Middle schools regroup, all Randolph schools are back in same sports league

ASHEBORO — Citing the possibility of student-athletes missing too much classroom time, the Randolph County School System Board of Education reversed an August decision to oust Asheboro and Uwharrie Charter middle schools from the Randolph County Middle School League and will now instead allow the three entities to remain in the league and compete against Randolph County schools.

The board voted unanimously Dec. 8 to reverse a decision passed on Aug. 18 to feature a league composed only of Randolph County schools, which was scheduled to begin in the 2026-27 school year. That meant middle schools from North Asheboro, South Asheboro and Uwharrie Charter would have to find another league to compete in.

It’s the first step in bringing back what was split for just a few months after the initial ruling by the Board.

“This is a community issue,” RCSS superintendent Stephen Gainey said in a published report. “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.”

Currently, there are 10 schools in the Randolph County Middle School League. Participants include middle schools from Southwestern Randolph, Randleman, Trinity, Wheatmore, Northeast Randolph, Southeast Randolph, Uwharrie Ridge, North Asheboro, South Asheboro and UCA. 

The original plan of reverting to an all-Randolph County league was put into motion because of what Board members said was a “mass exodus” of county students transferring to Asheboro City and Uwharrie Charter school systems.

“We went back and initiated some conversations with Dr. (Aaron) Woody of Asheboro City Schools and Dr. (Sharon) Castelli of Uwharrie Charter,” Gainey said. “We met on three occasions. All three had concerns and desires of what middle school athletics should look like in the future. Whether we got to North Asheboro, South Asheboro or Uwharrie Charter, everyone knows each other and we all have great kids.”

The superintendents came up with a list of seven non-negotiables that they want to implement for a middle school athletic conference, and those primarily focus on conference makeup, leadership, revenue sharing, sportsmanship, recruitment restrictions, collaborative scheduling and the creation of written bylaws.

The bylaws will be the first area addressed.

“We came together to talk about how to resolve this,” Woody said. “Given everything, it was important that we stayed together and kept the kids together. After we cleared the air of some of our challenges, we were tasked to have five non-negotiables. We did that, came back and we all had five and collectively added two more. 

“Sometimes you have to go through hard times to get to something special.”

Woody said staff members had already reached out to a number of area middle school leagues and all stressed the willingness to help the schools, but that would come with added travel and more burdens on the coaches, teachers and families.

“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. “My sincere appreciation goes out to Dr. Castelli and Dr. Woody for the way they worked through this with me. They were great teammates in this process.”

If all areas are met, the Randolph County League will remain intact with each school having the opportunity to host league tournaments.