Parents assemble on fate of co-op

Parents from the Florence School District assembled Monday night to discuss the future of the Henry/Florence sports co-op.


In preparation for a planned vote on the future of the Henry/Florence sports co-op in November, parents and students alike filled the room at the October meeting of the Florence School Board.

No vote was conducted at the meeting, but interested parties were invited to the meeting to voice their opinion on the matter and ask questions relevant to the future vote.

A total of five students and over a dozen parents spoke their thoughts to the board in an open forum.

The students, who were in favor of staying in the co-op, cited their ability to play sports on a bigger team, the variety of sports they have access to, and the friendships they have fostered with Henry students through sports.

Parents had a more mixed reaction, but the general consensus was that the sports co-op, while not perfect, was ultimately in the best interests of the students.

After public comments were closed and the floor was opened to board discussion, board member Kathy Roe thought that the co-op may be in favor of the students, but there were some benefits to its dissolution such as less time involved for athletes traveling between the two schools and the transportation costs themselves.

Board members Scott Maag and John Kahnke stated that this issue has many sides to it, and many more unidentified ones the board has yet to consider.

Board Member Derek Halaveck said, “There are a lot of what if’s. Are we best off by breaking this up? It’s scary to think of our situation down the road in five years. I don’t know if there’s a right answer of what to do here.”

Another board member, Cory Rislov, said that this topic has been a perpetual problem since they entered into the co-op, with the topic coming up at seemingly every single meeting in that time.

But in the end, all of the board members cited that there were too many questions to answer to make an uninformed decision at the next meeting.

Superintendent Mitch Reed placated parents and board members alike saying that he will create an anonymous online form for the district website so parents can ask questions or voice their opinion on the fate of the co-op.

The form will be available online for parents to fill out by midweek. Reed plans to compile the questions and answer them at a yet-to-be-scheduled informational board meeting before the next regularly scheduled meeting in November.