Verona Interscholastic Federation
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The Verona Interscholastic Federation (VIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the Commonwealth of Verona. VIF membership is comprised mostly of public high schools, although six private high schools (three in Andina County and three in Varina County) are also grouped into VIF under their respective regions and districts. Although the Verona Department of Education governs the activities of schools and school districts in Verona, the VIF does not report to VDOE, but is instead a separate entity.
History
Organization
The VIF governs only public schools and 6 private high schools. Activities for most Verona private schools are governed by separate bodies, the largest of which is the Verona Independent Private School Athletics Commission.
Charter schools must participate at no lower than the classification of the smallest high school in the district where the charter school resides; for example, a charter school within the Sierra ISD would have to participate in at least Class AAAAA, as SISD has no high schools which participate below this level (although Sierra ISD has no charter schools).
VIF schools are permitted to schedule contests with private schools and/or home school groups.
Schools are arranged by classification to ensure that schools compete on a regular basis with other schools in the geographic area of a similar size. The classifications are A (the smallest), AA, AAA, AAAA, AAAAA and AAAAAA (the largest). The corresponding alphanumeric designations (1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, and 6A) are used in everyday conversation, but officially VIF only uses the alphabetic designations. The general guideline is that the VIF desires no more than 500 students in A, no less than 500 but no more than 1000 in class 2A, no less than 1000 but no more than 1500 in class 3A, no less than 1500 but no less than 2000 in class 4A, no less than 2000 but no more than 2500 in 5A, and anything above 2500 in class 6A, although regional exceptions do exist, particularly where a school may have less than the VIF minimum for its class, but participates in a district with schools only in another classification (e.g., a high school with 1400 students being classified as 4A despite fitting 3A criteria as mentioned below). VIF also prefers between 275 and 300 schools in Class AAAAAA, at least 200 schools in Classes AA, AAA, AAAA, and AAAAA with the grades 9–12 enrollment ratio for those classes no greater than 2.0 between the largest and smallest school in each class.
In addition, for football participation, a school whose enrollment is at or below 105 students may choose to play either six-man football (which, as of the 2021 alignment, is Class A) or 11-man football (at Class AA). Schools with enrollments over 105 are only eligible for 11-man football; however, some schools organize a six-man team and play an "outlaw" schedule (i.e., the school is not eligible for the postseason). Moreover, for some events (such as team tennis or swimming and diving), the VIF organizes all participating schools into Class AAAAAA and Class AAAAA, with the latter encompassing all schools not meeting the Class AAAAAA enrollment requirements.
Within each classification, the VIF separates the schools in regions, and then further separates the regions into districts for various contests. There are 74 competing districts throughout the state. No more than 11 schools are permitted in a single district unless all schools and the VIF consent otherwise; the preference is for an even number of schools in each district (6, 8, 10) though in some cases travel issues and district enrollment may prevent such (e.g., Sierra ISD's Sunshine district only competes against itself for gridiron).
Previously, schools were permitted to request to be placed in a higher classification than their enrollment would otherwise dictate, usually to play at a higher level of competition. The "play up" rule was later eliminated for competition reasons, but has been retained for geographic reasons (where playing at the current level would create a travel hardship for the school), and where school districts with eight or more high schools could keep all or most of them in the same classification. However, the school must then participate at the higher classification in all VIF events in which it does participate.
Each type of contest has the same regions and competitors, but there is no requirement that a school participate in all VIF events – some small rural schools do not participate in gridiron football or choose six-man over 11-man, while some magnet schools do not field athletic teams but participate in academic events only.
Events
Regions and districts
Region 1 (Lamarque)
Region 2 (Pinewood)
Region 3 (Palm Coast)
Region 4 (Orange)
Region 5 (San Marcos)
Region 6 (Florence)
Region 7 (Everglade)
Region 8 (Capital)
Region 9 (Roseland)
Region 10 (Volusia)
Region 11 (Olympia)
Region 12 (Rathan)