TRAPPERS CO-OP EXPANSION PROPOSAL PASSES MENNO, FAILS SCOTLAND
A proposal that would have expanded an athletic partnership between Menno and Scotland to include boys and girls basketball, track and field and wrestling gained approval from the Menno Board of Education on a 3-2 vote, but the Scotland School Board failed to pass it 3-4. Both boards were in regular session Monday night, Feb. 13.
The two school districts currently play as the Jim River Trappers in football, have a golf partnership, will partner in softball this spring, and play club baseball together.
“It’s a little disappointing, but at the same time, if you look at the total vote — six for and six against — the boards did a good job representing their voters,” said Kory Foss, who is in his first year as superintendent at Menno and third year as an administrator. “People were pretty evenly split on this, and the board members all did their due diligence.
“We’re going to move forward in a positive way and be a good example and good role models to our students.”
Menno school board members Barry Schmidt, Jon Schempp and Brent Rames voted in favor of the proposal while Tim Freier and Justin Plooster voted against it.
Scotland school board members voting in favor of the expanded co-op were Sarah Schaeffer, Lee Sayler and Damon Mogck. Those voting against it were Brandon Fischer, Carrissa Pietz, Chad Odens and Michelle Hlavac.
The proposal, a draft of which school boards had earlier approved, was presented by Menno school officials at a public meeting on Jan. 25 and cited low numbers at Menno as one of the driving factors. The expanded cooperative would have meant a jump from Class B to Class A in basketball and track — a reality met with resistance from the majority of those who spoke at the public meeting late last month.
Like Foss, Scotland Superintendent Fallon Woods applauded both school boards for the work they put in.
“Both boards handled this very maturely,” said Woods, who is in her second year as the superintendent at Scotland and served as the district’s business manager before that. “This was nothing personal; ultimately the board made the decision they felt was in the best interest of the students.”
Foss said school leadership knew the vote could go either way and was always prepared to respond in a positive manner regardless of the outcome.
“I’m not upset,” he said. “We’ll do whatever we need to do to make the best of it. We have no hard feelings and want to maintain our positive working relationship with Scotland moving forward.”
