ELY – In a unanimous vote on Monday night the ISD 696 school board approved pursuing a cooperative agreement with Northeast Range for girls’ basketball for the upcoming season.
The discussion preceding the vote began with Principal Anne Oelke asking how many girls might be coming over from Northeast Range.
Athletic Director Tom Coombe said, “They told us ten. I don’t know if it will end up being that many, but that was the first number they gave me. That’s how many they had when they made the decision to not field a team.”
Oelke asked if the transportation piece would look similar to other arrangements already in place, and Coombe confirmed this.
“They’re responsible for transportation, he said.
Board member Tom Omerza commented on the arrangement.
“I think it’s a good thing,” he said. “I think they’ve given us the opportunity with the swim team over the many years that’s been to have girls participate in swimming.”
Omerza pointed out that golf, hockey and football are all already combined.
“For us to say ‘no’ seems to be not good,” he said.
Omerza emphasized that the coaches and administration need to address the effects of combining with the players.
“They (the players) may not understand the way we understand,” he said.
Omerza said that he will work with the principal, the athletic director, and the head coach to make combining work well for both the existing team and the players that are coming over from NER.
Chairman Ray Marsnik asked how the current numbers look. Coombe responded.
“Decent. Girls’ (basketball) has lagged behind boys’ as far as total participation for a number of years,” Coombe said. “There’s a good core group in the C-squad - the sixth, seventh and eighth grade coming up – but having said that, it’s not like it was 20 or 30 years ago where you have eight seniors and six juniors. We’re a small school even with Northeast Range being added to our program.”
Coombe mentioned that his initial hesitation with the arrangement was whether Ely would remain a Class A School.
“We’ve gotten that confirmation from the high school league – we will, even with Northeast Range’s enrollment added to ours, so in essence it’s still two really small schools getting together for girls’ basketball. Any numbers would help,” he said.
Omerza said numbers look good for the A-squad and the B-squad, but junior high (aka C-squad), “is sort of questionable as far as numbers, so I’m hoping they have some seventh and eighth-graders who want to come over.”
“I echo Tom’s concern with numbers overall with a lot of the sports,” he continued. “We’ve got a lot of sports and not a lot of kids to stock them all. Our elementary basketball is concerning. We’ve gone from having 80 kids running around just a few years ago to considerably fewer. You wonder what we may have to do in the future to keep these sports going.”
Combe assured the board, “We’re still in a really good spot compared to some of the other schools.” He cited several areas schools who have recently cancelled girls’ and/or boys’ basketball seasons. “It really creates some scheduling difficulties. We are not in that position. We’re still in pretty good shape in comparison to some of the other small schools.”
Marsnik added, “I think this is the thing to do. The big winners will be the Babbitt girls who have the opportunity to continue their basketball careers, and that’s what we’re here for. We’re here for the kids.”
Board member Chad Davis asked, “Up till this point it seems like we’ve been going sport-by-sport on a case-by-case basis. At some point in time does the conversation warrant just combining? It seems like we’re almost there.”
Coombe said that in his experience combining gradually as needed works better than a “top-down edict.” He cited the football program not getting as many students from Babbitt as were hoped as an example.
“There is some resistance to coming to a different school,” he said. “I think when it happens naturally when one school or the other just doesn’t have the ability to continue its program, it is a little bit easier sell.”
In other business the board:
• Heard a report from Student Council President Madison Rohr on how Homecoming turned out, as well as what events Student Council is planning next.
• Approved the Senior Class trip to Washington D.C. scheduled for March 22-27.
• Accepted the resignation of cafeteria aide Jane Hall.
• Approved Cathy Braun for a temporary part-time Social Studies teacher position for current school year.
• Received an update from Kraus-Anderson Project Manager Todd Erickson on the 21st Century Facilities Project budget and progress.
• Discussed continued safety concerns regarding the most recent school shooting in St. Louis, Mo. Principal Oelke shared that Ely police have been included in lockdown drills and Principal Jeff Carey said students continue to be educated on why using only the safe and secure entrance is necessary and required.
• Learned that locker rooms may be finished by mid-November in time for upcoming basketball seasons.
The next regular meeting of the Ely School Board will be Monday, Nov. 14 at 6 p.m.