North Greene High School is expected to create a high school sport and co-op with another Greene County School.
North Greene School District has had a junior high cross country squad for the last few years, but the sport has never existed at the high school level. The board will need to officially create the sport at their next official meeting in May. The board had come to a general consensus at their April 21st meeting on making the sport. The Greene Prairie Press reports that North Greene Superintendent Mark Scott says that an agreement with the North Greene Teacher’s Union also needs to be made over the coach of the sport. Currently, Track Coach and High School Girls P.E. Teacher Sydney Clanton would be in charge of the sport. Title IX would not come into question because cross-country would be considered a co-ed sport.
Once they do, the North Greene School Board is also expected to reach a co-op agreement with Carrollton School District to create the high school team only. The co-op agreement is for two years.
According to the Jacksonville Journal Courier, North Greene will be responsible for hiring the coach and providing transportation to meets. Carrollton will reimburse the district for some transportation costs and provide transportation for its students to and from practices. The team would compete under the North Greene district name and wear North Greene uniforms.
The two districts have had similar agreements in the recent past with golf. The Journal Courier also says the co-op has been approved by the Western Illinois Valley Conference, in which the team will compete. North Greene Superintendent Mark Scott told the Journal Courier that the agreement was based on a small number of participants and interested parties in the sport at each school. It has not been confirmed whether the Carrollton School Board has agreed to the co-op at this time.