Nevada High School seeks resolution from MSHSAA on conference issue

On Monday, officials from the Nevada and McDonald County School districts, along with the superintendents of Cassville, East Newton and Mt. Vernon appeared in Columbia regarding the issue of conference affiliation.

Nevada and McDonald County are seeking conference placement through an appeals process established under the Missouri State High School Activities Association constitution. Under article six of the MSHSAA constitution, an ad hoc committee was formed representing school officials from around the state to hear arguments from both sides.

Nevada High School Athletic Director Kevin McKinley said, "We feel like we made a valid case to the MSHSAA ad hoc committee. We were a member of the Big 8 conference for 62 years. We already compete in over 50 non-conference events with Big 8 Conference Schools. It is simply a matter of calling these non conference events Conference Events in order to accommodate the student-athletes of Nevada -- to give them an opportunity to achieve honors and compete for conference championships."

The centerpiece of the Nevada case, which was represented in Columbia by Superintendent Dr. David Stephens, Assistant Superintendent Tyson Beshore, High School Principal Debra Workman and McKinley, was three-fold:

* Without an athletic conference, students from Nevada are denied equal opportunities to gain conference honors and compete for conference championships.

* Scheduling difficulties are challenging for independent schools like Nevada and McDonald County, resulting in open dates and excessive travel. Because of scheduling challenges, Nevada students have to travel farther to find games, which creates academic hardships and inconvenience to parents and patrons alike.

* Nevada has a long standing tradition of affiliation with the Big 8 Conference which dates back to 1920 thus admission into the Big 8 Conference is the most logical placement for the students of Nevada High School who are seeking athletic conference placement.

The opposition cited increased travel to Nevada thus resulting in financial hardships to their respective 8 school districts and fewer opportunities for conference honors for the athletes of the current Big 8.

Current members of the Big 8 Conference include: Lamar, East Newton, Seneca, Carl Junction, Cassville, Aurora, Mt. Vernon, and Monett.

A brief background to the dilemma:

* In May of 2008, the Southwest Conference broke apart due to the departure of Webb City, Carthage and Neosho to the Springfield area Central Ozarks Conference leaving both Nevada and McDonald County without a Conference home.

* Since the initial discussions of the breakup of the Southwest Conference, Nevada has applied and been rejected for admission by the following athletic conferences: Big 8 (3 times), Central Ozarks Conference, West Central Conference, and Show Me West Conference

* In addition, there have been three attempts by officials from the Nevada and McDonald County School districts to create "new" athletic conferences among area schools who may wish to leave their current conference affiliation (these efforts occurred in October of 2007, November of 2009 and September of 2010).

Further information and findings are to be released Monday, April 18 from the Missouri State High School Activities Association.

"The issue is now in the hands of MSHSAA. We are hoping they will assist the student athletes of Nevada by making an appropriate recommendation for conference placement. The ball is now in their court," McKinley said.

Copies of the MSHSAA presentation are available upon request through Kevin McKinley, Athletic Director at Nevada High School at kmckinley@nevada.k12.mo.us.