Based upon the enrollment counts released Thursday, Jan. 14, by the Washington State Activities Association, the Western Conference, Oak Harbor High School’s athletic league, will undergo several changes for the 2016-17 school year.
The 1A division in the Olympic League, which includes Coupeville, will not change.
The WIAA conducts enrollment checks every two years (which is now changing to every four years) to determine into which of six classifications each school falls, enabling schools to compete against others of similar size.
The largest 65 schools are placed in 4A, the next 65 in 3A, and so forth. The 2B and 1B divisions each have 62 schools.
Schools can choose to move up one classification; they cannot move down. For each school that opts up, one is pushed down to keep each division the same size.
In the Western Conference, Snohomish High School will drop from 4A to 3A while the other Snohomish district school, Glacier Peak, will move from 3A to 4A. GP will be the smallest 4A school in Washington.
Shorecrest, which was 2A, jumps to 3A, while Mountlake Terrace slides from 3A to 2A.
Cascade, a 4A school the past two years, had 3A numbers this count but chose to opt up and stay with its 4A rivals.
The Western Conference has three divisions. Eight schools form the 4A division, while the 12 3A schools and one 2A school are split into North and South divisions.
Snohomish and Glacier Peak, which was in the 3A Wesco South, may just swap places; however, Snohomish said it would like to be in the North with historic rivals Marysville-Pilchuck and Everett.
The Western Conference has not decided on the divisional splits for next school year.
Coupeville left the Cascade Conference several years ago because it was by far the smallest school in enrollment, joining the Olympic League in 2014-15 to compete against schools similar in size. Coupeville (227 students), Port Townsend (278) and Chimacum (250) are three of the smallest 1A schools in Washington. The division’s fourth member, Klahowya of Silverdale (441), however, is the second largest.
4A ranges from the largest school in the state, South Kitsap (2,024), to Glacier Peak (1,343.29). Twenty-two 3A schools opted up to 4A; the smallest is Kennedy Catholic (630).
In 3A, Redmond (1,343.16) is the largest and Bonney Lake the smallest (972). Oak Harbor (1,132) falls in the middle. Thirteen schools opted up; Lakeside of Seattle (424) is the smallest.
Highline (972) is the largest 2A school and Granite Falls the smallest (461). Archbishop Murphy (404) is the only opt up.
In 1A, the schools range from Connell (461) to Columbia of Burbank (215). Eight schools opted up. Coupeville, which was the smallest 1A school in the previous count, is now sixth smallest outside of the opt-ups.
Western Conference 4A
Mariner, 1,842 students
Lake Stevens, 1,788
Kamiak, 1,727
Jackson, 1,630
Monroe, 1,595
Mount Vernon, 1,407
Glacier Peak, 1,343
Cascade, 1,337 (opt up)
Western Conference 3A
Snohomish, 1,283
Arlington, 1,250
Edmonds-Woodway, 1,217
Shorewood, 1,209
Marysville Getchell, 1,199
Meadowdale, 1,198
Oak Harbor, 1,132
Stanwood, 1,111
Everett, 1,097
Marysville-Pilchuck, 1,086
Lynnwood, 1,002
Shorecrest, 987
Mountlake Terrace, 962 (2A)
Olympic League 2A
Port Angeles, 876
Olympic, 863
Bremerton, 861
North Kitsap, 811
Sequim, 686
Kingston, 605
North Mason, 528
Olympic League 1A
Klahowya, 445
Port Townsend, 278
Chimacum, 250
Coupeville, 227
