Puryear sent an e-mail on Feb. 19 notifying school officials in the Bull Run District of the decision.

She said in a phone interview that the high school football and basketball teams would play independently against smaller area schools. She said it was too early to name what schools those would be, though some in the Delaney Athletic Conference, which is home to Wakefield Country Day School and other small private schools, might be candidates.

"We're trying to regroup and retrain, make sure our students have what they need to feel competitive and successful," Puryear said.

With 335 students in grades 9-12, Rappahannock is by far the smallest school in the Bull Run District. The next smallest, Manassas Park, has nearly twice as many students.

And unlike other district schools, Rappahannock's enrollment is dropping.

Puryear said Rappahannock's size has put the school's basketball and football teams -- which require a large number of athletes -- at a disadvantage. She said a review of the teams' records over the past seven years revealed losing season after losing season.

"We're not giving our kids any experience in those sports," she said. "They're not getting any experience winning."

Rappahannock's varsity football team went 2-8 this past season. The varsity girls' basketball team finished up with a 4-18 record, and the boys' team came in at 2-19.

Puryear said a number of students had expressed frustration with the losses.

"It's hard to ask an athlete year after year to come and get beat by 20 or 30 points," Puryear said. "I think we have to build confidence and skill level in these sports."

Pulling the teams out of the district would also free Rappahannock from rules governing off-season training. Puryear expressed interest in spring and summer training camps, though said there no concrete plans at the moment.

"We have a lot more flexibility to train and condition in and out of season," she said.

But by not competing in an official district, the football and basketball teams will not be eligible to enter regional and state tournaments. Puryear noted, however, that the teams have not made it that far in at least the past seven years.

Puryear's decision comes about a month after the Virginia High School League denied her request to switch Rappahannock from the Bull Run to the Shenandoah District. She and Rappahannock high school athletic director Bob Czekaj had hoped the move would give the Panthers a competitive foothold, but schools in both districts opposed the proposal and it was shot down.

Czekaj helped Puryear develop the current plan to pull just the football and basketball teams from the Bull Run District and play independently.

"The decision that was made here recently was the right decision," he said.

Czekaj said that Rappahannock has long struggled against Bull Run District teams.

"You can see it in the kids' attitudes and the participation levels," he said. "That's the thing that I'm most concerned with."

Czekaj said that some of the sports programs might have to be cut if participation levels were to drop any further.

"I don't want to see these kids lose the opportunity to play," he said.