There will be no co-op agreement between Kewanee and Wethersfield schools for high school soccer — not this year, at least.
In a special meeting Monday, the Kewanee School Board voted unanimously to decline a request from Wethersfield to co-op soccer this fall.
Earlier this summer Wethersfield Supt. Dr. Andrew Brooks sent a request to Kewanee schools for the soccer cop-op. But the Kewanee board Monday approved a reply that said a co-op wouldn’t comply with Kewanee School District policy.
District policy says “cooperative agreements must provide broad benefits to the District and the community, including increased flexibility, expanded service opportunities, and-or cost reductions that meaningfully support our own students and programs,” according to reply.
The reply adds, “While we acknowledge that the proposal could offer additional depth to our soccer program, the primary and substantial benefit of this arrangement lies with a small number of Wethersfield students, rather than resulting in a shared advantage to both districts.”
“We value our collaborative relationship with Wethersfield and remain open to discussions regarding broader cooperative agreements that more equitably benefit students across both districts,” the reply concludes.
At their regular July meeting last week, the Kewanee board sent Wethersfield a counter proposal to co-op not just soccer but also other sports that Kewanee High School offers but Wethersfield doesn’t: Girls tennis, girls bowling, boys and girls wrestling and competitive dance.
A couple of days after receiving that response, Brooks replied that while he was “excited to move forward” with the soccer co-op, he had not surveyed Wethersfield students to learn how much interest they might have in participating in the other sports the Kewanee board mentioned.
The special meeting was held because if the co-op arrangement had gone forward, an application to the Illinois High School Association for approval of the co-op would have to be submitted by Aug. 1. And approval of the co-op would also be needed from the other schools in Kewanee’s conference.
Board member Diane DeMay, who had voted last week against the board’s response to Brooks, said she objected to the co-op because bringing in students from another district might reduce the opportunities for some Kewanee students to play in games.
Board member Scott Steffen pointed out that the Kewanee and Wethersfield districts have different policies on sports participation. Wethersfield allows students to take part in more than one sport at a time, while KHS students are limited to one sport per season.
Board member Ron Salisbury said he would have liked to have a representative of the Wethersfield district at the meeting to answer questions from Kewanee’s board.
And board member Amy Dev said that while she couldn’t approve the co-op agreement at this time, she would be open to future discussions on co-ops between the two districts.
