St. Joe because one in particular had lost several months’ work because of an automobile accident was allowed.

Larry Thomas and I talked about the situation in the MPSA where kids can apparently transfer freely from school to school. They can also transfer freely from public to private schools but, if they move from a private to a public school, they must meet residence requirements at the new school to be eligible for play.

Larry also mentioned the only high school football rule change for the 2004 season is a head coach can now call for a timeout on his own without sending having a player communicate it to an official.

Fans will also note the entire team can now gather around the coach on the sideline during a timeout.

I saw in the obituaries that Walter Crawford passed away. Walter was a long-time high school football official having worked many years in the area as an umpire, a very good one. He will be missed.

And that’s official.

Al Graning is a former SEC official and former Natchez resident. Reach him at

AlanWard39157@aol.com

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