The Athena-Weston School District values our long-standing athletic partnership with Helix's Griswold High School and the opportunities that our cooperative agreement has provided for student-athletes in our area. Weston-McEwen High School is disappointed by the recent decision of the OSAA Ad Hoc Committee to reclassify our athletic program to the 3A level in order to maintain our cooperative agreement with Griswold High School. The enrollment calculation used by the OSAA puts WM/Griswold football slightly over the established 2A cutoff. Both Districts worked hard to advocate for our student-athletes and submitted a request for an exception to the OSAA Executive Board. Unfortunately, the request was denied. While we value our partnership with Griswold, we do not believe that moving to a higher classification is a safe or logistical best fit for our students at this time.
As a result of this decision, Weston-McEwen regretfully announces that we will be dissolving our cooperative agreement with Griswold High School in order to remain at our current 2A classification. This is not a decision we make lightly, as our collaboration with Griswold has been beneficial to both schools and our athletes. It is disheartening to lose the connections with teammates that have been a part of our shared programming.
We remain hopeful that in the future, we may be able to revisit this partnership under more favorable circumstances. Our priority is and always will be the well-being and success of our student-athletes, and we will continue to advocate for their best interests as we move forward.