Iowa H.S.Football Classification based on Poverty Level

eyekwah

Well-Known Member
Not sure anyone read the article linked below but I'm quite sure there will be a debate if this is the right thing to do. To me it says some City school districts are making an excuse for not performing on the field. Des Moines City Schools have a lot of problems, some by their own making. It is rare to to see a DM HS football player get a power five scholarship offer.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/s...dan-sabers-dmps-des-moines-public/1619000001/
 
Jr high and peewee football are for marginal athleticism...parents... trying to get a leg up on real athletes. Any good athlete with a good coach can walk into h s football and develop quite well.

Basketball is harder but doable. Soccer is really hard to pick up that late.
 
But for one reason or another these city schools are getting destroyed by the burbs.

A lot of it is what plagues football all across Yankeedom. School segregation. They can't do that in the South and the government isn't too keen on going too overboard on "economic segregation" so a lot of the South has very integrated schools with busing and open enrollment being the norm. This means that the kid with the single mom is gonna have plenty of friends with a dad around and those guys get all the kids playing football and getting into Scouts and stuff like that. That simply doesn't exist in places like Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Detroit, etc. Des Moines is on a much smaller scale, but the same issue arises. Once the SCOTUS green-lighted "de facto" school segregation in the 1970's, the northern urban cores were pretty much toast in terms of school quality and football is just a readily discernible manifestation of that.

In the South, even if you grow up poor, the community is gonna get you playing football. Maybe you'll have to do some fund raisers in front of Wal-Mart, but you'll get out there. That community is not present in the North and if kids are poor or a different color, no big deal as long as they live across town and don't "dilute" the "good" schools like Valley, Ankeny or whatever.
 
A lot of it is what plagues football all across Yankeedom. School segregation. They can't do that in the South and the government isn't too keen on going too overboard on "economic segregation" so a lot of the South has very integrated schools with busing and open enrollment being the norm. This means that the kid with the single mom is gonna have plenty of friends with a dad around and those guys get all the kids playing football and getting into Scouts and stuff like that. That simply doesn't exist in places like Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Detroit, etc. Des Moines is on a much smaller scale, but the same issue arises. Once the SCOTUS green-lighted "de facto" school segregation in the 1970's, the northern urban cores were pretty much toast in terms of school quality and football is just a readily discernible manifestation of that.

In the South, even if you grow up poor, the community is gonna get you playing football. Maybe you'll have to do some fund raisers in front of Wal-Mart, but you'll get out there. That community is not present in the North and if kids are poor or a different color, no big deal as long as they live across town and don't "dilute" the "good" schools like Valley, Ankeny or whatever.


How ironic at the present time how the south is more integrated and the north is more segregated. This when the Civil War was fought and the north opposed slavery while the south was still fighting for it.

I completely get what you are saying. A couple years ago I drove to New Orleans and had a stopover in Mississippi. I felt like a minority in that state. It was kind of refreshing as people just went along with their business and it didn't seem segregated at all, even though there were more individuals of the color than white, which was completely fine. Different for me but fine.

Changing school district lines and telling parents they are going to bus your kids across town causes a CF and quite a lot of distress to many parents. This becomes a real issue and difficult to do for school officials. I've seen it living in the Iowa City school district when they wanted to build Liberty High and change around the school zones. OH BOY!!
 
How ironic at the present time how the south is more integrated and the north is more segregated.

Yep, but the real irony is in the lengths the media will go to to lie to people and point out how racist the South is. Fact is, the parents in the North that don't want little Xander and Keightlynne going to a "bad school" are probably at their core more racist and scared of black people than the guy driving around Alabama in a '79 F-150 with 2 confederate flags flying on the back. So little Xander and Keightlynne's parents dutifully get their New York Times and are regaled with decades old tales of Southern racism to remind them that they are virtuous and the bad people are the ones in the South, not the ones who have converted "good schools" to code for "no blacks."
 
“Mihalovich finds the whole discussion baffling.

Although he no longer coaches in high school — he was dismissed in 2012 after a DMPS investigation concluded he violated policies for bullying, harassment and corporal punishment — he believes the city school football programs can succeed with hard work.”

I can’t help but wonder if this has something to do with his teams sucking.
 
Those schools would get curb stomped by the above average 3A schools and many 2A schools. They are that bad in football and many sports. Foolish to think they could compete with the likes of Pella/Norwalk/Oskaloosas and Harlan. Just stupid. They would have to drop down to 1A to be competitive.
 
Those schools would get curb stomped by the above average 3A schools and many 2A schools. They are that bad in football and many sports. Foolish to think they could compete with the likes of Pella/Norwalk/Oskaloosas and Harlan. Just stupid. They would have to drop down to 1A to be competitive.

No you underestimate the speed differential. Not many 2A schoold at all. Even 3a would surprise you.

Wienke s dad was legendary in dmsll school IL and moved to Waterloo to be closer to his son. He made some pretty good strides. Eas it Waterloo East?
 
No you underestimate the speed differential. Not many 2A schoold at all. Even 3a would surprise you.

Wienke s dad was legendary in dmsll school IL and moved to Waterloo to be closer to his son. He made some pretty good strides. Eas it Waterloo East?
I watched an average Grinnell team destroy Roosevelt a few years back.It was a total joke. I'm quite certain you are inocrrect. The DSM public schools absolutely suck at football....bad
 
I watched an average Grinnell team destroy Roosevelt a few years back.It was a total joke. I'm quite certain you are inocrrect. The DSM public schools absolutely suck at football....bad

1A no. 2A no. Good 3A I could see. Maybe.

Some local power houses in the 500 to 600 enrollment range had the smaller schools form their own conference. We're talking state champions. Our local suburban school 1000k and another were dominating our conference with others about 750. The smaller and weaker schools in our conference.

The weak schools from our former conference pummeled the smaller state champs from the smaller conference.

Downstate there is a smaller school that does very well against city schools that are bigger but that school still isnt small. They recruit and you would recognize names of players.

A 2A school is going to have 3 or 4 players that are pretty good with few D1 potential. A school double the size is going to have 6 players that are pretty good and likely at least 1 will be better than the smaller school best. Likely bigger and stronger.

1 A schools are going to have some 150 pound linemen or just plain fat and immobile. A 4A is going to ave 200.

Upsets can happen but you are not correct.

DM may have bad coach s. They may have commitment issues.

Many 2a schools just isnt going to happen.

Upsets do happen ...note ISU Iowa.
 
1A no. 2A no. Good 3A I could see. Maybe.

Some local power houses in the 500 to 600 enrollment range had the smaller schools form their own conference. We're talking state champions. Our local suburban school 1000k and another were dominating our conference with others about 750. The smaller and weaker schools in our conference.

The weak schools from our former conference pummeled the smaller state champs from the smaller conference.

Downstate there is a smaller school that does very well against city schools that are bigger but that school still isnt small. They recruit and you would recognize names of players.

A 2A school is going to have 3 or 4 players that are pretty good with few D1 potential. A school double the size is going to have 6 players that are pretty good and likely at least 1 will be better than the smaller school best. Likely bigger and stronger.

1 A schools are going to have some 150 pound linemen or just plain fat and immobile. A 4A is going to ave 200.

Upsets can happen but you are not correct.

DM may have bad coach s. They may have commitment issues.

Many 2a schools just isnt going to happen.

Upsets do happen ...note ISU Iowa.
Downstate? What state are you talking about? Name a player from those DSM schools (roosevelt, east, hoover, north, lincoln) that have had a D1 offer. Im not sure you realize how horrible those DSM team are. They are bad really bad. For example last year 2A Des Moines Christian Hung 53 Points on DSM north. The same Des Moines Christian that got shellacked by mighty Ogden Iowa.
 
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I live in another state.

Not arguing about if they are good. But there is such a difference.

Private schools are a whole different subject.

I hated my kids playing private Christian schools due to the dirty play.
 

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