ELMWOOD — Eight-man football was back on the agenda for both the Elmwood and Plum City school boards on Monday night, as the timeline was laid out for community input, a board recommendation and a final decision.

The item was already discussed during the February Elmwood Board of Education meeting, with the reason for consideration being declining enrollment and player safety. To be eligible for the State Tournament in 8-man football, a district’s high school enrollment must be below 200. In the instance of Elmwood/Plum City, that combined enrollment is projected at 168 next fall (smallest in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference).

“We’re not going to just automatically become successful, that’s not the driver here,” Superintendent Glenn Webb said. “Safety is why we’re having the conversation.”

Eight-man football is rapidly gaining teams as declining enrollment strikes schools statewide. Nearby schools in Turtle Lake, Glenwood City, Clayton/Prairie Farm and Clear Lake have all recently approved the switch to eight-man football. EPC has 15 ninth graders, eight eighth graders, 19 seventh graders, six sixth graders, seven fifth graders, 14 fourth graders and 10 third graders involved in football.

“It’s pretty clear what needs to be done looking into the future, unfortunately,” Board Vice President Adam Garfield said. “Those numbers probably don’t change drastically for us.”

In order to be eligible for 8-man football games in the fall of 2028, EPC would need to come to a decision by Oct. 1. Webb said the team has had to cancel some junior varsity games due to player availability and has also had to elevate underclassmen to the varsity rotation when they may not have been physically ready. If EPC does move to 8-man football, it could participate in 8-man at the junior varsity level prior to the 2028 varsity transition.

The item was purely informational at Monday’s meeting, but there will be a parent and student-athlete meeting and survey in May, as well as a joint meeting between the Elmwood and Plum City school boards in July before the Elmwood board will have the opportunity to make an official recommendation in August or September.

“All we can do is get the most information we can and make an informed decision,” Webb said.

Webb said he asked another district administrator if the switch to 8-man football caused students to open enroll out, and he was told that not one student left because of it, and that they could have lost many if they did not field a football team at all.

The board approved a co-op agreement with Plum City for EPC golf. The EPC boys golfers currently compete alongside Spring Valley as the Cardinals looked to get their program started, but Webb said Spring Valley felt they had enough footing to run their own program.

Approving the co-op does not mean EPC will automatically have its own golf team in future years, but if it was not approved by the deadline, the team would not have had the opportunity to stand on its own. Currently, Plum City has five golfers and Elmwood has one on the SV/EPC team.

Webb said he has already discussed the future of the program with the owners of the Spring Valley Golf Course, who said they are more than welcome to practice on the course free of charge if the program continues.

Student highlights

The board heard from a pair of programs in the district. The first was Science Olympiad, a middle school and high school program that features 26 district students who compete, learn about all facets of STEM and work on life skills like thinking on their feet. The middle school team took fifth at State.

Senior William Mattson, who has been involved in the program since fifth grade and continued to assist with the middle school competitions as a high schooler, said it has immensely helped his pursuit of a career in programming and game development.

“That was a time where I just had moved here, and this was one of the first things I did here at Elmwood. It’s been nothing but growth,” Mattson said. “We learned research, we learned to work together as a team.”

Mattson said Science Olympiad assisted in the decision to attend UW-Stout after graduation.

The board also heard about Wolfie Wellness, a fourth-grade program that sends Wolfie the stuffed animal wolf home with students, where parents or guardians bring Wolfie to work, take a picture with him in action and write a letter about what they do at their jobs to be shared with the class. Wolfie provides an opportunity to learn about careers at a young age and the wide variety of options out there. Wolfie has spent days as a mechanic, a nurse, a county worker and much, much more.

“As I’m reading [the letter], I can kind of peek over at the kid whose parent it is, and it’s like they have this glow where they’re so proud of their parents,” 4K-8 Counselor Katie Anderson said. “A lot of times the students will add on… That tells me that they’re having meaningful conversations at home.”

Other business

• Webb said the district is closing on the sale of a next-door property April 27, which is expected to be used as an early learning center space. “If we can have enough staffing, we’re going to continue to need more space. So, if we can have more flexibility down there, I think that will be a good thing,” Webb said.
• Approved the resignations of Middle School Volleyball Coach Jacob Lathe, Youth Sports Director Becky Baier and Part-time ELC Assistant Teacher Kate Johnston.
• Approved Garfield as the district delegate for the CESA annual convention.