By Jean Schlegel 

Since the Sept. 14 Valley City School Board meeting, there has been much talk about forming a committee to discuss the future of all the school district’s extra-curricular activities. Now that committee has formed.
The 2009-10 Long Range Planning Extra-Curricular Committee meets at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 in the school district’s Central Administration Building. The committee is made up of coaches, advisers, parents, community members, school officials, students and media.
At the September meeting, Superintendent Dean Koppelman said Valley City is officially now a Class B school, noting that the district’s designation was recognized by the North Dakota High School Activities Association when enrollment changed to 400 for grades 9-12.
The School Board, Koppelman and Athletics Director Al Cruchet discussed whether the school could support all activities that Class A districts such as Fargo and other larger schools support.
Koppelman told the board things could change later if projected enrollment drops, as is expected, and the School Board would be forced to make hard decisions in finances, budgets and activities.
He emphasized there are no cuts or changes being made at this time. He also said it may take the committee a couple of years to make recommendations.
The board voted to form the committee.
Defining success
Cruchet told the Times-Record on Tuesday the committee will make recommendations and give them to the School Board.
Ultimately, he said, the
committee is just to get feedback, get discussions going and take a look at what the future holds for activities. What changes are made is up to the School Board, he said.
The school currently offers 22 activities. Cruchet said no other Class B schools offer so many activities to students.
“We offer every sport there is,” Cruchet said at the September meeting.
Koppelman said the committee could ask many questions. He offered a few: “Talk about the programs; what criteria would we look at to operate those programs? What would we look at if we’re talking about running activities in our district? Is it numbers of kids, cost per student to operate an activity, comparison made to other large Class B school districts and their programs?”
Cruchet said Tuesday one of the first things the committee will do is look at projected enrollments and what other schools the size of Valley City offer.
“I think we need some definitions – what is a successful program?” Cruchet said
Committee members
The 2009-10 Long Range Planning Extra-Curricular Committee members:
Lisa Baasch, Trevor Bakalar, Dave Bass, Deb Beilke, Mark Brandvold, Karen Burchill, Erin Klingenberg, Todd Kohler, Bob Lemnus, Matt Nielson, Waylan Starr, and Katy Van Dyke.
School officials: Joyce Braunagel, Mike Callahan, Al Cruchet, Dean Koppelman and Kim Knodle.
Students: Josh Magnuson and Rachel Schauer.
Media: Ryan Cunningham.

For full story, see the 11/05/2009 edition of the Valley City Times-Record.