Charles City is looking for another conference to join and a vote by the North Central Conference (NCC) executive board saw two superintendents vote against their inclusion, keeping Charles City searching.
Charles City superintendent Anne Lundquist told the Charles City school board Monday night, March 5 they plan to continue communication with the superintendents and activity directors of the NCC to see if there are barriers Charles City can overcome and mitigate.
“On Thursday, Feb. 29 we received a response from the executive board of the NCC Conference, Dana [Sullivan] and I received it and immediately met,” said Lundquist. “We started to think about what our next steps might be. We were declined. The executive board, which is composed of the superintendents of those districts, only one of those can vote nay and have it still pass, in our case it was two. Our next step is to continue communication with the superintendents and activity directors of NCC schools so we can gather some knowledge and insight into those dissenting votes. Maybe there are some barriers we can overcome or barriers we can’t overcome but mitigate.”
Lundquist continued that Dana Sullivan, Charles City director of activities, will be in contact with officials at the state level with the Iowa High School Athletic Association and Iowa Girls Athletic Union for recommendations on the next steps.
“This isn’t the end of the world,” said Lundquist. “It’s a chance to say alright that didn’t work as we had hoped, what is it we can do moving forward so we can ensure our kids have a good solid competitive conference for our kids to participate in.”
Charles City is looking to leave the Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC)after Cresco-Crestwood was accepted into the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) beginning with the 2025-26 school year.
The UIC also invited New Hampton and Waukon to join the league at the same time, both members of the NEIC.
Waverly-Shell Rock is leaving the NEIC at the end of the current school year.
The NEIC is currently comprised of Charles City, Cresco-Crestwood, Decorah, New Hampton, Waukon and Waverly-Shell Rock.
Current members of the NCC are Clear Lake, Algona, Clarion-Goldfied-Dows, Hampton-Dumont-CAL, Humboldt, Iowa Falls-Alden, St. Edmond and Webster City.
The IHSAA uses enrollment numbers provided by the Basic Educational Data Survey (BEDS) from the Iowa Department of Education.
Charles City is in Class 3A with an enrollment of 399 in the latest football classification as of Aug. 9, 2023.
If Charles City would be placed into the NCC, they would become the second largest school behind Webster City who has an enrollment of 424. Clear Lake was listed at 356.
In terms of distance, St. Edmond would have the furthest drive to Charles City at just under two hours or 113 miles, while Clear Lake is the closest at 42 miles or just under a 45 minute drive. The rest of the schools see approximately an hour and a half drive or under.
Charles City could appeal the decision at the state level, following the footsteps of Grand View Christian joining the Heart of Iowa conference.
Denied in 2020, Grand View Christian met with the State Board of Education and after an outline for membership was denied and subsequently met, they were granted membership into the league despite not being voted in.
While Charles City searches for a conference, it appears right now, the North Central Conference will not be the landing spot for the Comets unless they can change the two dissenting votes.
