The Wessington Springs School Board held a special meeting on Monday, Dec. 18 primarily to give members of their community an opportunity to voice their opinions or ideas about the current WWSSC Blackhawks football co-op. The board members have been approached by some community members to consider dissolving the co-op, so they are giving everyone a chance to be heard on the subject.

The meeting started with a few slides the school created to explain the pros and cons of the co-op. Some pros were sharing the cost of the program split three ways and having the numbers to field a full team with replacement players at all levels, including junior high, junior varsity and varsity. Some of the cons were traveling for practice every day, especially for kids living west of Springs, difficulty in getting everyone respectable playing time and using the Blackhawks as a team name since they don’t have that mascot for anything else.

The next slide brought up some of the issues that would occur if Wessington Springs left the co-op, such as added cost to them for coaches and officials, their current enrollment and projections don’t exactly support solid numbers for strong junior high and JV programs and they would have to buy all new uniforms, helmets and equipment without the Blackhawks mascot on it.

They then discussed the benefits of leaving the co-op such as all home games would be in Wessington Springs, reduced travel for practices and more kids could possibly go out with the idea that they might be able to play without the co-op. 

They then showed a slide with current enrollment numbers and projected numbers for the Wessington Springs School District alone. They showed another slide with the approximate cost it would be to the district for them to fund the football program on their own.

…Read the rest of the story in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!