Urbandale school board votes against changing athletic conference
Urbandale will remain in the Central Iowa Metropolitan League after the school board voted against joining a smaller conference.
The school board had been discussing and gathering public feedback on this for weeks. Two different votes on leaving the conference and joining another failed.
Urbandale schools have been coming up short in athletic and other competitive events for years because students are competing with much larger schools in the metro like Waukee, West Des Moines, and Southeast Polk.
When the smaller Little Hawkeye Conference asked Urbandale to leave the CIML and join them, it set off a big debate.
Many parents tired of losing games pushed for the change. Urbandale school board leaders finally decided to vote on the issue Monday night.
At first, they voted on joining the Little Hawkeye Conference, which includes schools like Indianola, Norwalk and Oskaloosa.
But only if that conference could guarantee that it would be made up of 10 schools. That vote failed. At least one parent in the audience tonight supported the move out of the CIML.
"The CIML is hands down the most difficult sports conference to be a member of. We play the best of the best, we play the hardest basketball in the state, and we get punished for it," said Josh Heggen, an Urbandale parent.
"I challenge you and every Urbandale parent and every booster to reflect on what we can do as a community to make this a program we're proud of, regardless of the record, at the end of each season," said Jason Menke, an Urbandale school board member.
So, for now, Urbandale will continue to compete with the larger schools in the CIML, and it's asking students, parents, and coaches to support the decision and invest in the Urbandale school system.
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