Officials from a tiny school district in Door County, Wis. - separated from the mainland by a dangerous strait scattered with shipwrecks - have opted against a four-sport co-op program that would have taken effect this spring. The plan was intended to provide high school student-athletes from Washington Island the opportunity to participate on Gibraltar High School baseball, softball, golf and track teams.
The co-op was approved last spring by the Washington Island and Gibraltar school boards, the Packerland Conference and the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. But island school leaders had second thoughts regarding obvious logistical issues with the plan, which called for Washington Island student-athletes to practice at their school, commute to Gibraltar for games, spend game nights with a host Gibraltar family and then return to the island the following morning. "It was an unusual and aggressive effort to extend an opportunity to the Washington Island students that they would never have to participate in high school sports," Gibraltar superintendent Steve Seyfer told the Door County Advocate. "We had some parents that were rightfully enthused that we would have more participants on our teams."
"It was a great idea, but we're just a little bit ahead of our time as far as a viable co-op," added Washington Island superintendent Tim Raymond. "With the water between the two school districts and the ferry schedule, I think the logistics are a little more difficult than what people first intended. … I would rather slow down the process than run into it and hit obstacles that we weren't prepared for."
Raymond told the paper he remains hopeful that one day a co-op program will exist between Washington Island and Gibraltar. "This can be done, but the intricacies of the logistics need to be better figured out," he said.
Both schools must await go-ahead from the WIAA to officially dissolve the co-op.
