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Jefferson likely to move up to 4A

By SCOTT PURKS and FRANK PASTOR

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 10, 2001

TAMPA -- A mistake in projected enrollment at Jefferson sent school officials scrambling Wednesday to get the Dragons eligible for the upcoming sports seasons.

By Thursday afternoon -- after county athletic director Vernon Korhn and Jefferson principal Dan Riveiro burned up the phones making schedule changes and conferring with the Florida High School Activities Association -- the football team was near eligibility for Class 4A, District 8.

As of Tuesday, the Dragons were in 2A-7 based on a school enrollment of 790 (Class 2A school have enrollments between 371 and 920 students).

After Wednesday's count on the first day of school, however, Jefferson's enrollment was 1,340 and expected to rise a little in the next couple of weeks.

Bill Person, the Hillsborough County director of pupil administration, took responsibility for the mistake. Person said when he made Jefferson's enrollment projection in the fall of 2000, he didn't account for the International Studies Academy magnet program, which starts this fall.

A new projection of 1,474 students was calculated by the district in February, but that figure never reached the FHSAA.

"Neither myself nor anyone else picked up on the fact the projection was greater in the spring than it was in the fall," Person said. "If I would have caught the difference (in the spring), I would have been able to rectify the situation at that time.

FHSAA commissioner Bob Hughes said there is little doubt all will be fixed by today or, at least, by the end of the week.

"This will be resolved," Hughes said. "And I think it will be resolved to the satisfaction of everyone involved."

To play in 4A-8, Jefferson must add Sickles, Tampa Bay Tech and Brandon to its schedule (it already plays 4A-8 teams Plant and Armwood) and likely will drop 2A-7 schools Berkeley Prep, Clearwater Central Catholic, Tampa Catholic and St. Petersburg Catholic. The four private schools are expected to agree to the change.

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