Giambelluca needed 195 principals of the association’s 389 member schools to approve his request. Instead, just 112 principals agreed to hold the special meeting, while 133 voted against Giambelluca’s proposal. The remaining 50 did not respond, which was, in effect, a “no” vote.

“We’ll live with that decision,” Giambelluca told NewOrleans.Com Wednesday evening. “We did receive a lot of positive feedback and it keeps the proposal in (principals’) minds.”

The consensus of the principals with whom Giambelluca spoke felt that such a meeting was outside the LHSAA’s normal course of procedure and did not want to start a precedent of calling for special meetings routinely, the Jesuit principal said.

Reclassification has dropped current District 10-5A members Archbishop Shaw and St. Augustine into Class 4A and will signal the end of the 56-yearold “Catholic League” for at least two years.

Giambelluca intends to re-introduce the “playing-up” proposal at the 2013 general business meeting in January of that year.

Jesuit, Brother Martin and Archbishop Rummel will then be the remaining schools in District 10-5A along with their Catholic girls counterparts, Archbishop Chapelle, Mount Carmel and Dominican.

These schools will more than likely be paired with District 9-5A schools from Jefferson Parish and Chalmette.

This will create a large nine-team boys district that would include Brother Martin, Jesuit and Rummel with the following public schools: Bonnabel and Grace King on the East Bank and West Jefferson, Higgins and John Ehret on the West Bank. Chalmette, which is a member of District 9-5A, would be the ninth school.

When you add the three Catholic girls’ schools, the district enlarges to 12.

Giambelluca said his school would have two on-district games in which they plan to continue to schedule Holy Cross, its rival since 1922, and St. Augustine.

Speculation also has it that District 6-5A, as it currently exists, will lose all its present members with Dutchtown, East Ascension and St. Amant forming part of a second 5A district of Baton Rouge schools.

Hahnville, Destrehan and East St. John may join the “Bayou District” – 8-5A – which is losing Assumption and South Terrebonne.

District 7-5A, which includes the schools on the northshore, will remain intact.

LHSAA Executive Director said he expects an “interesting” reclassification meeting on Oct. 27 when the principals meet at the association’s office in Baton Rouge. At that time, principals will offer amended districts to those the LHSAA has tentatively set.

There will be one or perhaps two additional reclass meetings in November.