The New Hampton and Waukon school boards have voted to continue a proposal to remove Waverly-Shell Rock from the Northeast Iowa Conference.
New Hampton introduced the resolution earlier this month during a meeting of the NEIC Executive Board, consisting of superintendents from each of the conference’s six member schools, which also includes Charles City, Decorah and Cresco-Crestwood. The resolution passed 5-to-1 with Waverly-Shell Rock casting the only dissenting vote.
For the move to become official, the resolution had to go back to the school boards to vote on how to have their superintendents vote in a second, separate vote by the executive board. Last week, the Charles City, Decorah and Cresco-Crestwood school boards all voted to have their superintendents vote the same way.
The next meeting of the NEIC executive board is expected to be held later this week. If the resolution to remove Waverly-Shell Rock from the Northeast Iowa Conference passes a second time the Go-Hawks would exit the league after the 2022-23 school year.
New Hampton’s resolution argues that Waverly-Shell Rock has grown so much larger than some schools in the NEIC, now to about three-times the size of New Hampton, that it has created competitive imbalance. The move is also considered a necessity for possible future conference expansion.
