Climber, Sherman and Panama merger talks underway in multiple areas | News, Sports, Jobs

OBSERVER Photo by Sara Holthouse Much of the conversation at the November Climber School Board meeting revolved around the idea of ​​a CSP merger, particularly in the sports and prom areas.

Climbers — Climbers, Sherman and Panama schools have been consolidating in some sports for several years.

Other sharing possibilities in sports and other areas emerge from time to time. One of those sports may be softball, but Clymer Superintendent Beth Olson said she would like to revisit the decision to combine the football teams as the district considers future divisional divisions. are.

At Clymer Central School’s November school board meeting, Mr. Olson asked the school board to discuss the reasons behind the original merger of the Clymer-Sherman Panama athletics teams, adding that in softball We looked into specific examples of the possibility of these three schools merging again in the future.

“So the question always comes up as to when is the right time to combine the teams and when is the right time to separate the teams if necessary. So my question to the board is , what is the reason behind C/’ S/P Athletic? ” Olson said. “I’d like to think again for a second. What was your understanding of why we went in that direction in C/S/P athletics?” And the reason I’m asking this is because these concerns Because when we surface, if we don’t get clear on why we’re doing this, our emotions will always continue to drive and influence our decisions. ”

When emotions influence decisions, Olson said, people respond to people who are louder or more persuasive. Board member Mike Schenk said his understanding was that the merger was originally intended to allow students to play football, and was originally intended for football only. Board member Carol Siverling agreed with Schenck, and board member Rachel Kinnall, who was not on the board at the time of the initial decision, said the sport would be merged if there were not enough players. agreed, but said it could cause problems in the sport. Each school has enough students to participate.

“We don’t know what the original reason was, but maybe it’s evolved and maybe it’s different for each sport.” Kinal said. “I mean, if there aren’t enough players that it makes sense to merge, I agree, but the volleyball team has 20 girls, so I don’t think it’s going to be competitive in my opinion. I mean, it’s probably for the sake of opportunity, but if you have 20 girls on your team and only 6 are on the court or 9 are on the field, you have to cut back. I think it will develop into something that we have to start.”

Kinar also wondered what caused this to happen, and whether it should always be this way. Shivering added that when volleyball merged with Sherman, so many students were participating in volleyball that the Climbers eventually had to pull out to create an all-Climber team. New board member Justin White asked if that had an impact, and Olson said that after pulling out of the volleyball division merger, the team achieved great success for the first time in many years, something they weren’t able to achieve during the merger. However, he said that this was achieved in other sectors. Sports may be different.

“Going back to evolution, if we climbers can form our own teams because we don’t struggle with numbers, then we sacrifice our neighbors just because they can’t form teams. Why not? Because we can form our own team.” Olson said. “It’s kind of a give-and-take. So when is it okay to bring in the opposing team, even though it might affect the students as well?”

Olson said the opposite is also true, which is the current dilemma for some sports, citing the example of softball, where Climbers and Shermans are currently merging to form a Class D team. Ta. If Panama is added, the combined three-school team will be promoted to a Class C team. This creates a competitiveness problem, as a team may have a good chance of having a successful season as a D school, but not as much as a C school. In the meantime, Panama will not be able to field a team and students will not have the opportunity to play or will have to go elsewhere, thus defeating the purpose of C/S/P, she added. .

“Again, all of your points relate to that, but that’s when it becomes difficult, because when do we save what is ours at the expense of our neighbor, and when do we save ours for our children? Because I want them to take me because I can’t give them the opportunity,’ and that’s the give-and-take part of this. ” Olson said.

Schenck said it seems like it should be all-or-nothing, meaning CSP across the board regardless of sport, even if it means possible cuts. Professor Shivering added that the school was caught between a rock and a hard place no matter what, and said perhaps the right decision was not being made.

Returning to softball, Olson said Panama had been on the team in the past with a modified softball team and a JV softball team, but they decided they were good enough as a team and withdrew. They currently have eight solid kids on both JV and varsity. Olson said the current Climber-Sherman combined team has 13 kids, so there is no need to add Panama and he will transfer them to the C-school. Additionally, Olson said that in a previous meeting between the two schools, it was discussed that if a play area is needed, it should be provided, something that has also been discussed for several years.

In the original plan, the C/S/P integration in softball was scheduled to take place in 2026, so there was some discussion, but now they are asking for it to be brought forward by one year. The board looked more closely at Panamanian student performance and current coaches’ opinions, and discussed waiting until 2026 to give them another year to prepare. The board said it was not their decision but would support whatever decision was made.

Sharing other than sports

Discussion about merging the three schools took place two more times at the November meeting, specifically the creation of a strategic plan for all three schools and the possibility of holding a C/S/P prom .

Principal Brianne Fadeil addressed prom in her report, saying she had received questions from students about whether prom would happen.

“Students actually brought this up and said, ‘Why don’t we do a joint prom? Homecoming is really fun, and we have all three schools so we have a lot of kids. Is there anything we can do? ? Fadell said. “So some kids asked our advisor, and they asked me, and I said, ‘That’s a great question, I’ve always wondered that myself.’ , because when you walk into our prom, you’re like, “Where’s everyone?”

Fadele said she contacted other schools and reported hearing the same question, so she gathered two junior class advisors from all three schools to ask if it would work. Post-prom is an issue, but Fadele said there could be more support and resources for that, especially since other schools don’t have proms. Schenck also mentioned the possibility of holding an after-prom without partnering with a specific school, adding that Peek’n Peak has already contacted them and is discussing hosting something. Ta. He added that it doesn’t necessarily have to be the peak, it could be any other location.

Fadal added that it’s also difficult to find a spring day because of other things going on, but the idea is still in its early stages.

“It makes sense, so let’s see where it takes us and we’ll see.” Fadell said.