Board OKs cooperative hockey team with Pelham for 2025-26 after discussion on logistics and funding

The Timberlane Regional School District Board approved a request from school athletics staff to form a cooperative ice hockey team with Pelham High School for the 2025-26 school year, allowing students from both schools to play together under a single Timberlane‑led program.

A Timberlane staff presenter described the NHIAA application process (NHIAA bylaw 4, section 9) and said Pelham would seek approval from its board on April 2; both schools’ meeting minutes will be submitted with the cooperative application. The presenter said Pelham expects roughly five or six players and that combining rosters would restore Timberlane’s enrollment to “high‑teens” numbers and avoid a season in which some students could not play.

Board members asked how discipline and attendance standards would be applied across two districts; the presenter said both districts’ principals and athletic directors would meet to establish unified expectations and that Timberlane would be the lead school for administrative submissions. Members also asked about funding: the presenter said the lead school would operate the program and then invoice the partner school for its share based on roster proportions at season’s end — an arrangement the presenter described as common practice.

Member Mark moved to approve formation of a cooperative team with Pelham for boys hockey (with the motion explicitly noting that female players would be permitted to participate). The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The board and community speakers praised the effort as a way to preserve playing opportunities and to keep students engaged in athletics.

The board directed administration to proceed with the NHIAA application and to return copies of the partner school’s approval minutes for the district’s file.