Submitted by WIAA

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Conference Realignment Task Force Committee reviewed and voted Tuesday, April 6 to shake things up in the Middle Border and Big Rivers conferences.

They also voted to not support the seven 11-player football- only plans that were remanded back to the committee by the Board of Control at its March 5 meeting in Stevens Point.

The board will take final action on the proposed_11-player football solution_initiated by the WIAA Conference Realignment Task Force Committee or any of the remanded plans at the April 16 Board of Control meeting. Any approved plan will be implemented in the 2022 football season.

In the proposed plans, the Middle Border Conference will add Rice Lake for football beginning in the 2022 season. Rice Lake’s fall 2020 enrollment of 703 students will be the highest enrollment in the Middle Border. Prescott’s 422 was the lowest enrollment in the conference last year.

If approved, River Falls will be rejoining the more-local Big Rivers Conference. River Falls was moved to the Mississippi Valley Conference (MVC) for football, announced just over a year ago. The Wildcats football team will spend the 2021 season in the MVC before officially coming back the Big Rivers for the 2022 season. River Falls’ fall 2020 enrollment of 1,038 students sits in the middle of the conference’s enrollment size. New Richmond’s 949 is the lowest enrollment in the conference, while Eau Claire Memorial’s 1,655 is the highest.

The seven remanded plans not recommended by the committee for board approval originated from four member schools and impacted 23 schools across the state. The committee considered all written materials received from member schools impacted by the plans, as well as rationale that included providing a conference for all member schools grouped by enrollment and by geography.

The intent of the new conference realignment process is to apply a more formalized method for member schools to request relief from conference affiliations. A committee of member school administrators has been established to evaluate all realignment requests and present them to the board, which retains the authority to make final determinations of all conference alignment decisions.

The WIAA’s new collaborative restructuring model claims to add structure, enhanced communication and transparency to the realignment process. All levels of school administration at each member school are informed of the committee’s deliberations and decisions._