The Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) isn’t the only league playing the waiting game on possible future expansion.
In late February, the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) extended invitations to New Hampton, Cresco-Crestwood, and Waukon from the NEIC to join UIC. The league also asked Oelwein, formerly of the NEIC, plus Osage, Riceville, Sumner-Fredericksburg, Tripoli, Edgewood-Colesburg and Starmont to come on board.
Since then, the NEIC voted Waverly-Shell Rock out of the conference effective at the end of the 2022-23 school year, and invited five schools to join their league. Invites went out in late April to Osage, Oelwein, North Fayette Valley, Sumner-Fredericksburg, and MFL-Mar-Mac.
Last week, UIC superintendents, plus superintendents from the schools they invited to join the conference, met. Central Elkader Superintendent Nick Trenkamp, also the current UIC President, says they discussed how the UIC might look with expansion. He added that the UIC has a great relationship among superintendents in northeast Iowa and we are exploring ways to work together to promote northeast Iowa.
To date, none of the schools invited to join either the UIC or the NEIC have accepted, which would first require a vote by each school’s respective school boards. Officials for both conferences hope to have answers in time for expansion begin with the 2023-24 school year.
