WAUSA – Wausa Public Schools has decided to continue partnering with Osmond Community Schools.
On July 8, Wausa’s board of education approved cooperative agreements with Osmond for junior high boys and girls basketball for the 2024-25 academic year.
“It’s a one-year deal,” Wausa Superintendent Brad Hoesing said. “It’ll have to be either renewed or not renewed in a year.”
The junior high basketball teams will play under the Wausa name and colors and practice in Wausa.
Hoesing noted Osmond requested to keep its annual “O” Club junior high basketball tournament, which Wausa was fine with because it was scheduled to play in the contest anyway.
“They were afraid they were going to lose their tournament,” Hoesing said.
The decisions on the cooperative agreements were not made quickly, as Wausa school board members had a lengthly discussion before voting on the two agenda items that had been tabled from their previous regular meeting.
Wausa and Osmond school board members met during a joint special meeting on July 2 at Wausa.
“I hope the meeting with Osmond was insightful,” Board President Mike Kumm said. “We had an opportunity to sit down and talk with them face to face.”
Board member Pepper West asked how many players Osmond would have for junior high basketball in 2024-25 and was told likely three boys and six-seven girls.
Combined with Wausa students interested in junior high basketball for the upcoming academic year, there likely would be 14 total boys and 15-16 total girls.
“If we had that number of girls, would we ask to co-op?” West said, referring to Osmond’s six-seven girls interested in junior high basketball.
Board member Terry Nelson noted six-seven players cannot practice five-on-five basketball.
“How you get better is in practice,” Nelson said. West agreed, but countered with adding more players means some of them likely would not get to play in games as much in junior high basketball.
Board Vice President Katie Clausen later said ill-timed injuries and illnesses to players would greatly impact a basketball team with only six-seven members, possibly causing them not to have enough healthy bodies to play and having to forfeit games.
“Nobody gets to play at all,” Clausen said. Nelson noted Wausa and Osmond school board members have had many discussions about possible cooperative agreements.
“We’ve taken steps that are bigger than this,” Nelson said of junior high basketball. “If we say no now, what’s that going to look like for our board? You just don’t do that to another board that you’ve been sitting here (with) and you don’t say no to something like junior high. You’re going to get the reputation in towns around us that ‘Hey, Wausa doesn’t really work well.’
“The other thing is, to be really honest, if we say no to this, then Osmond says, ‘You know what, we have serious problems with Wausa,’ and then they start looking around, looking around, looking around,” he said. “Are we going to jeopardize the long-term future goals and planning over junior high basketball?”
Nelson challenged the other Wausa school board members that if they vote no to the junior high basketball cooperative agreements, then they would need to be ready to tell the press the reasons why.
“If you say no and Osmond goes somewhere else, now all of a sudden why are we paying money for a school and we’re doing things that aren’t pulling people into Wausa to continue to keep the school open?” Nelson said. “I’m sorry that maybe some kids might not get to play as much in junior high, but you’ve got to look at the big picture.”
Nelson asked whether it is worth it to say no to junior high basketball, which could possibly jeopardize Wausa’s relationship with Osmond, adding the two school districts must continue to work together long into the future.
“If I was on the other side of the fence and Osmond said no, I would be questioning why I’m working with them,” Nelson said. “If you’re going to say no, you need to be able to say why, because the big picture here is, we’ve got to maintain the school and draw people in.”
Kumm asked the other Wausa school board members whether they felt confident that Osmond would aid Wausa whenever it would need help.
“That’s a big question,” Kumm said. “That’s one thing they asked us rather pointedly and we kind of asked them pointedly, too, ‘Are you going to be there when the roles potentially get reversed?’
“We know right now we’re sustainable in our extracurricular activities,” he said. “We’re obviously looking down the road six to eight years, saying, obviously we’re going to be a lot closer to the edge (of needing help).”
Kumm noted approving cooperative agreements like the ones for junior high basketball would help ensure Wausa has a partner in Osmond whenever the former would need assistance.
“Something that would be in the interest of any community is to know that in the event you needed somebody, we know who to call first,” Kumm said.
Osmond school officials previously submitted a formal request to Wausa to form a one-year cooperative agreement between the districts for junior high boys and girls basketball for 2024-25.
This request was made by Osmond due to the fact that school district’s junior high basketball teams will not have adequate numbers to allow Osmond to have junior high squads that can play competitive games or consistently improve skills in practice.
Wausa and Osmond already are partnering on wrestling, football and FFA/agriculture starting in 2024-25 for four years.
“This is a one-year contract for junior high (basketball),” board member Derek Cunningham said. “We know that they’re looking at other varsity sports just purely out of necessity. Their timeline is much more urgent than ours is. I know that’s not the discussion item, but the progression is that direction, so what is that timeline and what are the negotiable items in that process?”
Kumm agreed, noting the junior high basketball cooperative agreements are part of a larger conversation between Wausa and Osmond.
“This is a component of it and part of that bigger discussion, but as far as issues like high school basketball, we’ve been very clear that’s not on the agenda for this fall,” Kumm said.
Wausa and Osmond school board members discussed a feasibility study during their recent joint special meeting, with each board likely voting in August on whether to move forward with a feasibility study regarding the districts working together long into the future.
“The feasibility study is going to force a conversation into some serious, longterm thoughts,” Kumm said. “We’ll know a lot more next year following the feasibility study when we have a chance for our committees to meet and full boards to meet and say, ‘All right, does your vision match with ours?’ If they don’t sync up, then you have to kind of question whether or not we continue to make other short-term arrangements.”
Nelson noted if Wausa school board members say no to junior high basketball with Osmond, he guessed Osmond would reject a feasibility study with Wausa.
“We’re going to be a consolidated school (in the future),” Nelson said, adding he does not know when that would happen, but he emphasized it is going to happen to Wausa someday. “That’s the reality. You’ve got to set yourself up to be in at least a place where you can be part of negotiations, rather than just begging.”
The Wausa school board’s semi-annual retreat is scheduled for 8 p.m. July 22 and next regular meeting, during which the feasibility study with Osmond likely will be discussed and voted upon, is set for 8 p.m. Aug. 12.
