O-H co-op is finished says Odessa board

In response to The Harrington School Board's 3-2 vote last Wednesday to continue to work on resuscitating the sports co-op with Odessa, the Odessa board responded by calling a special meeting Tuesday, June 6.

Meeting in the high school library, the Odessa School Board approved a motion to "have the school's attorney draft correspondence to the Harrington School Board indicating that Odessa's board considers the cooperative dissolved at the end of the 2016-2017 school year. Additionally, the school attorney will communicate that Odessa will welcome Harrington students in Odessa's sports programs at no cost for the 2017-2018 school year. Continuation of such agreement would be reevaluated in May of 2018. The Odessa board would like the superintendents, under the advice of the two schools' shared attorney, to create a plan for dividing assets."

It was apparently clear to board members at the regularly scheduled May meeting, well attended by parents, staff, students and other community members, that the endless debate was having a negative effect on the student athletes. This year, the only sport in which both Odessa and Harrington students participated was tennis, which involved only a very small group. The students had already voted with their feet. Harrington's participation in teams under Odessa coaches dwindled down to near zero, and by spring, the baseball and track and field teams had not a single Harrington player. The golf team, under a Harrington coach, had no Odessa participants.