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Athletic Co-op Almost Finalized

Rich Egger

Two school districts in western Illinois are now on the verge of creating a new athletic co-op.

The West Prairie School Board approved the co-op during a special meeting on April 11. The Bushnell-Prairie City School Board will be asked to do likewise during its regular meeting in April.

The districts already co-op boy’s and girl’s track and will continue to do so. The new agreement will add football, baseball, and softball beginning in the 2014-15 school year.

West Prairie Superintendent Jonathan Heerboth does not expect the co-op to save money, but he said it should improve the quality of activities for students.

“In every way, when you can work together with neighbors to build programs together, I think that makes everything better for kids,” said Heerboth.

Heerboth said revenues and expenses will be shared equally between the districts.

The agreement also calls for creation of a co-op committee, which will include the superintendent, high school principal, athletic, and two board members from each district.

The new teams will be known as Bushnell-West Prairie. The nickname and mascot will be chosen by the respective student bodies. It will not be a current team name. The co-op committee will decide on the mechanism for choosing the team name and mascot.

B-PC currently co-ops with Avon, but that arrangement will end when Avon consolidates with Abingdon later this year.

Rich is TSPR's News Director.