WAUSA – The Wausa Public Schools Board of Education will have plenty to talk about at its next regular meeting on the district’s cooperative agreement and partnerships with Osmond Community Schools.
Wausa school board members are scheduled to meet at 8 p.m. May 13. Discussion likely will include what was talked about at the joint committee meeting Wausa and Osmond held on April 10.
During the joint committee meeting, according to meeting minutes from Wausa, administration from both school districts presented a report on an update of current partnerships.
For football, the coaches would be Adrian Alonzo, head coach; Brad Wright, defensive coordinator; and Wyatt Schuetler and Tim Schindler, assistants. At the time, Wausa was still looking for one more coach to help.
As for weights, Wausa and Osmond kids would lift from 6-7:15 a.m. four days a week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Wright had talked to Osmond kids about lifting all days in Wausa and they wanted to do that. Lifting weights would start the first Monday in June.
For FFA, the Wausa schedule is set, with its Intro to Ag students taking the class during first period starting the 2024-25 academic year. They will be transported to Osmond when needed. Wausa should have 11 kids for this course.
The classes of animal science, plant science and agribusiness will be offered online primarily.
Wausa has been approved to show livestock at the Knox County Fair in Bloomfield for the year of 2024-25.
Wausa will follow Osmond’s bell schedule for the 2024-25 academic year, coming to school at 8:05 a.m. and dismissing at 3:47 p.m., with a 2 p.m. dismissal for students every Friday.
Both school districts agreed that the FFA financial contract looks sound; both school districts will bring it to their boards in May for action item approval.
For wrestling, Wausa has no definite “yes” from any boys, but had two boys express interest when asked mid-March. Three girls expressed interest and one girl said she would be a yes for sure.
At the time, Wausa estimated it would only have one seventh-grade boy for next year, and no eighth-grade boys. Interest in the youth wrestling seems to be higher.
As for brainstorming for the future, as far as long-term planning, both school districts agreed that in order for the co-op to succeed in the long term, a common vision is necessary and Wausa and Osmond each need to know what their full board’s opinion on this is.
The board presidents planned to meet with the administration of both districts to come up with a set of questions to pose to both boards in order to see what their long-term vision is on what a long-term partnership may look like.
In the short term, the Wausa and Osmond committees discussed the potential for a co-op in other junior high sports.
Both agreed that if a common vision for long-term partnerships are reached by both school districts, a potential timeline needs to be set, in order to keep the public informed.
Wausa needs to discuss this with their full board, as well as the parents in the junior high.
In addition, both school districts would like to come up with a common plan for shared staff compensation and would like to meet to come up with proposals for potential coaching compensation.
Both committees discussed potential legislative items that could impact student learning at both Wausa and Osmond, as well as maintaining and growing quality staff at both school districts.
Both school districts recognize that small districts may need to be creative in order to grow and maintain quality educational opportunities for their students amidst the potential for staff shortages.
In related news, at its regular April meeting, with the recommendation of the administration, the Osmond school board voted to keep the girls’ and boys’ high school basketball teams in Osmond for the 2024-25 season.
The girls’ team will play a junior varsity/varsity schedule as the Osmond Tigers. Unless more boys decide to play high school basketball next year, the boys’ season will have a different look.
The current plan is to have a shortened junior varsity season without a varsity team. The junior varsity team will practice basketball and shooting skills with a coach in the morning.
Games will be conducted by scheduling junior varsity games with surrounding schools and “borrowing” several of their players to play for Osmond so that five-on-five junior varsity games can be played.
Osmond is currently seeking a junior high girls and boys basketball cooperative agreement with Wausa for 2024-25.
Talks regarding this potential partnership have started, but no decisions have been made at this time.
Also, the administration from both Osmond and Wausa planned to meet to create a timeline that could lead to cooperative agreements in the future.
