Cooperative Team Guide - Background, Policies, "Grandfathering"

Cooperative Team Baseline Numbers

When a cooperative team is dissolved, or not renewed, the host school District Athletic Committee may consider a request to allow continued participation of guest school students, provided they participated through the conclusion of the final season of the approved cooperative. The request of the District Athletic Committee should be initiated by the host school principal/athletic director, but only for those guest school students who participated throughout the entire final season of the cooperative program. In the request, these students should be listed by name and grade. The District Athletic Committee may grandfather these students for one or more years up, to their original graduation date. The request must be supported by the guest school principal/athletic director. This request should be submitted six (6) months prior to the start of that sport’s season.

Posted 11/10/10

Host School “A” is seeking renewal of a cooperative soccer program. School A had 33 and 29 participants in the program the previous two years, respectively. School “B” had 7 and 9 participants the previous two years. This request was rejected because School A had sufficient interest among its own students to support a program. Cooperative requests are not granted if one school has sufficient participation to support a varsity program. Even though their were no “cuts” made during the previous two years, students from School B were taking time and opportunity away from students at the host school.

Schools “A” and “B” in the same school district wish to form a cooperative lacrosse team, even though each school has sufficient interest to support a varsity team. The motivation is financial, inasmuch as the district anticipates saving money on coaching salaries, bus transportation, uniforms, etc. The request is rejected. Cooperative teams are approved only when they will provide increased participation of students. This plan would limit participation. The ultimate objective of a cooperative team is to increase interest for that sport in each school, which then ideally will result in the eventual sponsorship of that sport by each of the cooperating teams.