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Delano activities director reports steady participation, drops JV girls soccer amid ninth-grade governance change
Summary
Megan Chapman, the district activities director, told the Delano Public Schools board that fall activities participation remains about 320 students but that the district discontinued its JV girls soccer team this year because “registration numbers” were too low under a new ninth-grade governance rule.
Megan Chapman, the district activities director, told the Delano Public Schools board that fall activities participation remains about 320 students but that the district discontinued its JV girls soccer team this year because “registration numbers” were too low under a new ninth-grade governance rule. Chapman said the district hosted Positive Coaching Alliance workshops for coaches, took 10 tenth-graders to a Wright County Conference Leadership Summit, and brought sports psychologist Hans Skolstead in September to offer mental-fitness programming to athletes. The activities director described administrative steps aimed at clearer communications and program alignment: a consolidated activities handbook for families, a more detailed coaches-only handbook, and a request that all head coaches produce program-level handbooks for 2025–26. “I tried to look at it from a lens of a new student coming in… What is the information that they need to know about activities and combining that into one handbook,” Chapman said. Chapman also described a student photography group, the "backpack squad," producing images for social media and program promotion. She said the activities advisory committee and boosters are discussing funding to maintain or expand access to a sports psychologist for athletes. On competition changes, Chapman noted state high school league section realignment affected some teams: girls’ tennis moved to a three-class system and Delano now competes against more similarly sized Class 2 schools in that sport. Board members asked whether a formal sportsmanship policy used by some Minnesota districts might be useful locally; Chapman and board members characterized that as an item worth further discussion but not immediate action. “I certainly think it’s worth discussing just what are some different ways that we can maybe be a little bit more proactive,” Chapman said. Ending: Chapman said the activities department will continue implementing an action card tied to the district site-improvement plan, develop a rubric and pilot a formal head-coach evaluation in the fall, and ask coaches to prepare program handbooks for the 2025–26 year.
