Middle school athletics move toward reunification in county

ASHEBORO — Randolph County middle schools may once again be reuniting in a combined athletic conference.

In a reversal of a prior Randolph County School System board of education decision from earlier in the year that saw the district go independent, the board unanimously voted during its Dec. 8 meeting to allow for the reunification of a middle school athletic conference with Uwharrie Charter Academy and Asheboro City Schools.

There was to be a split beginning with the 2026-27 school year.

“This is a community issue,” said RCSS superintendent Stephen Gainey, who brought forth the recommendation. “We’ve got great kids all over the county. Without this conference being put back together, my concern is that the children at Uwharrie Charter Academy and South Asheboro Middle and North Asheboro Middle are going to miss a lot of school due to travel if they have to go to other school systems to play.”

Gainey had met with the other two school system superintendents three times during the fall to discuss the potential reunification, and he described those meetings as “genuine conversations” solely focused on the students.

“No one tried to dominate the meetings, in my opinion,” Gainey said. “That was not the atmosphere of the meetings.”

From those meetings, the three superintendents came up with a list of seven non-negotiables that they want to see from a middle school athletic conference, and those primarily focused on concrete conference makeup, leadership, revenue sharing, sportsmanship, recruitment restrictions, collaborative scheduling and the creation of written bylaws.

“There was no difficulty with getting the information for this document on paper from anyone in particular,” Gainey said.

While not yet finalized, this decision gets the potential reunification kicked off, with the next steps being to create more concrete rules, regulations and bylaws.

“I trust my other two colleagues — and their staff —  that with our staff, we can make things better in terms of our conference operations and the future state of athletics,” Gainey said.

RCSS board member Phillip Lanier said: “At the end of the day, this is about the kids. The kids enjoy, whether they’re in a city school system, charter school system or our system, they enjoy competing against one another. I think we’re headed in the right direction.”

Board leadership retained

The board also unanimously reelected Gary Cook as board chair and Sharon Farlow as vice chair for another year.

“I’ve been at it a long time, but I appreciate the confidence and the trust,” Cook said. “I appreciate working with all you guys and I hope I listen and try to help any way I can. I think we have made a difference and I think we’re a good board.”

The Randolph County Schools Board of Education will next meet Jan. 12.