Student athletes who will attend Marysville Getchell High School when it opens in 2010 or 2011 may not compete as Chargers for a year or so, according to athletic director Greg Erickson.

"If the school opens in 2010, it will likely be in the middle of the school year," Erickson explained, "and our sports facilities at the campus may not even be complete."

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) reclassifies participating schools every two years and builds competitive schedules on the same two-year basis. Trying to inject a new school into the mix halfway through would be "a big mess," according to Erickson.

In the graduated plan outlined by the athletic director at the February 17 school board meeting, all school athletic programs for the 2010-2011 school year would remain at M-P, even if students attend classes at Getchell.

For the 2011-2012 school year, ninth and tenth grade players would compete at their own campus unless they were on varsity or junior varsity teams. The Getchell freshmen and sophomore teams would be classified as a Marysville-Pilchuck "C" team, although they might don Charger colors on the field. All varsity and JV players would be Tomahawks.

When the next 2-year WIAA period begins, for the 2012-2013 school year, both high schools would have full athletic programs at all levels.

"Today's 8th graders will be the first senior Chargers," said Erickson, noting that the WIAA has reviewed and approved the staged approach.

Since the Marysville School District has embraced the idea of smaller learning communities (SLCs) at the high school level, a student's choice of academic curriculum will determine his or her campus. M-PHS will continue to host the Pathways of Choice SLC, with about 1600 students, while students in the Bio-Med Academy, School for the Entrepreneur, Academy for Construction and Engineering and International School of Communications will attend Marysville Getchell.

Student populations will be fairly equal, which means that both schools will likely compete in the same WIAA sports bracket. M-PHS is currently a 4A school in the Wesco North Division.

Delaying the start of a varsity program for a year also helps the district save some "significant expenditures," said Erickson.

"Uniforms, coaching staff, administrative support and other related costs run about $117,000 a year," the AD explained. "That's a pretty big number when you consider all the budget-cutting the district is being forced to consider."

An additional concern for some parents of current student athletes regards eligibility for varsity play. According to WIAA guidelines, if a student transfers to another school he or she is not eligible to compete at the varsity level for a year.

For students whose SLCs will transfer to Marysville Getchell, Erickson's graduated plan will eliminate any problem with varsity eligibility since varsity sports programs will only be offered at Marysville-Pilchuck for the first full year.

"Phasing in the varsity program at the new school gives us some time to establish a team identity and work some of the bugs out," he continued. "We want to do what's best for the kids, and this is the way to do it."