By TOM LUCKIE III OGDENSBURG -- The Ogdensburg City School District Board of Education voted against a sports merger request from Lisbon Central School District for boys modified lacrosse during the …
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By TOM LUCKIE III
OGDENSBURG -- The Ogdensburg City School District Board of Education voted against a sports merger request from Lisbon Central School District for boys modified lacrosse during the 2016-17 school year at Monday's meeting.
The request indicated that three Lisbon Central students expressed interest in joining the team through a potential merger agreement.
Board member Michael Tooley reported that last season's boys modified lacrosse team consisted of 30 students from OFA, one student from Heuvelton Central and one student from Morristown Central, adding that the focus is on having local kids play.
Board Vice President Michael Myers said that merger agreements are "not about record, but about having a sport for kids that go to this school."
Tooley also said that "If a sport is important enough to a family, residency gets you into that sport."
"That is the trump card," said Carl Normandin, Executive Director of Section X Athletics, who made a presentation prior to the vote on merger agreements and combined schools in relation to New York State Public High School Athletic Association expectations and the current policies and applications of Section X.
Mergers have been an ongoing topic of discussion for the board, particularly when concerning team sports with high participation levels, such as lacrosse and hockey.
Conversely, the board approved a girls cross-country merger request from Morristown Central School for the upcoming fall season.
Cross-country is considered an individual sport by the NYSPHSAA and the request indicated one Morristown Central student was interested in joining the team.
Normandin's presentation He pointed out that while the original goal of merger agreements was to permit schools to join together for faster growth of emerging or new sports to result in more teams and participation, the dramatic increase in mergers is currently resulting in the loss of overall teams throughout New York State. The initial NYSPHSAA expectation was the formation of two teams over a three-year merger period.
The presentation also covered considerations of host schools, such as the impact a sports merger may have on team levels, roster numbers, team dynamics and the current year of the three-year merger cycle, as mergers are required to be evaluated on an annual basis.
Discussion after the presentation raised the question of "grandfathering" individual students from preexisting mergers into exclusive agreements. However, Normandin said that mergers must be open to the entire student body of the requesting school.