OSMOND – The District 42R Board of Education conducted a special meeting on March 19 to discuss recent cooperative history and to get public input regarding the future of the Osmond basketball program.
Also in attendance were Osmond Superintendent Skip Bremer, Principal Kurt Polt and Athletic Director Brian Guenther. In addition, some 25-30 parents, patrons and a few students of the district came to hear an update and ask questions of the board members.
Bremer began by sharing what has been happening so far with Osmond sports and co-op activity.
In January, the Randolph Public Schools Board of Education voted not to renew the girls’ and boys’ basketball co-op with Osmond, which has been in place for the past two years.
In February, the Wausa Public Schools Board of Education informed the Osmond school board that it is currently not interested in discussing a basketball co-op with Osmond, as it has no need.
Wausa has agreed to co-op in junior high and high school football, junior high and high school wrestling, ag classes and FFA. The Wausa school board has also said it is willing to co-op for junior high basketball.
This month, Bremer has spoken with both the Plainview and Pierce public school superintendents about the possibility of a basketball co-op. Both have had successful years and a co-op would bump them up to a higher class, so it probably is not going to happen, he said. Also, if there would be a possibility of co-oping with Pierce, it would be as Bluejays (Pierce’s mascot).
Bremer stressed that these were just conversations with the Plainview and Pierce superintendents, not formal requests to their boards.
Bremer said there has been no decision made yet on the direction of the Osmond junior high basketball teams, until a decision is made for the high school teams.
As far as high school, there are enough girls to play on their own; however, without enough boys for a team, some towns have dropped off the schedule. Because of that, in order to have a full schedule, Bremer said they may have to “get creative” in order to fill out the schedule.
Polt then addressed the audience and provided roster numbers for both grades 9-12 and grades 7-8, one showing current total enrollment, including St. Mary’s School students, and the other showing projected participation in basketball.
Although the total number of boys in high school during the next four years isn’t bad, at 21, 17, 16 and 16, the participation numbers are very low: 3, 3, 4, and finally, 8, in the 2027-28 year, which would be enough to field a team. The low numbers could change, Polt said, if some students change their minds or someone moves into the district.
He commented that, of all of the boys in high school, they all participate in something, and there are good numbers in wrestling, speech, band, FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) and FFA. The district is just in a cycle where there aren’t a lot of boys interested in team sports, but he added that, what they are in, they are successful.
“This year, we were at least able to play a JV football schedule,” Polt said, “but unless something changes, we won’t have enough next year to play a JV basketball schedule.”
As far as the girls, Polt said, because they lost the Hawks co-op bid, they don’t have the regular schedule, but things are going better than he anticipated. There are three games scheduled in December, six in January and two in February, as well as two games in conference and a game in subdistricts. There are several other towns that Guenther is working with, and Polt listed other options for filling out the girls’ basketball schedule.
Shannon Wiseley asked if the district had thought about looking at Bloomfield for a co-op. Polt explained that Osmond had not spoken with Bloomfield this time around, but had spoken with Bloomfield in the past and its answer had been like other small schools’: it doesn’t have a need, and it’s not wanting to play Class C.
Wiseley asked, “So when the point comes where we can’t get with anybody, what’s that going to do? We just won’t have a basketball team, and those three boys will have to go and find another school? Is that the worst-case scenario?”
Polt said, “Unfortunately, that’s correct. If we don’t find anybody that will accept our boys and let them be a part of their team, those parents and those students will have to make a decision if they will have to go without basketball or if they want to search for another school to attend so they can play basketball.”
The question was raised about how classification works. Polt answered that it is total enrollment numbers for each, girls and boys, for grades 8-11 from the year before. This is sent in to the Nebraska Department of Education and is used to determine classification for the following year. This was the problem with both Bloomfield before and with Wausa now: They want to continue to play Class D and not move up a class.
One person asked about continuity with students co-oping with one town one year and then another town another year, “what would be best for our younger kids coming up and establishing something at a younger age? Is it just going to be a ‘who needs what when,’ and we’re just going to shuffle” from one town to another. They asked what happens in more than just four years.
Bremer responded that the board has discussed this, because there is the “urgent” is happening right now, and then there is the long-term need.
The board had co-ops they thought were going to be solid, and it is just not happening, he said.
“Tonight, we’re just looking for more direction, and yes, those conversations have occurred because we don’t want to be jumping all over the place to figure out what’s the best fit for the students of Osmond – for academics, for sports, for the non-sport extracurriculars,” Bremer said.
With Wausa, he said, they are looking to the future and what else they can do, he continued.
“What we have is one thing, but we also have to have what they want,” Bremer said.
Wausa is going to match Osmond’s bell schedule so they can send their students for FFA. But in looking to the future, when Osmond’s industrial technology and shop teacher retires, Wausa has a big facility, so the board had asked the question of, “What can we do to have our students go up there? Should we be looking at some kind of hybrid block schedule?”
In speaking of other ways the students may share classes, he said the board is hoping it will work out, but Osmond is only one half of it.
The board has also discussed other towns, and where else they can look to have the best partnership, to have the Osmond kids’ needs met.
Bremer spoke of the academics at Osmond, at which the students are excelling. He noted Osmond’s teachers and staff are all great at what they do. “The academics are so strong here,” he said. “You look at all the other programs – the kids are going to state speech again. There’s a lot of great things going on. This is frustrating, though.”
Another audience member commented younger students like to have something to look up to, and charging them to attend games, it was expensive to bring the whole family to a game.
To get kids interested in sports, “Could we let the kids get in for free and create that excitement for watching the high school kids play?” She also suggested getting younger kids in to learn the basics.
Osmond Board President Mark Moes agreed it was a good suggestion and said the board would listen to any suggestions people have. He said it couldn’t be answered that night, but the board would give it some thought.
As far as working with younger kids, the problem was getting someone to take charge, he said. A lot of people think they’re not qualified, but they are, he added.
Turning back to junior high sports, Polt said Wausa would like to co-op in junior high basketball, and possibly junior high track. The reason the Osmond school board hasn’t said ‘yes’ yet to junior high basketball is because they are not sure of the direction of the high school teams.
The junior high should follow the high school teams, but is that a reality? He didn’t know, but said the board is hoping that at some point Wausa will be open to the discussion of co-oping high school basketball.
If that doesn’t happen, he said, do they pursue a co-op with Pierce and then begin a junior high program with them as well, to have continuity?
There is a meeting scheduled with Wausa for April 10 to talk about the long-term focus.
Board member Tyler Gansebom said he wanted people to know they have gotten the furthest with Wausa concerning a long-term relationship.
The question was raised, “At what point do we get selfish?” Wausa wants to join Osmond’s FFA, but Osmond has enough FFA members, so why is Osmond going to share if Wausa doesn’t want to co-op basketball.
An audience member commented that it feels like Osmond is on the defensive, being dragged here and there to different towns, and asked why they aren’t on the offensive in getting what they need. She suggested Osmond needs to be more protective of what it has and say, “If you don’t want to co-op with this, then we shouldn’t have to share with that.”
Bremer thanked her for her comments and said it would be nice if Osmond could play hardball, but it doesn’t have much to play with. “Sharing FFA got us football,” he said. He added that he feels her frustration as well.
Another question was, what is the downside to joining with Pierce, since they seemed to be the only one with the potential to be a long-term co-op.
Bremer answered that distance would be a problem; there would be more competition, so not everyone would be able to participate.
Also, as someone else commented, it would not be Osmond anymore; the team would be Pierce, but that would be the case with any other merger, they added.
Wiseley commented, “At the end of the day, we can come up with everything that can go wrong, but what we need to focus on is we need to come up with a solution. What can we do to help this school, and our kids, succeed?”
Gansebom commented, “We are one ‘yes’ from Wausa from being a very good long-term partnership with Wausa. And we might not be Tigers, but we might not be Vikings either, if we’re sharing.”
Candice Gansebom commented, “If you ask any of the kids, they just want to play. I think the parents get too emotional about it. We need to think about what is best for the kids.”
Bremer said the board and administration will send out a questionnaire, sharing information that was asked and shared, and posing some questions to the district’s patrons.
Looking ahead, he said the football season is going to have to be successful – not just in wins and losses, but in the kids getting along. And in FFA as well, he said, and if it is successful, then “this is going well, so let’s keep going, and ask for that commitment, and let’s fight for our kids.”
Bremer said the board would have to make a decision at its April 8 meeting, which starts at 8 p.m. Polt reported that the school would have to report a co-op for winter sports by Oct. 1, but Bremer added that the school would want to make a decision before that, to give parents and students time to make their decisions.
At the end of the meeting, Moes thanked the audience for attending and encouraged everyone to fill out the survey that the board will be sending out.
