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Baseball teams allowed at middle schools

February 08, 2008|Katheran Wasson

Play ball, Clark County.

The Clark County Board of Education on Thursday gave Clark and Conkwright Middle schools the go-ahead to sponsor baseball teams for their seventh- and eighth-grade students starting this spring.

"With all due haste, we should get this program started," Superintendent Ed Musgrove said before the unanimous vote.

It is now up to the site-based decision-making councils of both schools to hire coaches and iron out details for the upcoming season.

According to a proposal given to the Board of Education, launching the baseball program will cost about $10,000, which will be funded by Clark and Conkwright Middle schools. Any student, male or female, will be eligible to participate, and each school would field approximately 30 players.

Last year the school board rejected a proposal for middle school teams because the district was facing financial troubles. As a temporary fix, the Winchester Youth Baseball League sponsored teams that allowed Clark Middle students to play as the Clark County Eagles and Conkwright Middle students as the Clark County Cougars.

Larry Roe, president of Winchester Youth Baseball League, said last week that he felt the league and its coaches were being shut out of the decision-making process. At Thursday's special-called school board meeting, several parents spoke in favor of keeping the same coaching staff as last year.

Musgrove said the coaching positions will be posted for one week, and then the SBDM councils of each school will make the final hiring decisions.

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