Powhatan wants new district for athletics

The road to Powhatan County High School's 16-0 record and Southside District volleyball championship was long.

There were hours of practice and the competition. But there were also long hours of travel to and from competitions.

There is so much travel for student athletics that some parents have asked the Powhatan County School Board to find a way to join a closer athletic district.

"I'm talking about a two-hour drive by car to each of the district [away] games; by bus about two and a half hours," said Alan Crawford, whose daughter, Kayla, is in the 10th grade and on the volleyball team. "That's a big deal."

"It puts a big, big burden on the students," he said.

The high schools in the AA Southside district are Prince Edward, Nottoway, Park View and Bluestone from Mecklenburg County, Brunswick and, starting next year, Southampton. Except for Powhatan and Nottoway, the schools in the district are in localities that run along the North Carolina border.

Because of the distance, Powhatan athletes and fans often find themselves returning from away games as late as 11 p.m., Crawford said.

Powhatan High School teams travel more than 10,000 miles a year, and the system incurs large gas bills running buses back and forth, Crawford said. In addition, Powhatan is now one of the larger AA schools in the region and largely dominates district foes, Principal Bob Carden said. "We're larger than the schools, Carden said. "We dominate Southside."

With an enrollment of more than 1,400 students, Powhatan could even move to an AAA district, Crawford said.

The school is locked in to its current district for the next few years. But School Board members said the system will try to get in a closer district when the time comes and are encouraging parents to use a letter-writing campaign to the Virginia High School League to support their efforts.

Included among the school's 2008 district championships were varsity and junior varsity football, varsity volleyball, boy's cross-country and cheerleading, Carden said.

School officials said the system opposed the decision by the Virginia High School League several years ago to place Powhatan in the Southside district and had sought to be part of the closer Jefferson district north of Powhatan.

"I'd rather play schools in our own backyard," school board member Heinrich A. Gideons said.

School Superintendent Margaret Meara said the district will write a letter to the high school league "expressing the frustration we feel."

"If they know about it in an official sense maybe they will do something about it," she said.

Contact Jamie C. Ruff at (434) 223-3678 or .