At least five schools have been invited to join the Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) after Waverly-Shell Rock (WSR) was voted out of the league last week.
Friday, the NEIC Executive Board made up of superintendents from the league’s current six member schools voted the required second time to have the Go-Hawks exit the conference after June 30, 2023. WSR cast the only dissenting vote while Charles City, Decorah, Waukon, Cresco-Crestwood, and New Hampton all voted in favor of WSR’s removal.
New Hampton Superintendent Jay Jurrens introduced the resolution citing that the Go-Hawks have grown larger than other NEIC schools, creating competitive imbalance. Charles City Superintendent Mike Fisher said WSR’s size was also a hindrance to getting other schools to join the league, with expansion vital to the survival of Iowa’s oldest athletic conference.
This week, NEIC letters of invitation to join were received by Osage, North Fayette Valley, Sumner-Fredericksburg, MFL Mar-Mac, and Oelwein, which left the conference two years ago amid sportsmanship concerns with WSR. The invitation did not include a time frame for the invited schools to respond, but officials would like to have decisions in time for expansion to occur at the start of the 2023-24 school year.
