SPORTS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, September 15, 2021
A9
Grant Union considers ending sports co-ops
Transfer students returning to
play sports weighs on staff
Labhart, a former teacher, told the
board that the co-ops came when Prai-
rie City did not have enough athletes
to field teams. Now, he said, the dis-
trict has enough students to build their
teams out.
Board member Jake Taylor said
Grant Union is losing students to Prai-
rie City, and he hoped that a decision to
end the co-op did not hurt the district in
the long run.
“We have the facility,” he said. “We
have the programs, but they’re still
leaving because they feel that strongly
about it.”
Ryan Gerry, Grant Union princi-
pal, said students leaving because they
were unhappy with an aspect of the
school and then opting to return to play
a Grant Union sport weighed heavily
on many staff, teachers and coaches.
Gerry said if the students did not
have the opportunity to co-op then they
would have stayed at Grant Union.
“I don’t think we should strong-
arm people,” Taylor said. “We should
give them a reason to want to be here.
We should not hold a sport over their
head.”
Taylor said it is a “false statement”
that the co-op was put in place because
Grant Union did not have enough stu-
dents to field varsity and junior varsity
teams.
“We’ve always had enough,” he
said. “We’ve lost so many kids. Now
we’re desperate.”
An unidentified Grant School Dis-
trict staffer said, when she was in high
school, she was an “average athlete”
and would have been “deeply disheart-
ened” had she lost her spot on a varsity
team to a student from another school.
Aside from that, she said, the district
is “morally and ethically” responsible
for supporting students from Grant’s
district.
Moreover, she said the board spent
two hours talking about showcasing
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant School District officials are
mulling ending cooperative agree-
ments that allow students from sur-
rounding schools to participate in
sports programs that their schools lack
the resources to offer.
According to an Aug. 18 letter
to the school board signed by Grant
Union High School’s wrestling, bas-
ketball, track and field and cross coun-
try coaches, the purpose of the co-op
was to bring in students from neighbor-
ing schools when Grant Union did not
have enough student athletes to field a
varsity and junior varsity team.
Now, the coaches write, the number
of participants at Grant Union has “sta-
bilized,” and they believe they should
focus exclusively on “creating oppor-
tunities for Grant Union students and
not those of neighboring schools.”
Zach Williams, Grant Union’s soft-
ball coach, who did not sign the letter,
said most sports at Grant Union do not
have a co-op and that softball has been
approved to have a co-op for the 2022
season.
Billy Colson, Prairie City’s princi-
pal and athletic director, said two stu-
dents played on Grant Union’s base-
ball team last year, and two played on
its softball team.
This year, he said one freshman
from Prairie City wants to play base-
ball for Grant Union and six students
wish to play softball.
Colson said, if Grant Union rejects
Prairie City’s request for a co-op, they
would try and put together a softball
team, but there is no way they could
form a baseball team.
Grant school board member Chris
NUMBER OF GRANT
SCHOOL DISTRICT
STUDENTS WHO HAVE
TRANSFERRED
Year
Elementary High school
2015-16
6
9
2016-17
7
8
2017-18
9
7
2018-19
5
15
2019-20
24
11
2020-21
13
18
2021-22
19
14
the district’s programs to entice stu-
dents to want to attend school within
the district. Athletics, she said, are one
of those programs.
“I watched several kids this year
walk away from our school knowing
that they were going to be able to walk
back onto the field that they wanted to
play on because there are no conse-
quences to them leaving,” she said.
Background on cooperative
agreements
Gerry said the cooperative agree-
ment process came to be because
Grant Union had schools from Prairie
City, Dayville and Long Creek asking
if they would allow students to partici-
pate in their sports programs.
Gerry said there was not any formal
process in place. Grant school board
chair Haley Walker noted the board’s
concern was that allowing, in some
cases, just one school to co-op with
Grant Union could bump Grant Union
up in the classification of its division.
According to board meeting mate-
rials, schools that co-op with Grant
School District pay $2,500 per sport.
Grant School District Superintendent
Bret Uptmor said that does not cover
all the costs, depending on the num-
ber of coaches and experience level.
According to Uptmor, the district could
be paying up to $5,000 for coaching
salaries, and then adding in transporta-
tion costs, the price tag can reach up to
$13,000.
With students defecting to other
school districts — mainly Prairie
City — the district is losing enroll-
ment-based state funding at roughly
$8,000 per student.
Uptmor said he wanted to empha-
size that the cooperative agreements
and the transfer of students out of the
district do not correlate.
“One is about a student,” he said.
“And one is about a team.”
He said the board put the coop-
erative agreements and student and
teacher retention on the work session
agenda as two separate items. He said
they do not consider them the same.
“We want to talk about how we can
improve our enrollment,” he said.
How many students have left
Grant School District and why
are they leaving?
Grant School District lost over 60
of its students last year. Labhart said
he taught at Prairie City for three
months. He said, while they have
a “good school,” he believes Grant
Union holds students to a higher
standard.
Additionally, he said he believes
mask requirements play a role in the
uptick in students leaving as well.
He said, if the high school students
wouldn’t have been able to play co-op
sports, they would have stayed.
“I’m just being honest,” he said.
Grant Union High School bas-
ketball coach and engagement coor-
dinator RC Huerta said another rea-
son students are leaving is for political
reasons, though he doesn’t believe
teachers are bringing politics into the
classroom.
Taylor said he knew “for a fact” that
teachers at Grant Union had “pushed
their beliefs” on students. Nonetheless,
he said, he did not believe those were
the reasons why students were leaving.
Board member Colleen Robertson
said she had seen teachers bring pol-
itics into the classroom when it came
to her own family and that there was
nothing the school could do about it.
However, she said, the district needed
to be honest about it going on.
Uptmor said some of the other rea-
sons are smaller class sizes, conve-
nience, the desire to have a family
within the same district and families
moving out of the area.
Additionally, Uptmor said the dis-
trict has lost 45 staff and teachers over
the last three years. Those reasons,
according to board meeting materials,
ranged from a lack of support among
parents and students and a lack of feel-
ing valued in the community.
For his part, Gerry pointed out the
school saw a good number of staff
retire as well, which, he said, accounted
for nearly half of the staff the district
lost last year.
Gerry said the “easiest route” for
some students who are being told
something they do not like is to say,
“I’m leaving,” and that, he said, is
“unfortunate.”
Gerry said, with COVID-19, he
would throw out the last two years as
they are anomalies. He said people
were moving out of the district for var-
ious reasons and that they are trying to
do their best to highlight what the dis-
trict is doing and the programs they
offer. And, he said, they could do a bet-
ter job.
“I think sometimes we tend to
look at these numbers and you’re like,
‘Wow, that’s doesn’t look very posi-
tive,’” he said. “But then you start to
look at the things that are offered in this
district, and that is a lot.”
Junior Rodeo: A Grant County tradition
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Young cowboys and cowgirls from
as far away as Texas competed at the
Grant County Junior Rodeo Saturday
at the Fairgrounds.
Grant County Fairgrounds Man-
ager said 130 contestants came out this
year for the event, up from 75 in 2019.
Last year’s Junior Rodeo was put on
hiatus due to COVID-19, according to
Winegar.
She said she was happy to see the
annual event back this year.
“This is a Grant County tradition,”
Winegar said.
To kick off the rodeo, the organizers
honored the 13 service members who
were killed last month in Afghanistan
before the U.S.’s planned withdrawal
from the country.
“It was a nice little ceremony,”
Winegar said. “Rodeos are very
patriotic.”
Winegar said rodeo emcee and
Cornerstone Christian Church pas-
tor Levi Manitsas said a short
prayer.
She said it was also important
to hold the ceremony with the rodeo
being held on the 20th anniversary of
the 9/11 attacks.
Organizers Shilo Burton and Brit-
tany Desadier said roughly 20 vol-
unteers chipped in to make the event
happen and they thanked the fair board
as well.
Winegar said the county has hosted
the event since 2005.
Contributed photo
From left, Bailey McCrack-
en, Sarah Clark and Rowdy
Israel pose for a picture at
the Cottage Grove rodeo last
month.
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
A young cattle roper chases down a calf Saturday at the Grant County Fairgrounds during the county’s Junior Rodeo.
Second: Emerson Russell,23.351
Third: Jolee Oakes, 24.164
Steer riding
First: Brody Fife, 70
Second: Jaxon Griffith, 65
Third: Landyn Fincher, no score
recorded
Goats
First:Molly Davis, 12.329
Second: Landyn Fincher, 15.604
Third: Payson Green, 16.053
Youth
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Seniors
All-around champion
Talyn Sandifer
Poles
First: Zeleta Masterson, 19.260
Second: Zoey Beam, 20.289
Third: Talyn Sandifer, 20.672
Goats
First: Rylee Russell, 15.844
Second: Bryce Roggenkamp, 16.47
Third: Talyn Sandifer, 16.547
THURSDAY,
SEPT. 16
Grant Union volleyball @
Heppner, 5 p.m.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 17
Dayville/Monument foot-
ball vs. Joseph, 1 p.m.
Juniors
All-around champion
Lainee Winebarger
Poles
First: Lainee Winebarger, 23.311
Blue Mountain Eagle
Dummy Roping
First: Riggin McGinn
Second: Tate Turner
Third: Jadon Snow
Pee wee
All-around champion
Hazel McGinn
Woolies
First: Bowen Bronson, 3.25
Second: Gage Tremblay, 3.06
Third: Wyatt Hansen, 2.69
Barrels
First: Monnee Jo McCain, 24.317
Second: Maven Russell, 31.567
Third: Hazel McGinn, 32.036
Poles
First: Maven Russell,38.916
Second: Quincee Jayne Harper,
40.568
Third: Hazel McGinn, 42.315
Goats
First: Hazel Mcginn, 9.445
Second: Maven Russell, 9.518
Third: Monnee Jo McCain, 11.395
Dummy roping
First: Sterling Oakes, 9
Second: Bowen Bronson, 6
Third: Hazel McGinn, 5
A Grant Union High
School student won bar-
rel racing at the state’s high
school rodeo Aug. 28
Bailey McCracken, a
sophomore, won the bar-
rel racing competition, an
event where a horse and
rider attempt to run a pat-
tern around barrels in the
fastest time.
In barrel racing she took
first with a time of 17.025
She took fourth and
fifth place in pole bend-
ing. Her older brother, Sam
McCracken, took second in
the cutting competition and
third in reined cow.
Dayville High School
student Rowdy Israel par-
ticipated in goats, break-
away, barrel racing and pole
bending, while Sarah Clark,
a Grant Union student, par-
ticipated in pole bending
and barrel races as well.
TOM CHRISTENSEN
CHRISTENSEN
TOM
CONSTRUCTION
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CONCRETE EXCAVATION • SHEET ROCK • SIDING
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SPORTS
SCHEDULE
Macy Carter, left, presents a young
rodeo competitor with a belt buckle
Saturday at the Grant County Junior
Rodeo awards show in the heritage
barn of the fairgrounds.
All-around champion
Callie Smith-Giovanini
Calf riding
First: Callie Smith-Giovanini, 66
Second: Kale Tremblay, 65
Third: Cole Molly, 60
Poles
First: Josie Kimball,23.597
Second: Millie McCoin,24.34
Third: Kinglslee Green, 24.727
Goats
First: Brinlee Smith-Giovanini,
14.132
Second: Jadon Snow, 14.157
Third: Riggin McGinnn, 15.192
McCracken
nabs top
spot in
barrel racing
Prairie City football vs.
South Wasco County,
7 p.m.
Prairie City volleyball vs.
Harper, 5:30 p.m.
NEW FALL APPAREL
Grant Union football @
Lost River, 1 p.m.
BOOTS * JEANS * SHIRTS * HATS
Prairie City volleyball @
Elgin, 1 p.m.
Mon-Fri 9am-6pm • Sat 9am-5pm
234 NW Front St., Prairie City • 541-820-3675
S259934-1
SATURDAY,
SEPT. 18
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