Community urged to provide feedback on potential sports co-op
RANDOLPH — Randolph Public Schools is looking for community feedback regarding a potential co-op with Osmond for some sports.
Osmond school officials approached Randolph about a potential co-op last fall and the two boards and administrators have been discussing it ever since. The co-op being considered applies to Junior High football and basketball, and high school basketball. If approved, the co-op would be in place for a minimum of two years.
“They’ve seen the writing on the wall with their boys program. They’re going to have possibly seven kids out for basketball and that’s to start with. . . . They’re looking at this as wow, we need to do something,” Athletic Director Ted Stubbs said.
Nearly 50 students have replied to a survey on the topic as well as some parents, High School Principal Brandi Bartels said at the Randolph Public School Board meeting last week. The survey can be found on the Randolph Public Schools’ website under the Activities tab.
“We hope to take the next couple months and look at as many facets as we can. We’re here to listen,” said Supt. Jeff Hoesing.
Along with the online survey, Hoesing encourages the public to attend upcoming board meetings or talk individually with board members or school administrators.
The Junior High co-op would not require any changes to mascot or team colors. Teams would rotate uniforms wearing one school uniform for one game and the other school uniform for the next.
There has been some discussion about Osmond traveling to Randolph for practices due to an earlier school dismissal time, Stubbs said.
A new mascot and team colors would be negotiated between the two towns for high school basketball. Although, school administrators don’t foresee any changes being made to current facilities as far as colors.
The high school basketball co-op would move Randolph from Class D2 up to C2 but Stubbs said he didn’t foresee ever going above the C2 level.
This would not affect regular season schedules because Randolph already plays several C2 teams but post-season play would be affected, Stubbs said.
“I’m sure we would go west somewhat but as far as putting a schedule together, I don’t think it would be a bad deal,” he said.
Several people from the public attended to ask questions about the co-op and some offered comments of support or concern.
Teresa Schnoor said the co-op may be necessary for program development.
“I think in order to build a program, you’ve got to have kids,” she said. “In the good old days, we used to have a lot of kids. We had the freshman program and they just developed naturally. Right now, we’re sticking kids into spots they’re not really ready for. They maybe haven’t ever really played before and now all of a sudden they’re full-court varsity.”
Crystal Junck raised concerns about players going from rivals to teammates.
“I know there’s some history between the two schools and two towns and I’m not going to say that’s going to be completely gone,” Stubbs said. “You want to be halfway competitive and the kids to have a good experience.”
Denton Kuhl said players will take the cue from leadership.
“If the coaches and teachers don’t want it to work then it won’t,” he said.
Board member Lisa Linville said coops have worked in Randolph’s favor in the past, leading to an increase of sports offerings over the last decade when enrollment has declined.
“You have to think creatively if you want to continue these programs,” Linville said.
Stubbs stressed that the potential sports co-op with Osmond is in the discovery phase with much more discussion to take place before a final decision will need to be made this spring.
“We’ve been talking about this for 15, 20, 25 years,” he said. “It’s just always been one of those things that has been talk because neither one of our schools ever really needed it. But we might be getting to the point where we can both use it and it would benefit in a way both of our schools.”
