March meeting may decide consolidation sentiment
A cooperative agreement that would allow Healy High School students to participate in sports with Scott Community High School didn’t win strong support from members of the USD 466 (Scott County) board of education when offered for discussion at Monday’s meeting.
A face-to-face meeting has taken place between administration and representatives of the two school districts about what, if any, agreement would be possible. Healy has also sent letters to the Wheatland and Dighton school districts regarding the prospect of a cooperative agreement.
Co-op arrangements have become common between a number of school districts. Healy had been involved in a football co-op agreement with Western Plains for the past two years, but that was not renewed for 2010-11. A similar agreement had existed for the past six years between Dighton and Ness City before being dissolved at the end of this football season.
However, the USD 466 representatives laid some ground rules if such an arrangement were to be reached with Healy. No games or practices would be held at Healy and the resulting team mascot would remain the Beavers with the same school colors.
While Supt. Don Wells emphasized the Scott County district wants to be “good neighbors and help when possible, we don’t want a cost associated with this.”
“The bigger item we should be talking about is consolidation, not just a cooperative agreement,” he told the board.
However, Healy Supt. John LaFave emphasized current discussions do not include consolidation.
“I don’t know where the (Healy) community is on consolidation,” says LaFave. “Cooperation is an easier issue to talk about. Consolidation is an emotional issue.”
LaFave and his board of education may get a better feel for the community’s feelings on cooperative agreements and consolidation during a public meeting to be held on March 8 at the school. At the present time, he says the board isn’t being pressured into a decision by state budget cuts.
Prior to the start of this school year, he questioned whether the district would have the funding to continue beyond 2009-10, but a bump in enrollment numbers provided some financial relief.
“We have the money at this point, but it continues to depend on what the state does,” he says.
Impact on Football
There are a number of issues that would have to be addressed in any cooperative agreement. At the top of that list would be cost.
There were unanswered questions regarding transportation of Healy students to Scott City, such as who would absorb that cost and their ability to arrive at practices on time.
It wasn’t spelled out how extensive the agreement would be - whether it would affect just football or if all sports would be considered.
“One reason they are looking at Scott City is because they realize we have an excellent activity program and they want to be part of that,” noted Wells.
However, it would be impractical, because of class scheduling and transportation, for Healy students to participate in band, FFA or other activities through a cooperative agreement.
Another issue is how the cooperative agreement would affect the SCHS classification for sports. Since all schools will begin the two-year cycle for football classifications in 2010, SCHS is locked into Class 3A through the end of the 2011 season.
SCHS is already one of the largest schools in Class 3A. A cooperative agreement with Healy would be just enough to push the school into Class 4A.
The Kansas State High School Activities Association has determined that if the two districts were to enter into a cooperative agreement, SCHS could remain Class 3A in football for the next two years, but Healy players could only participate on the team for the first six games - prior to the district playoffs.
If the two schools were to consolidate - which Wells said wouldn’t happen for at least another year - Healy students could participate in football throughout the season. In essence, SCHS would gain a “grace period” of one year until classifications are determined again and football districts are reassigned prior to the 2012 season.
Classification for all other sports and activities are determined annually, based on enrollment as of Sept. 20. Since SCHS is already Class 4A in all other activities, the district would not be affected by either a cooperative agreement or consolidation.
Healy currently has 44 students enrolled in grades 9-12, of which several are foreign exchange students.
Obviously, emotions on the part of Healy parents and students are mixed regarding the prospect of consolidation.
“Of the people we’ve been visiting with, those who have a junior or senior in high school are saying, ‘If we can just hang on for one or two more years until my son or daughter graduates,’” says USD 466 board President Chris Weathers.
“But that’s always going to be the situation. Those who have a student that close to graduating are always going to want to keep the school open just a little longer. The parents who have kids in junior high or younger see the long-term picture.”
Any cooperative agreement doesn’t have to be finalized until June 1. The USD 466 board has agreed to keep discussion open between the two districts.
“Scott City has been very open to us and quite receptive,” adds LaFave. “That definitely weighs into our decision. The board appreciated the openness and frankness we received.”