WAUPUN — The Waupun Area School Board held a meeting Monday evening discussing a recent controversy over a premature announcement that they would be switching the co-op team for girls hockey earlier this month.
The Waupun High School girls hockey program currently co-ops with the Fond du Lac Warbirds. Waupun has been a part of this co-op for about twenty years and there are currently three Waupun high school students in the co-op, which is made up of a total of 17 schools.
Over the last several months the Waupun Activities Director Doug Disch has been in talks with the Fond du Lac and Beaver Dam Activities Directors and the WIAA about potentially switching the co-op from Fond du Lac to Beaver Dam for the 2024-25 season due to a number of issues currently with Fond du Lac including issues with scheduling ice time.
At the September 11th School Board meeting they decided to look further into joining the Beaver Dam program. However, it came on the condition that AD Disch and Waupun Superintendent Dr. Steve Hill would contact the students and families participating in the program to discuss their thoughts on switching the co-op before signing the contract.
On October 10th an article was published in the Daily Dodge which quoted Beaver Dam Associate Principal of Activities and Athletics Ryan Gerber as saying Waupun students would be joining the newly established Beaver Dam girls hockey program and claiming they already played at the Beaver Dam Family Ice Center hockey rink.
Upon discovering the article, students and families immediately took to social media to express their frustration about the apparent decision, criticizing the School District for their lack of transparency as they had not contacted the students or families about the switch.
On the same day, Dr. Hill released a statement stating they would be withdrawing the application to join the Beaver Dam co-op.
The Daily Dodge updated the article to reflect the change the following day.
The students and families each sent email letters to Disch and Dr. Hill, prompting the School Board to include the issue in the next meeting held October 30th.
At the meeting, students and families alike attended to address the Board on the matter. This included all three students or parents of the students, the parent of a future player, the parent of a Fond du Lac student, and a former director for the Fond du Lac girls hockey program.
“The reason we are here is to let you know we have found a place where our girls are accepted and challenged to be their best,” said Whitney Wagner, one of the student’s mothers.
“What happened at the September board meeting was not okay,” Wagner said. “The agenda for that month did not lead any of us to believe that there was a problem with our co-op that would be subject to change. The documentation of the minutes did not get any of us worried, because we knew we would get talked to about the situation, which we did not. Looking back, I am a little concerned that the board voted on that item in that same meeting without us having been talked to, and I hope that this situation has opened the eyes of everyone in this room.”
After all students and families were given a chance to speak, Disch thanked them for coming and apologized for the lack of communication.
According to Disch, the reason they were looking into the Beaver Dam program was because of concerns brought to him regarding the Fond du Lac program. This included issues with ice time schedules and driving distance.
“We were hearing really good things about the new Beaver Dam coach and coaching staff,” Disch said. “The distance to travel is a little bit closer, and I think Fond du Lac might have solved some of the practice time issues, but it’s a challenge for any team to get ice time and I think Beaver Dam may have more availability.”
So when he was approached by the Beaver Dam activities director in August regarding the creation of a new Beaver Dam girls hockey co-op team, it interested Disch because it presented a new opportunity for the Waupun girls in the current co-op.
“Co-ops aren’t something that I have a lot of experience with, but I do know that the deadline to start the process was at the end of September,” Disch said. “I think at that point I only had two conversations with the Beaver Dam coach and AD about the program, and what they told me all sounded pretty good.”
Disch explained he had the School Board put the item on the September agenda, but didn’t give them a lot of actual details about the program since it was still in the early stages. When he looked into what the rest of the process would look like he found that the next step wouldn’t come up until February, giving them time to think about their decision to join or not.
Due to September and October being a busy season for sports, Disch was unable to put aside time to further discuss the co-op before the article in the Daily Dodge came out. He admitted that Dr. Hill reminded him twice to reach out to the families to get feedback about changing the program.
“Honestly, I had no immediate plans to contact you [the students and parents],” Disch said. “I wanted to see how the season was going to start in November so we could see how things were going with the new coach. I also wanted to see what Beaver Dam was selling and learn more about it, and that was about it, that was my game plan up.”
He also pointed out that the Daily Dodge never reached out to him about the co-op switch, saying he wished they had before running the article as they were still early in the process.
“At the end of September I did not feel like this was finalized,” Disch said. “Otherwise we would have made an announcement, really put it out there. We just weren’t at that point.”
“The passion to stay in the Fond du Lac co-op is clear,” Disch said. “I take full responsibility for upsetting all the parents and the girls that are here—that was not my intention. Any sort of decision that’s going to impact current and future athletes will be something that I’ll do a much better job about communicating.”
Dr. Hill also expressed apologies for their missteps, and committed to better communication in the future.
The School Board voted to maintain the co-op with the Fond du Lac Warbirds team based on the feedback from the Waupun families already involved in the program.
Updated 10/31/23 8:31PM — Updated to include that the Beaver Dam co-op would begin in the 2024-25 season. The Waupun students would remain with the Fond du Lac Warbirds for the 2023-24 season regardless of the decision.
