WAKEFIELD – A second Community Meeting was held Thursday evening pertaining to Wakefield Community School and Allen Consolidated Schools coming together to co-op in sports.
Discussion has been going on since March of 2017 when Allen approached Wakefield with a NSAA cooperative agreement. The two schools have already been in co-op for junior high sports, high school wrestling and FFA.
From junior high football, volleyball, wrestling as well as basketball to high school volleyball, girls basketball, wrestling and golf would be among those in the co-op.
Superintendent of Wakefield Community School, Mark Bejot updated the public through a slideshow as everyone also had a handout. He said it was a positive meeting.
“I think there’s some concerns, obviously about the numbers of kids,” said Mr. Bejot. “But, I think we also answered what we’re intending to do to help with that. Get some C-team games and things like that for the kids to play. So, I believe it’s very workable.”
The Wakefield Board of Education presented information and answered questions from the main gym via notecard. Three members from the Wakefield School Board and three members from the Allen School Board have hosted several meetings finalizing some information.
The team name will change to “Wakefield-Allen” with gold being added to the jersey’s. Both schools will be splitting the costs for the uniforms as Allen will pay for shorts to have ‘WA’ on them while Wakefield will be buying shorts like they normally have in the past.
Competitiveness was brought up during the meeting when being presented and questions were answered. Increased numbers mean that kids will have to be more competitive if they want those positions, according to Mr. Bejot.
“You think about the life lessons that we’re teaching,” Mr. Bejot added. “And that is that, you know, in America you have to compete for work and other areas in life. Don’t be afraid of competitivenessif you really want that position.”
The NSAA co-op is a two-year cycle and football is already set into place, but down the road boys sports could be a part of the cooperative agreement. The reason why track & field will not be among the co-op is because it is more of an individualized sport.
Wakefield will play most of their games in Wakefield, with some games being held in Allen. The schedule won’t change much but moving to C1 initially in volleyball and girls basketball, Wakefield will be able to schedule more area C1 games.
School Board members will also look into adding more female sports from softball, cross country and golf down the road.
Allen’s School Board will vote on Tuesday, April 8 while the Wakefield School Board will take formal action on the cooperative on Tuesday, May 15 at 7 p.m.
“(I) look forward to continuing to work with Allen,” Mr. Bejot mentioned. “Again, even more than just athletics, this is the place where we’re starting. But, with academics and other areas that we can work together and make it better for all of our kids.”
This agreement, if approved will go into effect for the upcoming 2018-19 academic year.
