A trio of meetings on Dec. 6, 8 and 12 brought focus to the possibility of a Whole Grade Sharing (WGS) agreement between the Corning and Villisca School Districts.

During a special meeting of the Corning School Board held Dec. 6, members of the Board heard comments from the community before voting to accept elements of a proposal submitted to them by the Villisca Board during a joint meeting Nov. 28. While the Corning Board wanted further discussions regarding activities, it voted to accept the proposal to include the sixth grade in the WGS arrangement.

True middle school

Board President Lori Harvey stated that after extensive research, she believed that moving to a “true middle school” was appropriate, indicating that she would include the sixth graders in a sharing agreement

“I have mixed emotions,” said Board member Gary Goldsmith, ultimately stating that “the sixth grade should be involved in a true middle school at the Villisca District.”

Board member Scott Akin agreed, “to be fair to Villisca and to keep the numbers fairly equal,” he said.

Noting that she’d consider waiting a year to work out all the details of WGS, Board member Kenya Haffner also expressed that sharing the sixth grade would be appropriate.

Board member Scott Shuey stated that Villisca’s willingness to house the high school in Corning would be “giving up a large part of their identity,” and established his stance that also included Corning’s sixth graders in sharing.

At the close of the meeting, the Board voted to share grades 9-12 at Corning and 6-8 in Villisca, with each district keeping its own PK-5 students. Further, the Board sought to have primary high school events in Corning, primary junior high events in Villisca, asked that the softball and baseball sharing be worded in the same fashion in the sharing agreement as the volleyball, football and basketball (with high school events in Corning/junior high in Villisca), allowing coaches and the Athletic Director decide on scheduling matches in the other towns. The Corning Board asked for a response by noon on Dec. 9 so that it could take any actions necessary at its regularly scheduled meeting on Dec. 12.

“All that the school board did was reply to Villisca’s proposal,” said Superintendent Willie Stone. “No timelines have been established. That’s still up for discussion by both boards.”

Stanton bows out

In a letter dated Dec. 7, Stanton School Board President Jeff Magneson notified the Villisca Board that it had voted 5-0 to reject Villisca’s sharing proposal to them, which asked for the high school to be in Villisca and the junior high to be in Stanton.

Villisca responds

With the only public comment on the issue coming from the Villisca Student Council Vice President Morganne Haer thanking the Board for its leadership, extra time and positive role modeling and pledging to support any decisions made on behalf of the Council, the Villisca School Board met in regular session Dec. 8 to consider Corning’s counter-proposal, voting to accept the academic sharing and requesting a joint school board meeting at the earliest possible date to hammer out activities face-to-face.

Meeting scheduled

The Corning contingent gathered in regular session Dec. 12 and settled in on Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. as the earliest possible time to meet in joint session. The meeting will take place at the Villisca High School Gym.

Before setting a meeting date, however, the Corning Board took action in the event that neither WGS or athletic sharing moves forward for the 2012 school year. Initiated by the coaching staff, according to Superintendent Willie Stone and Principal Kent Jorgensen, the Board voted that if Corning remains on its own for the 2012 football season, it would commit to eight-man football. The cutoff for participation in eight-man last year, said Stone, was 113 students. This year, Corning sat at 105.

If WGS moves forward—or simply sharing activities, the vote would be negated, as the combined district would bump numbers beyond the threshold. The Board voted unanimously to move forward with this possibility.

The Corning Board will meet in joint session with the Villisca Board at Villisca on Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. The public is invited to attend.