Whitehall/Fort Ann merger in jeopardy?

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By Dan King

Members of the Whitehall Board of Education aren’t sure if they want to continue the district’s merger with Fort Ann in the sport of wrestling.

After a lengthy discussion, in which board members brought up concerns about the efficacy of the merger, the board decided last week to table any decision and revisit the issue at its next meeting on May 18.

School Superintendent Liz Legault said that Athletic Director Keith Redmond had asked her to propose continuing the merger to the board, but board members were skeptical of continuing it.

“The kids from Fort Ann are great, don’t get me wrong, but at the end of the day, I’m here for the taxpayers of Whitehall,” said board member Frank Barber, whose son Julian has been on the wrestling team for the past six years.

Barber said he was concerned that Whitehall Central School was paying more than its fair share for the merger. He added that he felt Whitehall should be compensated for the fact that their bus drivers bring the Whitehall/Fort Ann wrestling team to and from its matches.

Business Administrator Joe Karas confirmed to Barber that Fort Ann does not compensate Whitehall for the travel expenses.

Heidi Dockum, who closely follows the Whitehall/Fort Ann wrestling program, said that Fort Ann does pay for some of the tournaments, however.

Another ongoing issue that board members felt needed to be addressed before they could support continuing the merger was that Fort Ann didn’t allow Whitehall students to play soccer in exchange for Whitehall allowing Fort Ann students to wrestle.

Legault confirmed that she had spoken with Fort Ann officials and they had no intention of budging from that stance. Attempts to contact Fort Ann Athletic Director Jason Humiston were unsuccessful.

Fort Ann is a Class D school in soccer, but adding a few students would bump them up to Class C. The Cardinals have dominated Section II Class D for years now and even made a run to the state championship game in 2012. Whitehall board members felt that was the reason that Fort Ann was not allowing Whitehall students to play soccer for Fort Ann, because they didn’t want their numbers to bump them up to Class C.

That didn’t sit well with Barber and other members of the board.

“We had a boy who wanted to play soccer a couple years ago and they said ‘no,’ I think that speaks loudly,” Barber said.

Legault rebutted that by saying, “Unfortunately we don’t have soccer, but we do have wrestling and we don’t deny kids opportunities.”

Whitehall’s only fall sports are football, girls’ soccer, golf, cross country and cheerleading.

Additionally, the merger doesn’t evenly distribute the team’s home matches. Three of the four home matches for the team this year took place in Whitehall.

The wrestling merger has been in place for the past two seasons, and this year, for the first time ever, a Fort Ann wrestler achieved a sectional crown, as Josh Bressette won at 132 pounds. Fort Ann had three wrestlers on this year’s varsity team, including Bressette, who is a junior; the other two, Caleb Bush and Wes Bell graduate in June.

The board is set to discuss this issue further at a later date, but barring some new developments, Barber said he, at least, won’t support the continuation of the merger.

“I won’t support it tonight, for those reasons,” he said.