Discuss current sports pairing and future possibilities – along with academic sharing
The respective Pairing Committees of the Mountain Lake Public School (MLPS) School Board and Windom Area Public School (WAPS) School Board met at MLPS on Tuesday, November 15, addressing current and possible future sports pairing – as well as areas of potential academic sharing. MLPS Pairing Committee members include MLPS School Board Chair Doug Standerwick, MLPS School Board Vice-Chair Tim Swoboda and MLPS School Board Director Chad Pedersen. Also at the table was MLPS Superintendent Bill Strom. Representing WAPS were WAPS School Board Chair Joan Hunter, WAPS School Board Clerk Barb Jones and WAPS School Board Treasurer Rick Frederickson, along with WAPS Superintendent Wayne Wormstadt and Windom Area Public High School Activities Director Dane Nielsen.
To kick off the meeting, the representatives from each school district reviewed and discussed the current cooperative sports pairing programs – the winter sports of wrestling, gymnastics and boys and girls hockey. Pairing between the two schools began in 1994, with the wrestling team and the gymnastics squad competing under the Windom/Mountain Lake Cobras sports name, and hockey retaining the Windom Eagles mascot. Wrestling practices are held at MLPS, gymnastics workouts at WAPS and hockey practices on the ice at the Windom Arena. Noted were the numbers of participants and the teams’ trials and successes over the years.
Discussion then moved into possible additional areas of sports pairing, as earlier initiated by WAPS. While Wormstadt noted that the WAPS initiative in opening dialogue in expanding sports pairing was centered on addressing athletic programs philosophically and how best to develop athletes and their talents, Pedersen requested more specifics. “Is this discussion sports specific? Girls sports? Boys sports?”
Nielsen did get a little bit sports specific when he listed that WAPS has a bigger problem with the number of participants in girls athletics – particularly golf and softball – while on the boys side, there are holes in football.
In golf, WAPS competes in Class A, and in softball, Class AA. MLPS golf and softball teams both play in Class A.
Conversation then moved from the field, court, mat, ice, diamond, track or golf course – to the classroom. Wormstadt took the lead in this exchange, explaining that WAPS has one ag teacher and one industrial teach teacher and out-of-date equipment needing upgrades, which would be a major investment. Additionally, the district is looking toward CTE (Career Technical Education) expansion. He said that WAPS is interested in having students coming to Mountain Lake Public High School (MLHS) for ag education, “the sooner, the better.” MLPS has three ag educators and has expanded its program.
In turn, he shared that WAPS has openings in its College in the Schools courses that could be filled by MLHS students. For example, a college calculus class with 25 possible slots currently has in it only eight or nine registered students. It is through courses such as this that the WAPS School District offers the bulk of its college credits to its students. College in the Schools offers up to 40 college credits for sophomores-through-seniors, spanning various college courses, including mathematics, economics, speech and psychology.
The focus for MLPS high school juniors and seniors taking college credit courses is, instead, through state-funded PSEO (Post-Secondary Enrollment Options), with classes taken online from area colleges, most notably Minnesota West of Southwest Minnesota State University-Marshall. Juniors may take one PSEO course each college-calendar semester, and seniors can sign up for up to two PSEO classes each semester.
No decisions were made or agreements presented.