Elementary athletics will stay the same in Warren County for the time being after the six member schools voted to keep things like they are in the local system.
“They’ve voted to keep the current system in place,” announced School Board member Jeff Lee, revealing the vote was 4-2 to stay status quo.
The Warren County Athletic Association will continue its current setup with the 5-6 grade programs and the 7-8 grade programs. There was discussion about revamping the classifications with hopes of pulling more students into elementary athletics. However, the plan did not survive the vote from the member schools.
At issue is the maximum number of games basketball players are allowed to play during any given season. The cap has been set at 20 games by the state thereby limiting not only the length of the elementary schedules but the number of tournaments in which a school can participate.
While shooting down a modification of the program, the member schools did vote to continue the separate intramural programs at Bobby Ray, West and Hickory Creek Elementary.
The intramural program includes just the three schools and is not part of the bigger elementary association. The three schools offer only K-5 which would hamstring them in competing against other schools that also have grades 6-8. The intramural program began last year, again with the aim to make school athletics more inclusive. It’s inaugural year was a success, prompting school leaders to fund it again this season. The games are played at Bobby Ray gym.