With an eye on expansion, the Southern Buckeye Athletic & Academic Conference has sent questionnaires to Clinton County schools Wilmington, East Clinton and Clinton-Massie.
The SBAAC expansion committee is expected to meet again March 14 to “review questionnaires and make recommendation to the (SBAAC) Executive Board,” according to Blanchester Supt. Dean Lynch, who is on the league’s expansion committee.
If needed, the SBAAC Executive Board, made up of league superintendents and commissioner Pat Hill, would meet April 6 to consider the expansion committee’s recommendations, if any.
The deadline for schools to return the questionnaires to the league is Friday. The questionnaires were delivered to the schools March 2. Expansion committee members are Lynch, New Richmond Supt. Adam Bird, Goshen Supt. Darrell Edwards, Williamsburg Supt. Matt Early Hill.
“Right now, we’re in limbo,” Lynch said of the league’s expansion. “We had some good discussion (with the Executive Board). They had some questions which needed more information.”
At this time, only the three Clinton County schools have been given the questionnaire.
“Big concern from the Executive Board was they wanted a commitment,” said Lynch. “They don’t want someone for two years, then they decide to get out.”
The SBAAC constitution requires a 75 percent vote of schools to approve membership into the league.
Lynch said the SBAAC would be a good home for the three Clinton County schools left out in the cold following the current South Central Ohio League situation.
“I have a lot of respect for the administrative teams in each of those (Clinton County) school districts and know each group is currently working hard, seeking the advice of a multitude of councilors to make the best of a bad situation,” Lynch said. “Conferences like the (FAVC, KTC and now the SCOL) have disbanded because they could not work through selfish issues. That is not the case with the SBAAC; our conference has had its turmoil. There has always been an attitude among its (SBAAC) leaders to not to argue or slander each other, but to talk through sensitive issues to find that delicate balance of meeting the needs of its individual members and yet doing what is best for the conference.”
Lynch continued.
“I really feel for what Clinton-Massie, East Clinton, Wilmington and the SCOL commissioner (Jim Winner) are going through,” he said. “They all have been given a lot of unnecessary work and worry. I have known the SCOL commissioner for decades and he is just a good all around individual. I have family members who attend Clinton-Massie schools, or have worked in East Clinton schools for a decade. I have many acquaintances in the Wilmington area. All three communities, like Blanchester, are full of good people and have a great student body and excellent educational staff. Such decisions by a few in the SCOL will leave a sore spot for many, many years.”
