LCHS School Board votes Apollo Conference

[December 24, 2015]  LINCOLN - On Monday, December 21, 2015, the Lincoln Community High School Board voted to join the Apollo Conferences. Of the seven board members, only one member voted against joining the Conference due to concerns about travel.

Board Vice-President Darrell Vermiere had made the motion that LCHS move to the Apollo Conference because he said it is the right choice attendance wise and academic wise. The schools in the Conference are like Lincoln. Vermiere said it is a move to a brighter future for the school and he believes the school will be further in the hole with the Central State Eight conference if enrollment continues decreasing. He said the Cornbelt Conference is not as good a fit for LCHS.

Because the Apollo Conference includes Charleston, Effingham, Mount Zion, Salem, Mattoon, and Taylorville, Superintendent Robert Bagby said that many people he has talked to have expressed concerns about the distance the teams would have to travel.

Bagby said that since the schools alternate who has to travel, and may only have to make one trip a year to some of the other places, especially if they play a double header.

Athletic Director Sam Knox said that baseball and softball games are usually played on Saturdays. He said his only concern was if games were rained out, they might be rescheduled for a Tuesday or Thursday, which would make for a long weeknight trip for the players.

School Board members Andi Hake and Marsha Dahl both asked about seeing if teams could meet halfway due to the distances. Board member Jim Aughton asked if teams might be able to play in Decatur on some of the weeknight games.

Bagby said long trips to Salem and Effingham would likely be on charter buses. Board member Mark Aughton asked how much a charter bus would cost.

Principal Todd Poelker said that after talking to some schools in the Apollo Conference, the other schools are motivated to work out scheduling. He said some of these schools have also discussed halfway points since they are in the same spot with travel. There are many schools and Conferences that have had to work out "quirks in scheduling," so Poelker said LCHS should "tap in" to what the other schools do.

Bagby said the drama team has travelled as far as Chicago for meets and Poelker said the band has also been in competitions that were a good distance.

School Board President Jim Mammen said that some of the teams have travelled over 100 miles to play in Collinsville and have done overnight trips. Mammen asked if perhaps a team could play at Salem on Friday and travel back through and play Effingham on Saturday.

Board member Jill Awe, who voted against joining the Apollo Conference because of concerns about travel, said that the average one way trip to schools in the Apollo Conference is 84 miles versus 38 miles to schools in the CS8 Conference. Awe said she would not want students travelling that far in the winter.

Swimming and diving head Coach Christopher Herzog also said travel time is a concern partly because the team would have to leave earlier.

Bagby said he did not feel the distances would affect the swim team that much and schedule would not really change for them. He said schools such as Charleston usually travel to Lincoln for swim meets.

Board member Jim Allen said they need to minimize risks and travel as much as possible, Mammen said the Board needs to review the travel policy and Hake said setting a travel policy would help.

Allen asked when the school would start playing in the Apollo Conference.

Bagby said the change would take place in the fall of 2017, so there is a year and half to "iron out schedules."

Before the Conference move, the Board will try to figure out some of these issues and work out the scheduling, but there was general agreement that the change would be a good one.

[Angela Reiners]

Past related article

Lincoln High School Board to consider leaving Central State Eight Conference