Board debates future of sports co-op after partner district votes to dissolve

The A-C Central CUSD 262 board spent a long section of its meeting addressing a disputed sports cooperative and the status of a feasibility study. Board members said a partner district voted to dissolve the football co-op for the 2026–27 school year and to move many junior-high games, a step they described as taken without notice to A-C Central. "We were not notified of any of this. This was kind of hit at us," a board member said during public discussion, describing the vote as a surprise.

Directors reviewed prior joint meeting notes and said they had agreed to delay the feasibility study until after a referendum so community input would not be rushed. Several members stressed the co-op agreement is a multi-year contract and that both boards must agree to pause or end cooperative activities; one board member read the verbal record to note that the other district’s vote to dissolve did not, by itself, change the A-C Central board’s obligations. The discussion considered a range of next steps — negotiating with the partner district, seeking alternative co-op partners, or pursuing legal remedies to enforce the four‑year agreement — and emphasized protecting student opportunities and transportation impacts as core considerations.

Board members also discussed practical concerns: summer participation rates, coach awareness, travel time and fuel costs, and the conference alignment that governs which schools may be paired. The board asked administration to pursue options, including meeting with nearby districts and conference representatives, and to prepare contingency plans (plan B/C/D) for athletics if the co-op is dissolved.