(Red Oak) — It was the patrons of the Red Oak School District’s turn to learn more about a potential athletic conference switch.
At a special community forum Sunday evening at the Red Oak Junior-Senior High auditorium, district officials provided information and fielded questions about the possibility of switching from the Hawkeye 10 to the Western Iowa Conference. Red Oak and Shenandoah were among those invited to the WIC earlier this year, and the only two that had expressed interest before August 1st. During the roughly hour-long meeting, one of the questions addressed by Red Oak Junior-Senior High Principal Nate Perrien was “why make the change.” Citing a competitive “imbalance” in the Hawkeye 10 and declining enrollment trends, one statistic Perrien pointed to is the district’s current 9-11th grade adjusted enrollment figure, which factors in free and reduced lunch, of 180–a figure he says is more in line with WIC districts.
“That puts our enrollment kind of right in that wheelhouse of the average of (WIC school) numbers as well and we did include their free and reduced enrollment adjustments as well (in the chart) when you look at the other schools in the WIC,” said Perrien. “But when you look at that free and reduced enrollment factor on the Hawkeye 10 side, that’s where you start to see some major differences.”
A survey in the district also indicated that over 70% of student respondents and coaches favored a switch to the WIC. Red Oak School Superintendent Ron Lorenz says in addition to student athletics, the WIC also offers an “academic bowl” and show choir competitions. But, the superintendent notes that the WIC does not offer conference tournaments for bowling and tennis.
“I don’t think that’s a big obstacle, at least for our coaches, because in talking to them, what they talk about is offering some kind of alternative–something that we would host locally,” said Lorenz. “Shenandoah is in the same boat that we are as those are two sports that they’re competitive in and they want to make sure that that thrives. So we’ve already had conversations about offering an alternate tennis tournament, offering bowling tournaments, and customizing those as we want to.”
Besides seeking out more schools of similar size, one question posed to school officials was the efforts being made to improve athletic programs, particularly in youth sports. Red Oak School Activities Director Mark Erickson says the school’s coaches are consistently working with groups and organizations to promote youth athletics and remove any cost barriers.
“All of our head coaches do a good job of communicating with junior high coaches and the youth level of what they want to be taught at those specific levels,” said Erickson. “I think we’ve worked as a high school and junior high with programs and organizations like the YMCA and JVAA and other youth organizations to do our best to make it free or almost free and take care of any transportation needs that kids might have to try to get kids more involved.”
The board also heard from a handful of district patrons in favor of the change, including Red Oak Resident Mick Fisher. He says the move to the WIC is a “generational opportunity” to increase competitiveness and subsequently grow participation in the various sports programs.
“This is really about kids and it’s not about us adults–it’s about competitiveness, it’s about participation, and it’s about a level playing field,” said Fisher. “It’s about creating an environment that our people can be successful in. Right now, we have an environment that our kids really can’t be successful in, in a lot of cases.”
Lorenz says both Red Oak and Shenandoah have already cleared the first hurdle in the process of joining the WIC, with five of the member school boards voting to accept the two schools into the conference.
“The bylaws in (the WIC) require a 60% vote of all the member schools to approve any additions and that means we needed to get five votes of seven to be approved–that has already happened,” said Lorenz. “Five districts have already met and their boards have already voted to approve both Red Oak and Shenandoah entering the WIC. The remaining two districts are scheduled to meet this week.”
Lorenz says the Red Oak School Board plans to consider a formal vote on the move on Wednesday. While the move could occur sooner, Lorenz says the board’s action would be to move to the WIC no later than the 2027-28 school year. The Shenandoah School Board unanimously approved accepting the invitation to the WIC last month. Another caveat is that the state must approve any conference change. Approved by the Iowa Legislature and signed by Governor Kim Reynolds, House File 783 establishes a conference realignment committee comprised of nine school superintendents and nine activities directors from across Iowa. While saying he has little concern about the state rejecting the move, Lorenz says the committee has yet to receive any official guidance from the state’s department of education.
