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Northeast Iowa Conference extends 5 invitations

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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The invites have been issued. The guest list is a party of five.


MFL MarMac, North Fayette Valley, Oelwein, Osage and Sumner-Fredericksburg received email correspondence Monday from five Northeast Iowa Conference superintendents, with the aim of expansion beginning with the 2023-24 school year.


Mailed hard copies with the invitations are expected later in the week.


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“On behalf of the five ongoing member schools of the oldest athletic conference in Iowa, we would like to extend a formal invitation to become a member of the Northeast Iowa Conference,” the letter reads.


“The intent of our invitation is to find progressive schools that will help maintain the NEIC as a leader in traditional activities and also help establish a vision for what a school conference should look like in the 21st Century.


“The current member schools are looking for schools to join us who want to create a diverse activity environment to provide maximum opportunities for the students in our conference.”


Barb Schwamman, superintendent at Osage, said her school is “looking at all of our options. I have forwarded our letter to all of our coaches.


“We want to do what is best for our students, and for our school. When an opportunity comes up, you should look at it.”


The letter of invitation came three days after NEIC superintendents voted 5-1 to remove Waverly-Shell Rock from the league, the second of two votes necessary for removal.


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The five remaining schools are Charles City, Crestwood, Decorah, New Hampton and Waukon.


A look at the invitees:


MFL MarMac​


LOCATION: The majority of the district lies in Clayton County, with the northern end in Allamakee County. It shares a border with current NEIC school Waukon to the north.


BEDS ENROLLMENT: 187 students in grades 9-11 this school year. The smallest of the five schools receiving an invitation.


CURRENT AFFILIATION: Has been a member of the Upper Iowa Conference since 1968.


North Fayette Valley​


Location: As the name would suggest, the district encompasses most of northern Fayette County, along with some of northwest Clayton County.


BEDS enrollment: 249 students in grades 9-11 this school year.


Current affiliation: The school — West Union (1939-60), North Fayette (1960-2013) and North Fayette Valley (2013-present) — has been a traditional member of the Upper Iowa Conference.


Oelwein​


Location: The district straddles the Buchanan/Fayette county line.


BEDS enrollment: 266 students in grades 9-11 this school year.


Current affiliation: A first-year member of the North Iowa Cedar League, Oelwein has a long history in the NEIC as a charter member in 1920 through the mid-1920s, then remained in the league from 1932 through 2021.


Osage​


Location: Southern Mitchell Country and northern Floyd County. Shares a border to current NEIC member Charles City to the south and is in close proximity to Crestwood and New Hampton.


BEDS enrollment: 226 students in grades 9-11 this school year.


Current affiliation: Top of Iowa Conference, an 18-school league in north-central Iowa. Prior to that, was in the Northeast Iowa Conference (1920-58) and the North Iowa Conference (1958-2015).


Sumner-Fredericksburg​


Location: Southeast Chickasaw County, northeast Bremer County and west-central Fayette County. Shares a border with current NEIC member New Hampton to the north.


BEDS enrollment: 202 students in grades 9-11 this school year.


Current affiliation: North Iowa Cedar League, where it has been since 2014. Had been a member of the Upper Iowa Conference prior to that.

 
Has Waverly been booted out yet?

can the state force a team into a conference? Eagerly has to belong to something don’t they ?

perhaps that new large school conference with Marshalltown, Fort Dodge, and Mason City would take them in?
 
Oelwein invitation makes no sense. They just left mostly because they couldn't compete in most sports.

Osage, NFV, and MFL make more sense.

Being so near the Minnesota border in NE Iowa, it's tough for schools like Decorah, Cresco, and Waukon to find geographical partners.

What's funny is the NEIC voted down Mason City's request to join last year because of size. Now the remaining schools face the same dilemma...except they're on the other side of the argument.

Of the five schools invited, Osage would easily be the one able to compete at the current NEIC level.
 
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Great, more conference realignments.
Rural Iowa towns are losing so much population that this will be an ongoing issue for many. Probably see these "phases" where every ten years you have movement and realignment.

Farms are getting larger with less people per square mile and factory farms where there is no "on property" resident.

These schools that have <75 kids to a grade will continue to fade away and the quality of learning will lessen as they have trouble hiring teachers.

Meanwhile, poor Waverly will no longer be the Big Dog wherever they end up.
 
Being unable to find coaches is going to be a bigger problem. Some schools are really up against it.

not sure what happens if you can’t fill the coaching vacancy.
 
Being unable to find coaches is going to be a bigger problem. Some schools are really up against it.

not sure what happens if you can’t fill the coaching vacancy.
Program shares, but many times those don't work very well and less kids participate.

It's a mess, but is what rural Merica has become.

The socio-economic status creates situations where less kids participate and the schools can't compete... which further erodes participation. That's basically Oelwein's dilemma. Town has no industry and no one is moving into town. Kids hate being on losing teams, so upperclassmen quit and you're left with fresh/soph kids on varsity.

And the cycle continues.
 
Oelwein invitation makes no sense. They just left mostly because they couldn't compete in most sports.

Osage, NFV, and MFL make more sense.

Being so near the Minnesota border in NE Iowa, it's tough for schools like Decorah, Cresco, and Waukon to find geographical partners.

What's funny is the NEIC voted down Mason City's request to join last year because of size. Now the remaining schools face the same dilemma...except they're on the other side of the argument.

Of the five schools invited, Osage would easily be the one able to compete at the current NEIC level.
While this is somewhat interesting, how much will it really matter? Football and basketball is all based on districts at least when the post-season playoffs start, and do schools even have conference tournaments in any sports these days? Track & field, maybe baseball? I honestly don't know. It was a much bigger thing when I was in high school.

And are you an OCHS grad? Seems like you may have mentioned that before here.
 
The below is inaccurate. It was not North Fayette from 1960-2013. It was "North High" and then they merged with Fayette in 1985, thus creating North Fayette. North High consisted of West Union, Hawkeye and Alpha.

Current affiliation: The school — West Union (1939-60), North Fayette (1960-2013) and North Fayette Valley (2013-present) — has been a traditional member of the Upper Iowa Conference.
 
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While this is somewhat interesting, how much will it really matter? Football and basketball is all based on districts at least when the post-season playoffs start, and do schools even have conference tournaments in any sports these days? Track & field, maybe baseball? I honestly don't know. It was a much bigger thing when I was in high school.

And are you an OCHS grad? Seems like you may have mentioned that before here.
We are in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference with 2 divisions. At the high point there were 18-20 schools. Now with mergers, sharing etc there are fewer. However, we have conference tournaments in volleyball, basketball (#1 from each division play, #2 from each division etc.) wrestling, track, golf, not sure about cross country and baseball/softball, but they do play within the conference. Football is the only sport that doesn’t play within the conference.
 
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While this is somewhat interesting, how much will it really matter? Football and basketball is all based on districts at least when the post-season playoffs start, and do schools even have conference tournaments in any sports these days? Track & field, maybe baseball? I honestly don't know. It was a much bigger thing when I was in high school.

And are you an OCHS grad? Seems like you may have mentioned that before here.
My bio... I went to high school in NE Iowa. My daughters participated in athletics against every team mentioned in Ciggy's original article(minus MFL/SF) and I have literally been inside every school listed in the story. And now my grandkids compete against some of the NEIC schools talked about.

I don't mean to sound like a "know it all", but I'm just familiar with the layout and issues in the story.
 
My bio... I went to high school in NE Iowa. My daughters participated in athletics against every team mentioned in Ciggy's original article(minus MFL/SF) and I have literally been inside every school listed in the story. And now my grandkids compete against some of the NEIC schools talked about.

I don't mean to sound like a "know it all", but I'm just familiar with the layout and issues in the story.
But not OCHS I assume.
 
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The article doesn't say why WSR is being kicked out. Anyone know?
I think two reasons. one, they are much bigger than all of the other schools, and B, nobody likes them and they have poor sportsmanship. From what I have read on the situation before.
Twitter rumor was they would go to Mississippi Valley to replace the Waterloo school that is leaving. Don't know if that has any legs or not.
 
I didn’t known Oelwein wasn’t even in the conference anymore. I graduated from W-SR over 10 years ago and they were always a bottom feeder back then.
 
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