The Oregon School Activities Association’s six-classification sports plan ran into another bump in the road on Monday when Susan Castillo, the Oregon State Superintendent of Public Instruction, ruled that the OSAA’s plan violated state law by implementing the sweeping changes.

Hearings officer Bill Young and Castillo were in agreement that the OSAA failed to obtain approval from the Oregon Board of Education when establishing the criteria that served as the foundation for the changes.

But Castillo did not get rid of the OSAA’s plan, instead ruling that the OSAA has 30 days to re-appear before the board for approval.

The ruling, which has frustrated some school officials, is the latest component of a complex appeals process, initiated by school districts from Eugene, Medford and Salem-Keizer.

The districts say the OSAA’s six-class scheme, which aims to replace the current four-class system in the 2006-07 school year, causes student-athletes and coaches unnecessary harm by increasing travel time and expenses for the teams.

“We’re hopeful, even confident, that when the state Board of Education looks at the thorough process … under which these changes were made, they will concur with the decisions,” said OSAA executive director Tom Welter on Monday. “A lot of people think the OSAA is just some bureaucracy sitting in Wilsonville. But our member schools choose to go to a six-class plan and we are trying to implement what they would like to be done.”

As part of the appeals process, a hearings officer ruled on Feb. 24 that the OSAA violated ORS 339.430 (3), which calls for a voluntary organization to submit to the Oregon Board of Education for review any changes to rules that “specify criteria for the placement of a school into an interscholastic activity district.”

The OSAA first met with the board on Sept. 15 to gain approval for nine different criteria that shaped its classification and districting decisions. The board approved all nine, which included competitive balance, travel expenses, loss of student class time and maintaining schools’ athletic tradition and history.

But the OSAA divided its 287 schools into six classes based, primarily, on enrollment numbers. For example, schools with 1,521 or more students (46 schools) were placed in Class 6A, the highest class, while schools with 851 to 1,520 were placed in Class 5A (40 schools).

Young ruled that the OSAA needed to include the cut-off figures as a separate criterion, which Castillo also agreed to.

If the OSAA gets past this dilemma and the Board of Education approves the criteria, a hearing pitting the three appealing school districts against the OSAA most likely will take place.

A hearing scheduled for last week was postponed while Castillo mulled over Monday’s ruling.

As the appeals process runs its course, however, athletic directors and schools across Oregon are caught in the middle, awaiting a final resolution. Schools started creating schedules and plans months ago in preparation for the six-class landscape and now it all in limbo.

“We know our schools are anxious to get this resolved,” Welter said. “We will request that this be dealt with by the state Board of Education sooner than later.”