Public can voice opinions on NIAA realignment

When the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association’s realignment committee meets today, the session will include an extra agenda item for public comment.

That’s because when the committee met Dec. 7, the meeting was adjourned without taking public comment at its conclusion. Because of that, two “corrective action” items were added to Friday’s agenda.

“The committee failed to take public comment at the conclusion of the December 7, 2017 meeting,” the agenda item states. “To correct that error the committee will take public comment at this time on agenda items addressed at the December 7, 2017, committee meeting.”

Today’s meeting is at 11 a.m. and will be held via telephone from two locations: the NIAA office in Reno and Room 306 at Chaparral High School in the Las Vegas area.

The committee made recommendations Dec. 7 about which schools would be placed into a new 5A classification for football and other sports. School also were placed into 4A and 3A classifications for the realignment cycle, which begins with the 2018-19 school year.

The committee is scheduled to come up with recommendations regarding postseason tournament formats. It also could vote again on the alignment of schools if it is swayed by the additional public comments.

The Pahrump Valley Times this week checked with the association for any impact on Nye County schools.

“Pahrump Valley will still be 3A,” NIAA assistant director Donnie Nelson said in an email. “Beatty, Gabbs, Round Mountain and Tonopah are still proposed to be 1A.”

“The committee will be meeting again Friday (today) to work on league alignment,” Nelson said.