Pope, Walton, Wheeler Staying Put

and will likely remain region rivals along with Lassiter and among the biggest high schools in the state. 

is set to continue in the second rung of competition as the Georgia High School Association has unveiled new reclassification categories for 2012-14. 

While the structural changes statewide are significant, East Cobb schools won't be affected that much beyond having an additional "A" next to their region affiliations.

The preliminary list released Monday means that high school sports, cheerleading, debate and other activities will be grouped in six, instead of five, classifications. 

Walton, Wheeler and Lassiter, which are now in Class AAAAA, are slated to move "up" to the new Class AAAAAA under the proposal.

Pope, which dropped down from the largest classification two years ago to Class AAAA, will stay with the second-largest grouping of schools that will be known as Class AAAAA. 

It was a move that benefitted the Greyhounds' , which finished second in Class AAAA in  for the 2010-11 year. (Walton is the current GADA Directors Cup runnerup in Class AAAAA.)

The Walker School, which has been competing in Class A, would stay in the newly designated classification and effectively drop down to remain with the smallest schools in Georgia. 

Should the proposed moves be finalized, all Cobb public high schools will be in the top two classifications. 

Placing teams in regions is the next task for the GHSA, but under the proposed reclassifications East Cobb schools should remain grouped with many of their current rivals.

The new Class AAAAAA includes 66 schools, including Walton, Wheeler and Lassiter's Region 5AAAAA schools Roswell, Alpharetta, Milton, Chattahoochee, Cherokee, Etowah and Woodstock. 

Walton's projected student enrollment of 1,987 is the second-largest in Cobb and is 17th in the top classification, which is headed by Gwinnett schools. Wheeler's enrollment is expected to be around 1,605 and Lassiter's 1,524.

In the new Class AAAAA, Pope (enrollment 1,290) is likely to stay with current Region 5-AAAA schools Sprayberry (1,413) and Kell (1,279), as well as Osborne, East Paulding, North Paulding and Hiram. 

The Walker School's projected enrollment of 286 in grades 9-11 should keep it clustered with current Region 6A rivals Mt. Paran Christian, North Cobb Christian Mt. Zion of Carrollton, Trion and Darlington. But Bremen and Bowdon are slated to move up to the new Class AA.