Board approves two-year cooperative boys swim sponsorship with Monticello

The Big Lake Public School District board approved a two-year cooperative sponsorship allowing interested Big Lake students in grades 7 through 12 to join Monticello’s boys swim program.

Mark described the agreement as a two-year coop that could be revisited if Monticello’s future enrollment changes classification and makes continued cooperation impractical. He noted the arrangement seeks to keep students in district programs rather than open-enrolling to other districts for swim opportunities. "We approached them to see if they would be interested in the coop with us for 2 years," Mark said.

Mark explained logistics and costs: parents or guardians will be responsible for daily transportation to practices at Monticello, Monticello will provide transportation to meets from a central pickup site, and the district will assess a cost per participant after the season. He estimated a comparable per-participant cost to last year’s girls’ swim program of about $500 and said Monticello will invoice Big Lake, which will then collect from families.

Board members voted by roll call. Sixberry, Nelson, Chabillion, Riesner, Brown and Hancock each said "Aye" and the resolution passed. The board directed staff to finalize the cooperative agreement and provide cost details to parents once available.