One thing I have seen discussed yet is that gentry is having trouble scheduling better schools to play during the season. Seems other schools are speaking out in their own way. That says a lot because even these top schools still want to play top opponents.
The St Cloud “Private schools” are faith based… I would hardly lump them in with the true play to pay schools. 
The St Cloud “Private schools” are faith based
So is Benilde and St Thomas. I don’t have a problem lumping them into one. Its either a public school, or its a private school. Religious based or not.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>big_g wrote:</div>
The St Cloud “Private schools” are faith basedSo is Benilde and St Thomas. I don’t have a problem lumping them into one. Its either a public school, or its a private school. Religious based or not.
Yeah, real powerhouses.
I don’t have a problem with Gentry, from what I understand of it anyway. Basically the controversy boils down to Gentry players being allowed to practice hockey without coaches during their PE hour of the day. I don’t see this much different than the football (or fill in the sport) coaches strongly advising, because they can’t require them, their players to take weightlifting in the offseason semester, or “captains practices” in the morning in season. Additionally with the specialization direction sports are headed, the MSHSL needs to respond to the market, or we will end up all the top athletes going outside of MSHSL and Public schools. Sorry to say but the days of Jimmy Chitwood lifting Hickory HS to the state title are long gone.
The St Cloud “Private schools” are faith based… I would hardly lump them in with the true play to pay schools.
Kinda, if you’re a good athlete St. Cloud Cathedral is more than willing to welcome you regardless of religion, and with little to no tuition due regardless of your families ability to pay. Back in the day if you made the Waite Park All-Star baseball team (the elite team for all of the St Cloud area), Bob Karn would have a scholarship for you to go to Cathedral.
Yeah, real powerhouses.
St Thomas Academy has 5 class A state hockey championships in the past 16 years. I’d call that a power house in boys hockey.
This season they are the top seed in their section. They play Cretin DH in the section 3AA final this week.
Kinda, if you’re a good athlete St. Cloud Cathedral is more than willing to welcome you regardless of religion, and with little to no tuition due regardless of your families ability to pay.
Proof??? This is what everybody says about the private schools and it’s never true because if it were, they’d all be kicked out of the HS league.
Private schools can’t offer anything to athletes as far as scholarships that aren’t available to any other student using the same criteria. So a hockey player is on the same footing as a kid who plays the piano or plays nothing at all. Athletes can apply for the same need and merit-based scholarships as any other kid, but the criteria for receiving the scholarship have to be the same across the board.
Also, scholarship money is not infinite at these schools. I can absolutely assure you that the parents of non-athletes will be demanding answers if suddenly the football team gets 5 new linemen, a quarterback, and the proverbial Australian-style kicker who are all magically able to score academic scholarships where other students are denied.
Every school in MN can (and all the top athletic programs do) recruit because it’s an open enrollment state. Time to get over idea the that private schools have some kind of recruiting advantage. That hasn’t been true for over 35 years.
In MN private schools actually have the biggest hurdle to overcome. If you want your kid to transfer to a public school because you think their hockey program is going places, all you have to do is open enroll them and the taxpayer pays everything for you.
If you want to send your kid to St. Thomas Academy or Hill Murray, you start by filling out a lot of forms and then if you can get them accepted, you get out your checkbook and write a check for $XX,XXX. Oh, and you need a credit card on file with the school for all the extra fees.
Proof???
That was from my personal experience. I was coming from a catholic elementary school, my tuition at John the 23rd (Cathedral’s Middle School) was going to be less than what my parents paid for me to go to St. Francis elementary due to scholarships. I also was contacted by Mr. Karn, my WP All-Star coaches and a few of the players I played with that went to Cathedral trying to get me to go there. I chose to go to Sartell with my neighborhood friends. We also had a kid with controversial helicopter parents in my class, that transferred to Cathedral our senior year and magically had no tuition payment while starting at QB, on the basketball and baseball teams. And he was a role player at Sartell.
Cathedral absolutely gives scholarships to kids to attend there. I havent seen in first hand, but know parents who sent their kids there and they said they got scholarships so I would think they wouldnt make something like that up.
Cathedral absolutely gives scholarships to kids to attend there. I havent seen in first hand, but know parents who sent their kids there and they said they got scholarships so I would think they wouldnt make something like that up.
Read the post. Where did I say that private schools don’t give scholarships? I did not.
The myth is that private schools are handing out full-ride scholarships to athletes to allow them to go to these schools for free. As I wrote, it’s not that athletes can’t get scholarships, it’s that they can’t get scholarships that aren’t available to every other student that meets the same criteria.
The Minnesota Myth is that legions of rich hockey kids are going to private schools and getting free tuition to boot. Not happening.
The Minnesota Reality is that rich kids and kids of every other income level are using open enrollment to open enroll to sports team shop at public schools and then getting a full ride courtesy of the generosity of the state and local taxpayers.
What surprises me is that local taxpayers, many of whom are paying large property tax bills on big school operating and building/facility levies, aren’t asking: Do all these open enrollment sports student’s families really pay their fair share?
Sorry but this goes way beyond sports. Open enrollment is hurting many public schools financially as students are leaving for other schools – this putting financial strain on schools and it is a fact.
There are many reasons many are leaving public schools and open enrolling in a different school. Most of those reasons have nothing to do with sports. If these public schools are being hurt by students leaving, they should do a better job of finding out the reason why, and fixing the problems. Around me here there are not many options for open enrollment. The few schools that still offer open enrollment are that way for a reason. Most of these are the schools that parents are looking to get their children out of
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>big_g wrote:</div>
The St Cloud “Private schools” are faith basedSo is Benilde and St Thomas. I don’t have a problem lumping them into one. Its either a public school, or its a private school. Religious based or not.
Hill Murray, Cretin-Derham Hall, Academy of HOLY ANGELS are all catholic schools, right. Trash hockey programs though so I guess they don’t count.
Yeah most schools in this area closed open enrollment too.
There are many open around Rochester and that is a challenge for the smaller schools. But hey – hope little old Lake City makes it to boys state basketball to take on Holy Family Catholic School where two 6-11 power players decided to go to school. Just like the days we had to take on two of the top college/NBA Jalen Suggs and Chet Holmgren when they played at Minnehaha the same time. So fair for those public schools………..
The question is – is it “fair” for the regular public schools to be put in these situations for the greater few “select” future stars. I have my opinion and it is what it is.
The myth is that private schools are handing out full-ride scholarships to athletes to allow them to go to these schools for free. As I wrote, it’s not that athletes can’t get scholarships, it’s that they can’t get scholarships that aren’t available to every other student that meets the same criteria.
The Minnesota Myth is that legions of rich hockey kids are going to private schools and getting free tuition to boot. Not happening.
It’s not a myth, but it’s also not some nefarious plan. Nor are the players getting paid, at least that I am aware of. But if you have a good athlete and want them to go private, the private school will find a way to accommodate the family to make it work via scholarships up to and including free tuition. I mean we know families will rent an apartment or cheap home in a non-open enrollment public district, to get their kid in that sports program. To think some similar strings aren’t pulled for private schools is naive imo.
Heck Warroad was plucking kids from nearby schools to play there and lured them by giving the parents jobs at Marvin Windows. I dont know if it still happens but it did in the past.
Hill Murray, Cretin-Derham Hall, Academy of HOLY ANGELS are all catholic schools, right. Trash hockey programs though so I guess they don’t count.
To me it’s less about the success of that individual program and more about the erosion of the programs they are drawing from.
As a ‘98 graduate of Coon Rapids, I remember being in the top 10-20 ranked teams in the state, sometimes top 5, all the way through youth hockey but once we got to varsity hockey, a big number of top players would leave to the very programs you listed here. CR has never been to state even though all of the surrounding schools have. One major difference was that they weren’t losing players to private schools like we were. Not the root cause of CRs woes but it certainly didn’t help.
I believe parents should be able to have their kids attend the private school of their choice but there needs to be some sort of accountability for those that are incentivizing sports over academics.
How about Tonka:
Per their website:
The Minnetonka School District welcomes non-resident students through Minnesota’s Open Enrollment program. More than 3,600 open-enrolled students from 41 different Minnesota school districts call Minnetonka schools home. We welcome their contribution to our dynamic community of learners.
It is not just hockey … BB and I am sure other sports are also impacted – BB maybe more.
MHSHL is not anti open enrollment … it is more about restricting moves once you start 9th grade at a particular HS. aka the transfer rules.
For those that are still curious,
Fargo Forum article on Gentry Academy
Gentry Academy is a Minnesota Department of Education approved PUBLIC charter school authorized by a state approved authorizer, Innovative Quality Schools. Similar to all other Minnesota PUBLIC schools, Gentry Academy has the opportunity to voluntarily join the Minnesota State High School League
Thank you Brittman for posting this link. Very informative and enlightening piece on Gentry. There is a major disconnect on what sports should be in High School.
As I tell my twin Senior sons. “Once you walk across the stage and get that diploma – you are like 99.99% of every other kid in the country. And remember. 5 years from now who is going to remember who the led the basketball or hockey or FB team in scoring, etc.” It becomes irrelevant and for us parents to set our kids up to “THINK” they will be a NBA, NHL star, etc. no matter at what cost – is only causing damage. Let the kids have fun and enjoy being a part of a team of kids playing sports – FAIRLY!
Exactly… look at Al Bundy 
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