Western Christian Excessive Faculty has as soon as once more submitted a proper written request to the management of the Siouxland Convention for membership.
That is the third yr in a row that Western Christian has utilized to hitch the league.
Within the late Nineteen Seventies, Western Christian was one of many founding members of the Sioux Delta Convention, which additionally included Le Mars and all Sioux Metropolis faculties. Western Christian joined the Lakes Convention in 1997.
The college introduced it was leaving the Lakes Convention in January 2021 and has been impartial since its departure.
Western Christian Chief Administrator Brian Verwolf he mentioned there could have been different requests to hitch Siouxland “a number of years in the past” however there isn’t a formal file of this. He mentioned there have been “a number of casual discussions with numerous faculty leaders” earlier than Western Christian submitted its utility to hitch three years in the past.
She utilized for membership in Siouxland in March 2021. The convention rejected the request in Could of the identical yr. Western Christian appealed to the Iowa Division of Training. The matter went to mediation, with Western Christians claiming she had been unfairly excluded from the convention. This attraction was dismissed in September 2021.
The difficulty got here up once more final yr when George-Little Rock determined to use for membership within the Struggle Eagle Convention, leaving Siouxland with a possible opening. One argument for rejecting Western Christian's utility in 2021 was Siouxland's want to stay within the 10-team convention.
Unity Christian, which has already bid for membership in Siouxland 4 instances, and Western Christian every filed for the convention. The league determined to simply accept Unity Christian and once more denied Western Christian based mostly not less than partly on its want to remain at 10 groups.
No departures or faculty consolidations are anticipated in Siouxland for the 2024-25 faculty yr, however Western Christian reapplied anyway.
“General, we’re grateful for the time and a spotlight Siouxland Convention leaders have dedicated to creating a powerful convention that goes past athletics,” Verwolf mentioned. “Having gotten to know many district leaders over time, we see how our communities have been blessed by their sturdy management.”
He mentioned he understands that not everybody in each faculty district might be excited in regards to the thought.
“We perceive that there are blended emotions about this matter. Some could have been created many years in the past. Our present management crew is conscious of previous tensions in athletics and different areas,” Verwolf mentioned. “We have now communicated that we might very a lot welcome the chance to have a spherical desk dialogue with native faculty leaders to debate concepts collectively. We'll see what occurs and keep hopeful.”
Western Christian states' main purpose for making use of to hitch Siouxland is to “improve the coed expertise the place college students can extra totally have interaction with neighboring neighborhood faculties. Different causes embrace geographic proximity, consistency in athletic scheduling, similarities at school dimension and educational programming, and dealing collectively on potential new partnerships.
Western Christian's letter outlines potential partnerships in non-athletic actions, the truth that Western Christian fields lower-level groups in all highschool sports activities, and Wolfpack followers journey nicely and would usher in vital income as a visiting crew. He additionally cited geographic proximity, enrollment projections that put Western Christian at lower than the six Siouxland faculties, pure rivalry and related program choices to present league faculties.
“Finally, our predominant focus is to proceed to deal with what’s finest for college students and communities all through Siouxland,” Verwolf mentioned. “Our want is to guide progress, construct neighborhood and supply nice alternatives for each pupil concerned in co-curricular actions.”
He harassed the significance of native faculties supporting one another.
“We’re blessed to have sturdy faculties in Northwest Iowa. Once we select to assist and perceive one another, everybody wins,” mentioned Verwolf. “We see sturdy values and concepts coming from our neighboring faculty districts, and when it is smart to attach, we need to discover each risk. Western's want is to construct functionally collaborative relationships with surrounding neighborhood faculties in ways in which contribute to constructive progress and improvement all through Siouxland.
