Small Schools Explained:

The division were not so much of an issue as the large schools were. There are a total of 23 schools in the small divisions with two being all-female schools and one being all-male schools. Also, Hackettstown has been tentatively approved by the NJSIAA to move to the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference and Sussex Tech has requested to be an associate member of the conference.

In my thinking, a you have group 2 schools and you have group 1 schools. There are enough group 2 schools to make two divisions, leaving a little more than enough to make one group 1 division. With that being said, travel would become the next issue. There are a number of outliers in each division, but in general, to help with competition, they are placed in "fair" divisions.

Central Division explained:
We are able to keep the division to seven schools for both boys and girls by having the one gender, non-publics in this division. In addition to this, we added Sussex Tech to this division for boys only. As proven in many cases in recent history, Sussex Tech will not be able to compete well enough to be in the West division (at least on the boys side). To help relieve this, placing them in the Central division was a good move. Also, the size comparison is nice.

Sussex Tech explained:
Sussex Tech wanted to become an associate member of the league. I prefer not to see this. If you want to be in the league, you should be a full member. I do, however, understand their point of view - travel becomes a hassle if they are put on a more even ground, and competition goes out the window if travel is the major concern. It is a paradox for Sussex Tech. BUT, I do have a solution! Sussex Tech is added to the Central Division for boys sports only (minus swimming). This will put ST in a good competitive situation for the boys side and helps the Central Division maintain at least a 7-school division. As for the girls, it has been proven in recent history that Sussex Tech can compete to a certain extent and tend to have a much strong girls side than boys side. In this case, Tech will join the West Division for girls sports only. This will minimize travel for the school by being able to schedule mostly local schools on the girls side. As for swimming where Wallkill Valley and Sussex Tech share a team, Tech will join WV in the West Division to compete for both boys and girls.

Travel: Travel is much less of an issue. There are enough schools in the small division to not have travel be as much of an issue.

Scheduling:
In a 9-game season, all division will play 6 games against their own division. From here, there is a 2-game mandatory cross-divisional games. These two games can be scheduled with anyone within the small brackets - it can be based on competition, size, location: anything the school wants to do. This leaves one game left to schedule either out of conference, inside conference (both large and small), or out of state. The flexible scheduling policy is very easy for each athletic program.