So this is happening
- Thread starter MacMan92
- Start date
Ha, interesting. Some pretty interesting comments from their pastoral leadership directed to the parents. Sound like some real devoted Catholics exemplifing the teachings of the Bible!
But, a full 3 school coop would be interesting. Would make for a good strong C2 coop and a great fit for the Mid-States Conference.
This quote...but the reality is it's a huge factor.
“Ninety-five percent of the comments I got were about extracurriculars, so our priorities are a little out of whack,” he said. “What struck me is we don’t have any problem sharing priests, that doesn’t seem to bother anybody. We don’t have any problems sharing academics, but sharing extracurriculars, so I think our views are a little skewed.”
It's really a model the Omaha Archdiocese had done at the grade school level too. They sized down the South Omaha footprint to about five schools now and closed some in the process. For example St. Stans, Assumption, Holy Ghost and St. Mary's all closed and Sts. Peter and Paul, St. Thomas More and St. Bernadette became the options for kids in thoses parishes.
There is no reason to have multiple teachers teaching the same subjects to 10-12 kids per grade, with another Catholic school 10 miles down the road. Save the resources and money. Pride can still be there. The past state title aren’t going anywhere.
Talked to a couple PROMINENT members of both communities at length today about the issue(s). Obviously alil messy but both agreed one of the biggest arguments...St. Francis side unwillingness to give up the Flyers name (insert multiple palm to face emoji's here).
That was a major issue the last time this was discussed and HSF wanted everything in Humphrey. If there was a co-op that made the most sense in the world it’s this one. They’ll still be D2 in everything more than likely.
It seems everyone seems to forgetting that Humphrey Public is getting left out in the cold. This whole thing has been proposed without any thought of the consequences for the students and athletes at Humphrey High. HLHF has been a highly successful co-op for 8 years and it is all being thrown away.
I know this involves two private schools but I think my thought still applies. When it comes to coops and consolidations I've always said that were dealing with old districts. If hypotheticaly no school districts existed and the state's population lived right where it does currently, if we were to draw up school districts from scratch it would look totally different, especially in rural areas.
Same thing could be said when Riverside was formed. Spalding-Spalding Academy had some solid boys basketball teams, the majority of kids from the Academy. Riverside was formed quick and took it away from Spalding.
Humphrey and Newman Grove could co-op if NG is tired of Albion. Or form Highway 91 High with Clarkson-Leigh-Humphrey.
Easy: Flyerdogs or Doggers. Problem solved!
Private Schools, pretty hard to "force" them to do anything. They are footing the bill.
Archdiocese could have stepped in. Granted both churches have always done well, it makes sense to have one school supported by both parishes.
It makes more sense to have it however the parish wants it since they are paying for it.
Correct me if I am wrong, but in the Omaha Archdiocese, the parishes do not pay for the schools. I am sure they help, but tuition, endowment, fundraising, and donations are the main sources of revenue for Catholic schools in both the Grand Island Diocese and Omaha Archdiocese.
Correct but they do “oversee,” the schools and do give recommendations.
....."the fate of Humphrey Public School was a recurring theme Sunday night in the second meeting of a proposed cooperative between St. Francis and Lindsay Holy Family."
There is now a two-week moratorium on this issue. Rev. Eric Olsen told the crowd to not contact him or board members about the co-op because they needed to take time away from the issue.
There will be hard feelings. Just like there would have been hard feelings 20 years ago. It still needs to happen for a financial and logistical sense.
Humphrey Public knew that this was always a possibility. They should have approached Leigh before Clarkson-Leigh formed.
You are wrong. Humphrey Public did not and should not have seen this coming. 8 plus years of a highly successful co-op with not one single hint of this possibility. HSF has staunchly resisted even broaching the topic of a co-op until this priest decided it was happening. No heads up. No concern for the consequences for the students of Humphrey Public.
As for looking at Leigh it’s really easy to look at Humphrey Public’s situation now and say, well you should have done this or that 15-20 years ago.
As for looking at Leigh it’s really easy to look at Humphrey Public’s situation now and say, well you should have done this or that 15-20 years ago.
I hope Humphrey High pulls its resources.... not only sports transportation, but school transportation and field uses too. You don’t want “us”, build your own ****....
Don't hurt the kids, they most likely have little say where their adult handlers send them to school. Now, pulling donuts and coffee from the rectory would be fine by me.
As an outsider, why can't all three go together? It was always weird to me that the two Catholic schools didn't go together in the first place.
LHF has about 12 kid for 3 year enrollment. Not sure what it was a few years back when they cooped.
Why are schools so afraid of moving up a class? Part of the reason BRLD split is they'd move up to C1. I've always said if we changed our classifications from 6 classes to 4 it would help with coops because so many are afraid to move up a class.
They should have 20 years ago. Just like the majority of current D1 and D2 schools who are East of Grand Island.
Again, all they had to do was look at a very similar co-op down Highway 91 to Spalding. Same thing happened to the Academy. When you co-op public vs private in everything, it’s not a forever deal.
If HSF-LHF consolidated, they would probably be looking at similar numbers HSF had 15 years ago. They have the desks. They have the space.
Last edited:
I think your wrong trying to blame this on one person. And I think you are wrong to say he "decided it was happening." Priests are re-assigned to new positions all the time. But we can't fool ourselves, the bishop and the Catholic Schools Office hold the final decision making power. Much like the military. Priests are sent to do a job, and that is to lead the flock. Sometimes that includes helping to run a school. What typically happens, when a new guy comes in, just like in any business, he has a new perspective on an old situation. He isn't blinded by old prejudices, and doesn't know all the history of which families go to which schools, and why? He is looking for things to make his business run more efficiently. Sometimes that is consolidating work loads, sometimes it is eliminating position all together. It is no secret about the shortage of priests. Many of them have multiple parishes, and some multiple schools. That is multiple parish councils, multiple school boards, multiple everything. I think they all have the task, no, the responsibility to evaluate the situation and make informed recommendations to those who are going to be forced into making decisions down the road. I am thankful they ask for community input. Like he said in the article, he would be crazy to go completely against public sentiment.
I don't know how any co-op or consolidation is supposed to work when one side assumes they have all the power. The attitude that "you can join us, but we aren't joining you" just doesn't bode well for the long term future of the situation. It sounds like the same game plan used by Congress now days. Who ever has the numbers on their side at the moment, makes one sided decisions, until the numbers flip.
What is crazy to me is HSF and the “name” issue. Identity? Absolutely. But guess what, if you win, people will know who you are no matter what your name is. Humphrey-Lindsay Catholic High School.
The Howells-Dodge Jaguars are a pretty good example of that. Was it hard, yes. Did the mature people get over it? Yes.
The Howells-Dodge Jaguars are a pretty good example of that. Was it hard, yes. Did the mature people get over it? Yes.
Saint Francis wants to consolidate to keep winning, they would not be great in especially girls sports over the next few years
Bancroft-Rosalie and Lyons-Decatur Northeast High Schools will dissolve their "BRLD" sports cooperative following the 2021-22 school year.
A decision was made back in December to split the Bancroft-Rosalie/Lyons-Decatur athletics -- a decision that was made after the Bancroft-Rosalie School Board realized that kids would be better off competing in Class D rather than Class C.
"It was a difficult choice by our Bancroft-Rosalie community. Our board looked at where our kids could compete best and felt going back to Class D was a better opportunity for our students to be successful," Bancroft-Rosalie Superintendent Jon Cerny said. "Enrollment came out and our board realized that we will move up to C1 for girls and boys basketball and volleyball.
They had asked the Lyons-Decatur Northeast board if they would approve the resolution to split up in those sports specifically so we could go back to D1. Their board came back and said we're going to be together in all sports or no sports."
The BRLD cooperative has had plenty of success on the hardwood as the Wolverines boys basketball team won back-to-back Class C2 state championships in 2019 and 2020. They also had a third-place finish in 2018 and 2021 while the girls basketball team took third in 2021.
With all of the winning they had in basketball, there was more that went into the decision than just for volleyball, football and basketball.
The decision has had more positive than negative feedback from the Bancroft-Rosalie community, Cerny said.
“It wasn't just about the sports — Lyons-Decatur Northeast had a shortage of numbers in girls sports, where they would not have been able to have their own teams. At the same time, we also considered academic sharing. After five years, it did not take place. There were several academic programs that we were looking at sharing, and it never happened,” Cerny said. “There was also a feasibility study to look at, either unifying or merging the two school districts, and that never went anywhere, either. It was a combination of all of those things; it wasn't just one issue.”
On the other side, this was something Lyons-Decatur Northeast didn't see coming, officials there said.
“We were surprised. We wanted to continue our athletics with Bancroft-Rosalie,” Lyons-Decatur Northeast Superintendent Fred Hansen said.
This decision affects not just the football and basketball teams, but it also affects other athletics.
In the 2022-23 school year, Bancroft-Rosalie will go back to being the Panthers and in Class D1 while Lyons-Decatur Northeast will return to be the Cougars and compete in either Class D1 or Class D2.
Last edited:
I thought volleyball and basketball was going to be separate this coming school year already and only football would be together because of the two year cycle. Is that not correct?
I hate to see them split with a jump to C1 being a large part of it. Talking to people in both communities there are plenty that are not happy. The youth teams have spent the past 5 years together and built a good bond and the HS teams have had good success. Again, if we only had 4 or 5 classifications instead of 6 would have this been dissolved? I'd think combining and going from D1 and D2 to C2 would have been more of an adjustment then going from C2 to C1 after the past 5 years together. As the article stated it sounds like they pursued consolidation and sharing of more staff but they hit road blocks.
So, where does this take them in the future? Although both can field their own teams now what happens down the road when one or both schools numbers drop again? It's hard to start dating again after a breakup. Does LDNE partner and consolidate with Oakland Craig? OCs facilities are poor and the timing may be perfect in a few years. Does BR cave and end up with Pender down the road which seems like a natural fit?
Last edited:
On the NSAA website, it shows the BRLD co-op expiring for volleyball on 12/01/2021 and for basketball on 4/1/2022
Pender and BR is such a natural fit. Maybe this move makes that happen someday I know back in the early 2000’s Pender wanted everything in Pender. But Pender is getting a few younger families back in town. So maybe they would be C1 after awhile?
Still nothing but silence from the powers that be. Unreturned emails, no information being shared and all the while we wait for the other shoe to drop.