Plainview-Osmond

[LooseCannon]

Was listening to the 8 by 80 podcast and they were discussing the Osmond-Wausa co-op was ending after this school year. Sad to see this, but not surprised because that is typically how these things go. I found an article stating Osmond is talking with Plainview and they will co-op all JH sports with them starting this year. This will eventually lead to a co-op at the high school level. Makes sense, they are 10 miles from each other and similar communities.

So, I'm assuming they will announce a co-op for football in 2026, due to the new cycle right? I can't image Osmond trying to play 6 man by themselves for two years.

Osmond has been playing the co-op game with all their neighbors lately. Didn't they try and co-op with Randolph in basketball a few year ago? Is this an Osmond issue or what is the deal here? Any insight if they will be full partners after this school year at the high school level?

Link to article

 

[SpaghettiSlayer]

Osmond has been playing the co-op game with all their neighbors lately. Didn't they try and co-op with Randolph in basketball a few year ago? Is this an Osmond issue or what is the deal here? Any insight if they will be full partners after this school year at the high school level?

Link to article

From what I can find, Osmond/Randolph was a basketball co-op for the 22/23 and 23/24 seasons. This past season saw the girls having a team on their own separate from Randolph, and the boys not fielding a team at all. Football had a Wausa/Osmond co-op for the '23 and '24 fall seasons, and this coming season. Yes, the FB co-op started mid-cycle and Osmond's opponents scheduled each other for the missing game or left it as a BYE week. Volleyball for Osmond has never had to co-op...yet.

Someone else will have to fill in on Osmond's situation and what the deal is. I'm also interested why Plainview is a willing partner, since they're almost twice the size of Osmond.

 

[Alum-Ni]

From what I can find, Osmond/Randolph was a basketball co-op for the 22/23 and 23/24 seasons. This past season saw the girls having a team on their own separate from Randolph, and the boys not fielding a team at all. Football had a Wausa/Osmond co-op for the '23 and '24 fall seasons, and this coming season. Yes, the FB co-op started mid-cycle and Osmond's opponents scheduled each other for the missing game or left it as a BYE week. Volleyball for Osmond has never had to co-op...yet.

Someone else will have to fill in on Osmond's situation and what the deal is. I'm also interested why Plainview is a willing partner, since they're almost twice the size of Osmond.

Plainview may be "twice the size" but they may not have the participation numbers to sustain their own programs. Just a hunch.

 

[Rolling Hills Rebel]

Not sure if it’s an osmond issue necessarily as they have actively been trying to figure something out since 2018 with a projected drop in boy enrollment and major drop in participation back then for the classes that are now in high school. That Randolph /osmond co-op made a lot of sense they just didn’t put out very good teams and some things really went sideways that 2nd year it sounded like.

Not sure what Plainview is looking to gain out of it, their elementary has enough kids that they are talking about an 8-40 million dollar bond to “update” things. Possibly they just want to be locked into C2 in all sports moving forward as a high school co-op would accomplish that.

 

[SkolSker]

Osmond currently has 6 boys in the entire 7th/8th grade combined. Osmond’s elementary numbers are pretty bleak as well.

Plainview has a big class of 35 or so Kindergartners currently, and gets quite a few of Osmond kids opting in anyway.

Will be interesting to see if its eventually called Plainview-Osmond, but i assume the main campus/school will be in Plainview and the nickname will remain Pirates

 

[LooseCannon]

Osmond currently has 6 boys in the entire 7th/8th grade combined. Osmond’s elementary numbers are pretty bleak as well.

Plainview has a big class of 35 or so Kindergartners currently, and gets quite a few of Osmond kids opting in anyway.

Will be interesting to see if its eventually called Plainview-Osmond, but i assume the main campus/school will be in Plainview and the nickname will remain Pirates

That’s what it seems like we are going towards. Might as well rip the band off and merge entirely. Plainview has the space.

Someone between Creighton, Plainview, Osmond, Randolph, Wausa was eventually going to lose the school battle. They are all so close in proximity.

Now it’ll be interesting to see if Creighton can keep numbers up, because they don’t have a geographical partner necessarily. Wausa and Bloomfield would be it.

 

[SpaghettiSlayer]

That’s what it seems like we are going towards. Might as well rip the band off and merge entirely. Plainview has the space.

Someone between Creighton, Plainview, Osmond, Randolph, Wausa was eventually going to lose the school battle. They are all so close in proximity.

Now it’ll be interesting to see if Creighton can keep numbers up, because they don’t have a geographical partner necessarily. Wausa and Bloomfield would be it.

I don't know what your opinions are on co-ops and consolidations, but I'll throw in an idea that might be a little too progressive currently, but future-thinking.

A large "Summerland-esque" school that sits on the corner of HWY 59 and 121. Creighton, Bloomfield, Wausa, Plainview, Osmond, and Randolph all in one. Numbers easily compete with Wayne, Pierce, and O'Neill. Driving distances are 15-20 miles for Bloomfield, Creighton, Plainview, and Randolph, and much less for Osmond and Wausa.

I don't mean to be one that tells these schools and towns what to do, but it just feels like a bunch of class D towns tightly close together have the potential to do something bigger than anything they could ever do on their own.

 

[LooseCannon]

I don't know what your opinions are on co-ops and consolidations, but I'll throw in an idea that might be a little too progressive currently, but future-thinking.

A large "Summerland-esque" school that sits on the corner of HWY 59 and 121. Creighton, Bloomfield, Wausa, Plainview, Osmond, and Randolph all in one. Numbers easily compete with Wayne, Pierce, and O'Neill. Driving distances are 15-20 miles for Bloomfield, Creighton, Plainview, and Randolph, and much less for Osmond and Wausa.

I don't mean to be one that tells these schools and towns what to do, but it just feels like a bunch of class D towns tightly close together have the potential to do something bigger than anything they could ever do on their own.

Oh I’m very pro for consolidations. What Summerland did is the perfect example of three towns who weren’t getting anything done on their own and came together and now they are great.

It’s not 1995 anymore. Towns aren’t built like they were in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. It would be a huge success story to have one or two larger schools in that area. Whether it’s a…

Creighton-Plainview-Bloomfield and a Wausa-Randolph-Osmond

or a Creighton-Plainview-Osmond and a Bloomfield-Wausa

Something needs to change. The kids hang out together. They play legion ball together. Save money, built a brand new school and make new traditions.

 

[SpaghettiSlayer]

Oh I’m very pro for consolidations. What Summerland did is the perfect example of three towns who weren’t getting anything done on their own and came together and now they are great.

It’s not 1995 anymore. Towns aren’t built like they were in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. It would be a huge success story to have one or two larger schools in that area. Whether it’s a…

Creighton-Plainview-Bloomfield and a Wausa-Randolph-Osmond

or a Creighton-Plainview-Osmond and a Bloomfield-Wausa

Something needs to change. The kids hang out together. They play legion ball together. Save money, built a brand new school and make new traditions.

I'm on the other end of the state, but I can definitely tell you that it's not only a "town" thing, but also there are much less farm kids than there used to be. Grew up in a town that had about 50-some kids in each class in the 70s, and a majority of them lived several miles out in the country. Now I see class sizes are at 25-30, and I can't name many that I know of who live out of town. The town itself still hovers at around 1500 population, as it had been for all I can remember. Farms gradually consolidate and there are less kids per family.

On the flipside, some small towns that are close to the cities are seeing the exact opposite happen. Milford seems to be outgrowing their conference and knocking on class B's door. The town of Raymond remains small, but housing developments north of Lincoln are boosting their school's numbers. Amherst is a Class C sized school for a town of...200? It's the developments near Kearney. Yutan seems to grow at the perfect amount to remain C2 forever for their location west of Omaha. DC-West may soon be an extension of Omaha. Plenty of other examples, but the point is that small towns that have driving distance locations to workplaces in the cities seem to be the next big trend. Maybe some other towns could capitalize and adjust to being "X miles from working in X city. Back to the topic, Osmond might be in a tough spot long-term unless commuting to Norfolk/Wayne are big enough pulls to make Osmond a desirable town.

 

[SkolSker]

I don't know what your opinions are on co-ops and consolidations, but I'll throw in an idea that might be a little too progressive currently, but future-thinking.

A large "Summerland-esque" school that sits on the corner of HWY 59 and 121. Creighton, Bloomfield, Wausa, Plainview, Osmond, and Randolph all in one. Numbers easily compete with Wayne, Pierce, and O'Neill. Driving distances are 15-20 miles for Bloomfield, Creighton, Plainview, and Randolph, and much less for Osmond and Wausa.

I don't mean to be one that tells these schools and towns what to do, but it just feels like a bunch of class D towns tightly close together have the potential to do something bigger than anything they could ever do on their own.

They floated this idea of the 5 school co-op in 2013-2014 range i think and it eventually got shut down.

What makes the most sense to ms is Creighton-Plainview go together, osmond randolph go together, and bloomfield wausa go together.

 

[LooseCannon]

I'm on the other end of the state, but I can definitely tell you that it's not only a "town" thing, but also there are much less farm kids than there used to be. Grew up in a town that had about 50-some kids in each class in the 70s, and a majority of them lived several miles out in the country. Now I see class sizes are at 25-30, and I can't name many that I know of who live out of town. The town itself still hovers at around 1500 population, as it had been for all I can remember. Farms gradually consolidate and there are less kids per family.

On the flipside, some small towns that are close to the cities are seeing the exact opposite happen. Milford seems to be outgrowing their conference and knocking on class B's door. The town of Raymond remains small, but housing developments north of Lincoln are boosting their school's numbers. Amherst is a Class C sized school for a town of...200? It's the developments near Kearney. Yutan seems to grow at the perfect amount to remain C2 forever for their location west of Omaha. DC-West may soon be an extension of Omaha. Plenty of other examples, but the point is that small towns that have driving distance locations to workplaces in the cities seem to be the next big trend. Maybe some other towns could capitalize and adjust to being "X miles from working in X city. Back to the topic, Osmond might be in a tough spot long-term unless commuting to Norfolk/Wayne are big enough pulls to make Osmond a desirable town.

Yes agreed. Some towns are benefiting from the growth of suburbs. Yutan I could see being very solid in everything 10 years from now. Amherst the same.

West of Kearney, I would be intrigued with consolidations like Overton-Elm Creek, Loomis-Bertrand, Brady-Maxwell, Bridgeport-Leyton, Bayard-Minatare.

 

[LooseCannon]

They floated this idea of the 5 school co-op in 2013-2014 range i think and it eventually got shut down.

What makes the most sense to ms is Creighton-Plainview go together, osmond randolph go together, and bloomfield wausa go together.

Correct, Plainview started that 5 school discussion.

Creighton-Plainview seem like a good fit. Bloomfield-Wausa too or Bloomfield-Crofton

Randolph’s location may hurt them down the road. Unless LCC calls them or they take backroads to Winside, not many options for them.

 

[LooseCannon]

Info sheet from Plainview.

 

[CeNnEbFbFan]

I don't know what your opinions are on co-ops and consolidations, but I'll throw in an idea that might be a little too progressive currently, but future-thinking.

A large "Summerland-esque" school that sits on the corner of HWY 59 and 121. Creighton, Bloomfield, Wausa, Plainview, Osmond, and Randolph all in one. Numbers easily compete with Wayne, Pierce, and O'Neill. Driving distances are 15-20 miles for Bloomfield, Creighton, Plainview, and Randolph, and much less for Osmond and Wausa.

I don't mean to be one that tells these schools and towns what to do, but it just feels like a bunch of class D towns tightly close together have the potential to do something bigger than anything they could ever do on their own.

That's not going to happen. Too many people making those decisions are too stuck in the past. They played sports for just one town and won't consider a multi-school consolidation like that. And the logistics of that would be a nightmare IMO. Who gets to have the school in their town? and if is in the country, which towns is it closest to? And think of the empty school buildings that wouldn't be used anymore. No one wants that.

 

[Rolling Hills Rebel]

I don’t know about summerland-esque type consolidations but with state government officials getting closer to stepping in each year it seems some of these schools that have ten kids a class and a school 15 miles down the road might not get to make the choice.

 

[UltimateGarageHusker]

I graduated from osmond years ago and we were one of the last large classes. We had 40 in our class. About half of them boys. Now to hear they only have 6 boys total in 7th and 8th grade. Wow.
In regards to building centralized schools. Absolutely not. Use the existing schools. What’s the difference if everyone has to drive 5 miles to a new school or half of them drive 10 miles. Osmond has continued to add on to the size of their school in spite of the drop in enrollment. I just can’t imagine how they have needed to double the size of their school school since the 70’s when enrollment is 20% of what it was.

 

[Rolling Hills Rebel]

Saw osmond is going to hold a town hall meeting in September about potential high school football co-oping with Plainview.

 

[Alum-Ni]

Last January, there was a feasibility study completed in regards to a possible merger of the Osmond and Wausa districts

https://www.osmondtigers.org/vimages/shared/vnews/stories/6789110a72053/Osmond%20Wausa%20Feasibilty%20Study%20Report%20FINAL%201-15-25%20ver%202.pdf

 

[Alum-Ni]

Found this on the Osmond school website in regards to the end of the Wausa/Osmond co-op

Osmond Community Schools - Clarifying Osmond/Wausa Coop

We want to take a moment to address some of the public discussion and clarify the situation regarding the recent dissolution of the Osmond/Wausa coop. First and foremost, we have valued our partnership with Wausa in the past and this coming year and appreciate the opportunities it...

www.osmondtigers.org

Clarifying Osmond/Wausa Coop

We want to take a moment to address some of the public discussion and clarify the situation regarding the recent dissolution of the Osmond/Wausa coop.

First and foremost, we have valued our partnership with Wausa in the past and this coming year and appreciate the opportunities it provided for our students and student-athletes to grow, compete and represent their communities together. We thank Wausa Public Schools for their past collaboration and the positive experiences many students and families have had as part of this cooperative.

While we were hopeful to continue cooping in certain sports moving forward, Wausa presented us with a proposal that focused solely on a full district consolidation 6+ years down the road, without any options to continue or expand the coop. As a result, we had to consider what is in the best immediate and long-term interest of Osmond students.

Our district has expressed a critical and ongoing need -- particularly in the area of basketball -- and we approached Wausa multiple times in hopes of continuing our current coops and expanding our coop. Unfortunately, those requests were declined. We were given the option to look elsewhere if that better served our needs, and after careful consideration, we have chosen to do so.

Our top priority is to work with a district that demonstrates respect, communicates openly, and is committed to working together as equals. We remain committed to doing what's best for our students and community, and we look forward to exploring new partnerships that reflect those values.

Thank you to our community for your continued support, and good luck to all coaches and student-athletes in the upcoming year.

Osmond Community School Board

 

[LooseCannon]

Really feel like a merger between Plainview and Osmond would be a nice fit.

 

[Billion1]

Really feel like a merger between Plainview and Osmond would be a nice fit.

Curious as to why? Is it the inevitable that the state is going to come in here soon and start running this show. Seems like a lot of schools are lacking numbers more and more every year.

 

[LooseCannon]

Curious as to why? Is it the inevitable that the state is going to come in here soon and start running this show. Seems like a lot of schools are lacking numbers more and more every year.

Yes. It’s basically to get in front of it now. Stop delaying the inevitable.

 

[Rolling Hills Rebel]

The P-O Pirates are a go for high school football and boys n girls basketball starting in 26-27. Gives osmond some stability after what had to have been almost a decade of trying to find it.

 

[bigredguy23]

The P-O Pirates are a go for high school football and boys n girls basketball starting in 26-27. Gives osmond some stability after what had to have been almost a decade of trying to find it.

Will they be 8-man or 11-man?

 

[o_runningback43]

Will they be 8-man or 11-man?

I’ve been hearing 11 man.

 

[bigredguy23]

I’ve been hearing 11 man.

Plainview's number last cycle was 48 and Osmond's 15, so unless their combined numbers drop fairly substantially for next cycle they'd be over the 55 number for next year's 8 man classification.

 

[GrizzzlyPanda]

They will be 11.

 

[LooseCannon]

The P-O Pirates are a go for high school football and boys n girls basketball starting in 26-27. Gives osmond some stability after what had to have been almost a decade of trying to find it.

Good for them. Hoping it eventually leads to a consolidation.

Wausa is next. Seems like them and Bloomfield will never see eye to eye.